3 builders who never spoke to each other

Announce the date before the plan is finished

Put a specific date, hour or number in front of an audience and you have manufactured the deadline nobody imposes on someone working for themselves. Set the challenge on something you control, shipping count rather than revenue, because you cannot make an outcome arrive on schedule.

The method

1. 01

   Impose a deadline on yourself as a named public challenge and write about it as you go, which forces you past analysis paralysis and builds a following while you work.

2. 02

   Announce a growth target as a public challenge with a number and a deadline; the challenge is itself one of the better audience-building tactics

3. 03

   Announce a fixed start and end hour for building the product and hold yourself to it publicly so the ship date cannot drift

4. 04

   Set a compressed public deadline, because a short timeline is what makes the thing get built.

5. 05

   Fix a public launch date early and let the deadline drag the work out of you.

What it returned

• 12

  Pieter Levels ran 12 Startups in 12 Months and the format was later copied by Sean Walker, Jon Yongfook and CJ Trowbridge. Andrey Azimov gave himself 12 months to reach $1,000 in monthly recurring revenue with Hardcore Year, and Basile Samel gave himself 6 months to reach $700 with Road to Ramen.

• 10,000

  Committed publicly to adding 10,000 subscribers in 30 days, needing 330 a day, after the first 10,000 had taken a year; his earlier public challenge produced ConvertKit

• 12

  Clock ran from 12:00 PM Eastern Monday to 12:00 PM Tuesday, covering the planning, building and launching of a brand new product

• $5,000

  He was convinced by having written and launched Designing Web Applications inside three months; the challenge was $5,000/month recurring by July 1st, 2013

Sources

• We want your failures.Alex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · 2008-06-01
• 🧠 Coming up with a learning challenge as an aspiring entrepreneur – Jakob GreenfeldJakob Greenfeld · jakobgreenfeld.com · 🧠 Coming up with a learning challenge as an aspiring entrepreneur · 2020-07-29
• Self-Publishing Hangout highlightsJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Writers block · undated
• What stops us from building products?Justin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · What's the solution? · undated
• Join me as I create & launch a product in 24 hoursNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · A side project · 2014-12-01
• The Audience Building Challenge: 10,000 subscribers in 30 daysNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · Why a challenge? · 2013-11-01
• Starting The Web App Challenge: From Zero to $5,000/month In 6 MonthsNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · The Web App Challenge · 2012-12-31
• Done is better than perfect (unless you have imposter syndrome)Cory Zue · coryzue.com · Done is better than perfect (unless you have imposter syndrome) · 2019-06-03