Repeat after me:

• release early and often
• iteration is your salvation
• if you don't release it they can't come

Lets say you spend the next 2 months getting your app "perfect." In the meantime, some script jockey in his moms basement produces something similar using 45 libraries and some duct tape. He releases as an open beta and his first 5 visitors discover some horrendous bugs. He fixes them, re-ups the site and gets 20 more visitors, some of whom find the layout hard to navigate. He fixes it, refreshes the site and gets 30 more visitors who find more that they don't like and which he then fixes. By the time you launch, his app is on version 1.8 and now you are playing catch-up.

Now, lets look at the word "perfect." You may be brilliant. You may have an excellent battle plan. No battle plan survives contact with the enemy cite. Your potential customers likely have a different idea of what perfect is, but you will never know until they get access to the product. So get it out there, yesterday.

Forget about your competition. They were good to look at before you created something to make sure they don't actually do whatever it is your doing better than you can do. If they did, you would have moved onto a different project. After that, paying attention to them ("competitive intelligence") isn't the valuable resource people often proclaim it is. There's nothing you can do to stop your competitors from doing whatever it is they are going to do. You can't control them. Spending all the time worrying about them, is just going to slow you down, and give you pressure to start copying what they are doing, losing your individuality and creativity in the process.

Look at the bright side of things - having competition actually means that your idea is worth doing. I.E. Someone else thought the same or similar thing would be useful to people. Now, stop worrying and start beating them. How? Well, launch, collect feedback and make the product users want. But Rob Allen already told you this.

Obviously you don't want to give away your secret recipe, but if you can't handle or afraid of the competition now I don't think you are going to survive for a long time after the launch either. They can't just build what you did build in the same time, you always got the head start.

Assuming it's not just a small tweak on top of a well known idea, in that case a potential competitor might add that feature, but that'd be a bad business model anyway.

If you really that paranoid wait until the a month before the release and then start promoting it. 1 month should be enough to give you enough head start against any competitor.

I look at Autodesk when I think about how a software company can be.

I don't know if it is still the case, but I remember how responsive they would be to their customers. New features were added more based on suggestions from customers than because they thought it would be cool.

If you get something out there, whether it is perfect or not, go into a beta test, to create buzz, but, be very responsive to the feedback you get, and work like crazy to ensure that you are delivering what your testers expect.

Then, just be prepared to release on a very short period, but once you go live, make certain you already have some testing in place, to ensure that you don't release buggy code.

The first chapter of Coders At Work may be insightful, to see how Netscape released their first version, and what ended up killing them.

Don't be afraid of others, use that concern to ensure that you never sit still so others can catch up with you.

I created a website system that allowed for turn-key launching of another certain kind of website. (You could probably guess the industry in 2 tries)

I created the system myself in about 15 days, working night and day, I put it on a dedicated server, and launched a working version, but it had a ton of minor bugs and lacked major features. I did all of this because an opportunity was knocking that could make me $2000 per month out of the gate and be the start of exponential growth.

It worked out for me, but I believe that timing, networks, and opportunity are major factors. I was lucky to have a client that opened the door for me should I have this product finished, and I went after it.

So, I would say, release early, release often, but do it intelligently. Just making your website live on the web is pointless. But timing an early launch with a presentation to a group of likely clients "could" work out perfectly.

Pretty much agree with most. Don't flatter yourself. You're idea is not that great. Successful startups take good ideas and execute marvelously. Don't worry about competitors, worry about gaining users and paying customers. Definitely don't delay for an API. No one needs or wants your API when you have no usage.

You're afraid to create "buzz" and you are afraid to launch because you are worried that someone is going to copy your idea? If there is no true differentiation in your product and its that easy to duplicate, you may want to move on to something else. Sounds like you have the same problem either way so if you are going to do something, then "do something". Get out of the paralyis by analysis. Either way, it's time for action.

There is a difference between fear of competition and strategic silence.

The best way to allay fear (of that which is inevitable) is to prepare daily and incrementally.

At some point, you will have to put yourself and your product out there or you won't eat.

I'll leave you with a few cliches passed from my Dad to me:

(1) When your standards are too high, lower them. (The cure for paralysis by analysis)

(2) Sometimes you have to stand up and defend yourself. (A fact of life)

(3) I may be paranoid but I'm prepared. (Cures fear)

(4) The best defense is a good offense. (Execute well)