It’s easy to have a great idea. It’s easy to turn this great idea into a product. What is not easy is getting the timing right. Let's dive deeper into why timing is hard to figure out and describe some ways we can get better at it.

The reason I say that having a great idea and turning it into a product is easy is because most of the steps here are predictable. All the variables involved are fully within your control. You control the quality of your ideas. You control the many inputs that help turn your idea into a product.

Timing is a Special Bird

Timing is the exact opposite. You may think you have a good grasp of it, but there are way too many things that are variable here. Some of these variables include:

1. People’s tastes evolving
2. The state of the economy
3. Geopolitical shifts (wars, tariffs, politics)
4. What your competitors do or don’t do
5. Key people leaving or joining your team
6. Technological advances (like large-scale LLMs)
7. Evolving legislation
8. Disruptions like COVID-19

...and a whole lot more that we can only sorta kinda predict.

The Perfect Time Will Never Exist

Here is the thing. The perfect time will never exist. The only thing you can focus on is whether the initial assumptions you had when building the product are still valid today as they were when you started building on your idea.

What you can do is create your own perfect time. You do that by shipping early, shipping often, and iterating based on the feedback you see. By doing this, you aren’t passively waiting for the perfect time. Instead, you proactively send out signals to create the perfect time for yourself.

Curious to hear your thoughts on your experiences here, so feel free to share your thoughts on the forums. Lastly, you can interact with this content on Twitter / X, LinkedIn, or TikTok if you want to share it with your networks there...which I would totally appreciate!

Just a final word before we wrap up. If you have a question and/or want to be part of a friendly, collaborative community of over 220k other developers like yourself, post on the forums for a quick response!