Ask HN: How long do you stick to your idea before calling it quits?
My friend and I have spent a lot of time in the last year building things which we hope will be a good match for the needs of our respective markets. In the same time period (9 months) that I'm still working on one idea (http://www.plentyoftweeps.com), my friend is now on his fourth(!) one.
I've been doing a lot of thinking about comparing our approaches, namely:
1. Taking one idea and running it into the ground, trying every which way to find a product/market fit.
vs.
2. Spending 2-3 months on an idea, releasing it, seeing if it "takes off", showing consistent growth on some scale early on, and if not, moving onto the next one.
I used to think #1 was superior, but at this point, I'm not so sure that I'm in a much better position than had I taken approach #2.
Which approach do you guys prefer? Do you do a lot of experimenting with little projects to see what sticks, or do you tend to devote a long period of time (1 or 2 years, say, in lieu of massive, obvious success) to something before you draw conclusions about its validity as a business? And in either case, how do you know when to quit?