On the edge - about to take the plunge

Standing at the edge of the cliff my legs shook. 60 feet below the cold water waited patient and calm. My mind, full of fear, raced with every reason why I shouldn't jump; why I should wait, with everything that wasn't right. Finally I made a decision. It was time to jump. Not tomorrow or when the wind died down, but right then. As my foot left the rock I felt free knowing the safety I'd abandoned and looking forward to the ride ahead...

Being an entrepreneur is a lot like jumping off a cliff. You leave the security of your job, law school, or that cushy bonus to pursue the inherently unknown. You have to be brave and pretty crazy to do it. The cliff analogy also comes into play in another respect - especially when it comes to developing software. What most people don't realize is that the hardest part about being an entrepreneur is being disciplined. It's knowing where to draw the line and when to say when. When you build software you constantly think of new and innovative features that you HAVE to have at launch. This creates a never ending cycle of procrastination and delay while you wait to unleash the perfect solution.

The problem is, your solution will never be perfect. You need to embrace that and realize that it is your fear holding you back. The fear that if you launch today your audience won't like you and that some years down the road you'll look back and say, "if only we'd had the widget the site would have exploded." In the end you become a victim of your own insecurity by missing your market opportunity.

Here at TitanStrike, we haven't been immune to this thinking - we've struggled with the cycle just like anyone else. There are no second chances in our game. If you don't get it right the first time you lose your market, your funding, your confidence and often your support. We have carefully evaluated and weighed our options. On one hand, releasing a product that offers compelling and sustainable value to our users, on the other waiting for the next feature, then the next... Taking the plunge and risking the fall, or staking our claim and taking what's ours.

After some introspective thinking and some hard fought battles, we've made the final cut for V1 beta. We've made the last checklist of loose ends and visual treats that will make up our first iteration. No more stalling, no more additions. Our lead developers are to shoot to kill any new addition on site. This is it, this is all - we rise or fall based on what we have now.

Ins include our rich social networking features like our improved profiles, photo galleries, clan pages, and chat system; outs include the tournament system. A conscious decision was made to make our move and stake our claim. We're tired of seeing competitors emerge with the same old story, the same old features in the same old way. We're tired of hearing "it's like Myspace, but for gamers."

The decisions were tough, but we think we've made the best choice. When you're walking into the unknown all you can do is follow your gut. Sooner or later you have to jump - fear be damned.

We can't wait to share the past 3 years of our hard work, blood, sweat and tears with you and hear your thoughts.