For me the meta insight is that this kind of thinking is a huge deal for startups.
So the challenge is that as a team you are putting together something that probably everyone thinks is useless (or at least only marginally useful), and yet to have to stay focussed on the problem(s) you are addressing and take care to address them cleanly and with style.
It is actually in those places where others cannot see that some of the best ideas can be brought to fruition. Of course releasing too early can lead to disaster (ask the Color folks on that one, at least I perceived it as a PR disaster).
> So the challenge is that as a team you are putting together something that probably everyone thinks is useless
Isn't selection bias a problem with this thinking? Yes companies that are very successful did something outstanding perhaps, going against the flow, but how much do we know about the number of companies that did stuff everyone thought was useless and it was useless and the whole thing flopped?
We hear about the success stories, I want to then also hear about every failed attempt as well, or it not an accurate picture then, is it?
To put it in other words, it is a bit like encouraging people to play the lottery by showing images of winners. "Look these guys flipped a coin, talked to their astrologer and now look, they are winners!". But what about the ones that play and lose?
Isn't selection bias a problem with this thinking?
It may be, although in my experience 9 - 9.5/10 startups, when measured from concept to death, fail to exit. And many of those were pursuing an idea that clearly wasn't as special as they thought it was for what ever reason (could be early, could be silly, could be too complex)
But to be a startup you have to accept those odds.
There are very few companies whose idea I initially thought was useless that have ended up going big - twitter is one of the only ones on that side of the spectrum. Sure, they may have some issues that need to be overcome, but for the most part, the ones that have gone big have a very obvious core appeal. If everyone thinks it's useless despite understanding the crux of the idea, I think that's a really, really good sign that you need to go back to the drawing board.
So the challenge is that as a team you are putting together something that probably everyone thinks is useless (or at least only marginally useful), and yet to have to stay focussed on the problem(s) you are addressing and take care to address them cleanly and with style.
It is actually in those places where others cannot see that some of the best ideas can be brought to fruition. Of course releasing too early can lead to disaster (ask the Color folks on that one, at least I perceived it as a PR disaster).