Details matter enough

The startup world loves quipping about skipping the details.

You’ve seen the tweets:

“If it works properly, you shipped too late.”

“Move fast and break things.”

There’s another side to this though.

Why do people pay to read RSS feeds from products like Reeder and Feedbin, when Feedly is free? Because, to those people, details matter enough to be worth paying for. If they weren’t, they’d use free or ad-supported alternatives.

Why do people pay to use email from products like HEY and Superhuman, when Gmail is free? Because, to those people, details matter enough to be worth paying for. If they weren’t, they’d use one of a near-infinite number of free alternatives.

Why do people buy what you sell? It could be because it’s the only option on the market, or because it’s slightly better or cheaper than the competition, or because it’s hyper-focused on a specific niche.

Or maybe… just maybe… it’s because you chose to sweat the details.