It’s so dangerously easy to convince yourself you're building something revolutionary - the core of tomorrow’s financial system, a protocol rewriting how money moves, or an infrastructure layer no one else dared to build! But while you’re busy perfecting every detail to launch a flawless product, your potential users continue waiting, until someone else beats you to it with a rough but ready-to-use version.
That’s why these words from Jovi Overo, CEO of Vault, really hit home:
Forget waiting to be ready. Build it dirty, build it fast, and let reality punch your product into shape.
I know, there’s always something deeper holding us back - a struggle with self-acceptance, impostor syndrome, fear of ridicule, or maybe even pride.
So many illusions keep us stuck, hesitant to move forward. But it takes a kind of courage to break through all that - to admit your product isn’t perfect, to accept vulnerability, to let your work be seen before it’s fully polished. And to finally let reality shape it, not your idealized vision.
Too often, we hold onto our ideas because they’re beautiful, elegant, complete - in theory. But products don’t live on paper or in slide decks. They live in the hands of people 🤲🏻
I often remind myself - what I think actually means nothing, only my actions count.
When you finally release your product - rough around the edges, unfinished, far from perfect - that’s when the real learning begins. It’s out there in the wild, with real people using it in real situations. They don’t care about your roadmap or your vision. They care about whether it solves their problem, even if imperfectly.
Sure, early feedback is brutal, sometimes confusing, often humbling. But it’s pure gold. It reveals gaps you never saw in your planning, unexpected needs and new ideas you couldn’t have imagined alone.
In this fast-moving world, hesitation is the enemy of progress.
As Volodymyr Nosov, CEO of WhiteBIT, emphasized in a recent interview,
Those who accelerate slowly often end up nowhere at all.
Mistakes are inevitable, but they are your blessing! Yes, some features won’t work, some users will leave. But every failure teaches you something new - it’s a step closer to product-market fit.
That’s why moving fast beats waiting for perfection. Because speed lets you test hypotheses early, pivot when needed, and build something people actually want.
I want to assure you that if your idea is truly valuable, the community will recognize its potential (even if it’s rough around the edges), and help you refine it along the way! But if you deliver a polished product that nobody really needs, unfortunately, you’ll have only wasted precious time...
But launching a product fast is only part of the story. Behind every bold move is a leader who can masterly navigate chaos and uncertainty 🧘
Jovi Overo calls the ideal crypto leader a "wartime leader in a broken regulatory trench". That means making clear decisions when the landscape is unstable and rules keep shifting.
Leadership is cool! but reality is hard - it's all grit, fierce focus and unbreakable will amid disorder and uncertainty. It’s about knowing that the path ahead will be messy, and still moving forward anyway. Moving forward and radiating that courage so others follow.
In a Web3 world where markets can turn overnight, the best leaders are those who embrace ambiguity - not just tolerate it, but use it to their advantage. They understand that strategy alone is cheap; execution and resilience are what count.
If you want to build a product that survives and thrives, you have to lead with the mindset of a warrior in chaos - keeping your vision clear and your head steady. Speed and adaptability are your strongest weapons, along with relentless courage and the willingness to embrace imperfection as your fundamental victorious value.
True leadership is about moving forward when the path is uncertain, learning fast and lighting the way for others - because in this fast-paced world, fortune favors the bold, and only those who dare to act will shape the future.
Top comments (4)
Really well said. “Build it dirty, build it fast” is such an important mindset, especially in Web3, where things move fast and waiting for perfection can mean missing the moment.
Launching early and learning through real usage is tough, but it’s where real product clarity comes from. Feedback in the wild always beats assumptions on a roadmap.
Appreciate this perspective; it’s a timely reminder to stay bold, stay flexible, and keep moving forward.
Speed over polish, always - my best lessons came from shipping early and fixing in the wild.
What was the most brutal user feedback you got that changed your approach?
This is extremely impressive, I'm always telling myself to wait till everything is perfect and I know that's just me stalling
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