Software Release Cadence for Startups
What is the right release cadence for startups?
Answer: Release early, release often
Lack of product releases and updates means death to a startup. The fastest iterations should occur during the beta phase of the software product. This is the time when the code base is the leanest, the features are the fewest, the enterprise customers are nil, and reputation depends more on buzz than on product stability.
Over the course of the first 5 years of a startup, the releases will slow down gradually. This is natural due to a growing code base, growing need to deliver bug-free stable releases, and growing need to preserve quality for the company’s reputation.
In the first year of AccelerEyes product releases, we released new versions every few weeks. We now target 3-4 releases per year, with no strong pre-announced ETA. Interestingly, CUDA (the GPU computing platform we’ve used since 2008) has also slowed down it’s cadence of updates during the same time frame.
Companies that have been in technical computing for a long time (e.g. many at 25+ years) often have regular release cadences on an annual or bi-annual basis. A notable outlier is Wolfram, makers of Mathematica, which has a we’ll-release-when-we’re-done attitude that has served them well.
Installed software (like our products) is different from hosted/cloud/SaaS software in how it is released. Tomorrow, I’ll discuss some ways in which installed software can be more agile.
Do you agree with “release early, release often” for the early days of a startup? What approaches have you seen work for startup software release cadences?