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You want to design a web product? It might be time to start really understanding what you’re doing. I’ve had the good fortune of talking too a lot of really talented entrepreneurs over the last few months, and have managed put together a “must do” list for anyone who wants to put their hat in the ring for Web 2.0 fame and fortune.

The Canon

Realize that everything has already been done. Friendster came before Facebook, there were a ton of social video sites before YouTube, Google usurped Yahoo and Altavista. The point is that it has never mattered who comes first into the game — all that matters is who does it best.

What is best, you might ask? Any web product can be broken down into the following, without them all you have nothing.

Simplicity. If you have ever been lead developer on a product, you’ve probably run into the problem of feature creep. I want to take that idea one step further. Every great, pervasive system from the telephone on forward has been designed around the idea that users only want one feature that works really well. Once they are hooked on that single feature, then expand outwards. It worked for Google, didn’t it?

Accept What You Can’t Change. There will always be that nagging little detail that makes you hold off launch. It’s about time you learned to ignore the feeling in the pit of your stomach that your product must be perfect from launch. Someone once told me that if you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product then you’ve released too late, they were spot on.

Change What You Can. It’s time to kill the ego. I honestly don’t care how great you think your product is, if real people can’t use it then it’s worthless. Ask a friend or a neighbor who hasn’t heard about your product to try it out. Let them play around with it without coaching, see what they notice. If they can’t find value in it without you explaining it to them, it may be time to refine your idea.

Finally, once you do have something worthy of releasing you should keep these things in mind.

Your Marketing Is Different Than Your Product. You don’t market your features, you market your product. What do I mean? You only have about 10 seconds to convince someone that your product is for them. Decide right up front how you’re going to spend that time. Let me give you a hint, listing all of your cool new AJAX widgets is not the right answer.

Fight For Users. At the end of the day, investors only care about how many users you have. Fight for your customers. The best way to do that is to realize that their problems are your problems. Never ignore bad feedback, use it to build a better product. Often feedback alone can turn a simple idea into a revolution.

Be Persistent. Unless you’ve created the cure for cancer, no product in the history of mankind has ever sold itself. Remember that. A successful launch is one part product, three parts presentation.

Web 2.0 Roundup

There are a ton of others things that I could say but these are the most important. I’ll leave you with this. Remember that you are selling your product to human beings, and that you are one of them. Look at what you are doing objectively. Is it something that seems valuable to you? Is it something that you think your family or your friends would use? Is it something you could see your grandparents drawing value from?

The more of these questions that you can answer yes to, the more likely that you have a truly powerful idea on your hands.

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