FLM: Explain how the success of Music Dealers changed the way you approached your current project.
Eric: I'd say it's as much, if not more, the failures of experience that inform your future actions over the good times. Most importantly, it comes down to two things: Just make the product work and worry about the bells and whistles later and build the best team in order to build the best product. The thing we had that was truly unstoppable in the early days at Music Dealers was a dream team of passionate talent. We had kids who didn't graduate high school, let alone college, but I'd put their passion for our product against the most educated minds in business. Nothing mattered besides wanting to do great for our artists and clients. A strong passion for building something from scratch and making a difference in the world is my number one hiring criteria over any resume.
The second biggest learning is that you don't have to have a perfect product when you launch. At Music Dealers, I wanted to launch with the most amazing platform the music world had ever seen, so it delayed things. At desirelist, I preach to put something out in market that is functional and then quickly adjust when you see how people actually use what you're building. How you think someone will use a platform isn't always the way people end up using it. So it's important not to go too far down one path until you've properly tested each step. For instance, at desirelist, we thought people would just use the platform for birthdays, graduations, weddings, and other milestone life events. But we see that kids are using it for sleepovers, people use it in invites for BBQs, so it's really more of an everyday use than we expected. Accordingly, we have to adjust our messaging, marketing, and some tech to continue building the platform people will actually use. Two things I preach daily to our team, if you're not embarrassed about the product when you ask your friends to try it, then you're waiting too long. Second, if you're trying to build a car in the tech space, you can start with the frame, add a steering wheel, doors, the wheels, a motor, and by the time it's ready to drive, your competitors might have launched flying cars. But if you start with a skateboard, then a scooter, then a bike, a motorcycle, and eventually get to a car, you'll have been moving forward the entire time, picking up momentum and clients along the journey to your finished product.