[marknutter]

Launch it. The name of the game is GETTING USERS. The sooner you begin that process, the more you'll have in the long run. Even if you only have 5 dedicated, hardcore users, if the product works well for them they will evangelize and spread the word for you. Right now, you're killing that word-of-mouth opportunity by keeping your app private.

LAUNCH IT. When you do, you'll be surprised at how anti-climactic it is and wonder why you spent so much time worrying about it. The reason why you can launch early is because you don't have the same PR blitzes the bigger guys do. Grow slowly, steadily, and introduce the features your users are asking for the most. If you have the staying power, you have a real shot overcoming the other guys, especially since they have to be the ones who make the first major mistakes (think Blippy's PR nightmare a few months back).

Good luck!

[mattbell]

Thanks for the feedback. One of the things that has been keeping me back from launching is this idea that I've got "only one shot at making the first impression".

I'm coming to realize that while the above statement is true, there are other things at play too. Cheers!