“If it doesn’t ship, you’ve failed.”

Seth Godin - Poke the Box:

Starting means you’re going to finish. If it doesn’t ship, you’ve failed. You haven’t poked the box it it hasn’t realized it’s been poked.

To merely start without finishing is just boasting, or stalling, or a waste of time. I have no patience at all for people who believe they are doing their best work but are hiding it from the market. If you don’t ship, you actually haven’t started anything at all. At some point, your work has to intersect with the market. At some point, you need feedback as to whether or not it worked. Otherwise, it’s merely a hobby.