Product or Sales? Chicken or Egg?

Which comes first: the chicken or the egg? A company I’m working with is facing a choice that most startups share. Should we focus on making the product go from good to great – or – should we focus on sales and user growth?

The chicken response would be for a making great product. If we don’t have a great product, we won’t be able to grow the user base and have paying customers. If the product doesn’t live up to it’s promise, the customer’s perception may be permanently damaged. An app that doesn’t provide value in the first 10 seconds can count on being deleted and never downloaded again. Create a product that users love and they will be loyal.

The egg response would be to focus on user growth. A product can be on the edge of being shut down if it doesn’t reach it’s goals and KPI’s. Without focus on the user first, there may not be enough time or money to develop an even mildly good product. This is the bitter truth about business – even VC funded ones – is that in the end, there are goals that need to be met and evaluated. Exceed those goals and your product is in a better position for the future.

What will you do when you reach this crossroads? Will it be the chicken… or the egg?