I know exactly what you mean. I'm going to assume you are a single founder - like me.

There's a lot of pressure to succeed, that you feel before launch, but what I found useful is to look at what exactly do you mean by "launch". I discovered (more like realised) that launch can mean "opening up your site to the public", which I did. But then it struck me that even though it is available, you are never really launched until you start to market the thing. Why? because - and here's the crucial bit - nobody knows it's there!

So I just opened up the project, and guess what, all the fears went away. I'm not really sure why, but I think it's because if someone does stumble upon it it no longer matterswhat they think because I haven't formally started the promotion effort. Sure if they give me feedback that's all good, but that's something else.

Now I think I understand the sentiment about iteration to make improvements and failing fast that were not clear to me before I opened it to the public.

Yup single founder.

I have a product I have been working on off and on for 2 years, and have been working full time on for the last few months. I have asked myself many of these same questions. beta launch day has been delayed 3 times. Why? Mainly because I know that as many things as there are right with it, the clever people of HN will no doubt point out a dozen important things I should of done before launching but after reading all this you know what? Screw it, I am launching. I'll figure out all the stuff I missed when people point fingers. Expect to see a HN post sometime in the next week or so linking to a new type of search platform. ^_^

Just launch. Go along with what happens and if you fail, well, you've learned something, right? Also, keep in mind that it took many, many startups weeks, months, or even years to gain traction. AirBnb had been active for years and was just about to shut its doors when it suddenly exploded with activity and popularity. Facebook wasn't the social networking giant it was years ago when it was just a school social network (only had students on it). Stay positive and don't overstress yourself like I did.

Thanks. What were you working on?

Last.fm for gaming. It was a failure but I learned a lot from it.

1. Fear of not having thought of ever legal angle. > unless you're doing something that could cause legal issues worry about this when and if site gets some traction. Obviously, I don't know what your site does so take this answer w/ a grain of salt.

2. Fear of no one using my website. And then someone else coming along and beating me in this area and making me look stupid and like Friendster. > if nobody uses your service and someone comes along and does it better than no one will ever know you tried it first.

3. Fear of the product not being polished enough. > If you are passionate it will never be polished enough. Just make sure it doesn't break if 10 users hit it up at the same time.

4. Fear of rejection from lots of people at first look which leads to people never coming back to the site. > You can't please everyone. Find and target your core audience.

5. Fear of knowing that there are unknown unknowns which will come at time of launch and bite me in the behind. > This fear is just a part of launching something new.

6. A hacker or spammer will take down my site. >if you're site isn't known this probably won't happen.

7. Fear of the fact that I havent thought of every possible outcome. > its impossible to know every outcome. You will learn as you go.

NO MATTER WHAT, ITS ALL ABOUT LEARNING. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE. GOOD LUCK.

Realize how you can reduce your fears to nothing.

>1. Fear of not having thought of ever legal angle.

You pay your lawyer to figure that out. If you get a C&D figure out then what your solution is, don't pre-optimize.

>2. Fear of no one using my website. And then someone else coming along and beating me in this area and making me look stupid and like Friendster.

Then you just have to advertise. Or, you'll realize you designed this in a bubble and you never had any users to begin with. At that point you've learned something.

> 3. Fear of the product not being polished enough.

Or it's so shiny right now that the glare is pretty bad. That's why it's called a minimum viable product. If you put another 100 hours into polish, why does that even matter if you end up iterating and tossing the existing UI. Or you could have used those 100 hours to make the awesome new feature that all your users are clamoring for.

> 4. Fear of rejection from lots of people at first look which leads to people never coming back to the site.

A/B testing. You didn't design this in a bubble, right? There's obviously some value that you're looking for. And if those people bounce, don't spend too much effort because they're not your target customer. There's an argument for pushing higher conversions on a limited market segment rather than trying to convert a lower percentage of all visitors.

> 5. Fear of knowing that there are unknown unknowns which will come at time of launch and bite me in the behind.

Learning opportunity! If they're unknown what are you afraid of? You don't know it, so how can you think of it to be afraid of it?

> 6. A hacker or spammer will take down my site.

Backups solve that one. Or you can get something like CodeGuard, which monitors your site for code modifications.

> 7. Fear of the fact that I havent thought of every possible outcome.

Why do you need an exhaustive list? Have you at least thought of the most likely scenarios? If something comes out of the blue it's because of your #5, and you can't ever predict for something that you don't know is coming. But if you have the most likely scenarios covered you can plan for how to work with those results.

Great points. Thanks.

Just push the damn button. It's that simple. You're making something out of nothing. Those are first world problems. Pretty much every one of them presumes someone finds your site in the first place. Worry about that when it happens. Better yet, just fix things when they break. Because they will.

Why is #2 a fear? Nobody can use the site if you don't launch; if nobody uses it after you launch you're in the same position.

I launched a new site last week (http://www.dialshield.com). Nobody's using it yet; oh well. Nothing scary about that.

I might actually have use of it if anyone uses my site! :)

Maybe you should go do some volunteer work. I recommend a homeless shelter or some place catering to people dying of some gruesome illness. The point: Get some perspective on your problems. Falling on your face with your business is not the end of the world.

I don't currently have a business but I am a lot less of a perfection-obsessed neurotic since spending a year at death's door. It was very freeing and empowering.

Best of luck.

Thank you for the advice. Care to share your story?

Oh, be very careful what you wish for. I'm quite the blabbermouth and have spent many years working on learning to restrain myself. <smile>

To try to put it in a nutshell:

I have a genetic disorder -- "atypical cystic fibrosis" -- which is a relatively mild, relatively recently identified form of a very deadly condition (life expectancy around 36 or 37 currently in the US for the traditional form of it). I had to nearly die to finally get a diagnosis. This empowered me to finally leave an oppressive marriage at a time when I was still too sick work. I'm currently facing eviction and have a mountain of personal debt related to getting myself well when doctors say that cannot be done. It's entirely possible I will be homeless come January 1st. I am continuing to function and even work overtime rather than taking a lot of personal time to have histrionics over the latest stressors in my life.

I saw a TV show once about a guy who made millions in (commercial?) real estate. In the interview, he indicated he had been career Air Force and flew over 100 live missions, all of which involved people trying to shoot him out of the sky. He decided that compared to that, the stresses of real estate should be a piece of cake to face. Apparently they were as he was wildly successful.

In addition to getting some life experience that makes you somewhat less thin-skinned, I highly recommend you work on getting information/expertise for any areas that concern you about your business. I am hesitant to say that because people who suffer 'paralysis by analysis' can interpret that to mean "study it more while doing nothing". I don't mean that. Talk to people. Show it around. Get real world feedback. Do research if necessary, but don't get mired in useless "academic" exercises. I guess, in a word: Launch.

Best of luck.

You are thinking too much.

Paralysis by analysis. Stop thinking about it and just do it. Launch, then find out what users say about your product.

I am doing customer development and getting feedback from my customers but only using a PDF to show them features. It's like I want everything perfect ... At least useful...

True. Also learn about decision fatigue, it's quite related.