Second Thoughts

So we are approaching the time when we are going into Private Beta
release mode. Actually, on this Friday, the 26th of January - we should
have our first Private Beta deployed on the server. Our state of
readiness is a matter of definition and expectations, but a working
version of the application is a must. Most of our development is on
track, but the last few days are always critical.

So I started thinking about the criteria for a Beta release. Was is a Private Beta, what is a Public Beta, and what are the minimum requirements for such releases?

I found this great post at Techcrunch called Don’t Blow your Beta that summarizes most of this. It is written by Michael Arrington, who probably see more Betas than most VCs.

He gives advise on:

• First impressions - This is very important. You only really get one chance with the crowd.
• Rolling Feature Release - Do this if you have to release early.
• Incomplete Features - Don’t launch features that don’t work.
• The Browser Issue - Remember FF and Safari if you are targeting early adopters. IE is for the mainstream market.
• Landing Pages - Explain what you do and your vision, maybe a demo.
• Bloggers and Blogging - Be an active blogger, but be very polite to anyone discussing your service.
• Obvious Trust Issues - Don’t ask for more personal information than you really need.

In summary, you have a lot of freedom in the Private Beta phase, but as soon as you go public - beta or not - you need to treat your users as real customers, with real expectations.