Launch Smartly, Not Darkly. Seriously?

Launch smartly, not darkly." This slogan seems to be everywhere in Silicon Valley, with ads prominently displayed. But, is it genuinely the best approach? Upon closer inspection of the websites advocating for the "not darkly" approach, it becomes apparent that there might be some misunderstanding about what "darkly" truly entails. In reality, a dark launch means to roll out features quietly, without the target users' awareness, thereby reducing potential risks associated with deployment.

Certainly, launching smartly plays a crucial role as well, especially in mitigating bad user experiences. However, it's worth noting that the experiments which make your launch smart typically come after the dark launch phase. Yet, current market observations suggest that launching smartly tends to be more profitable than launching darkly. According to the Sequoia dev tool 2.0 graph, smart launch strategies rank higher, partly because both LaunchDarkly and Split.io include built-in experimentation features.