Tell me more ×
Answers OnStartups is a question and answer site for entrepreneurs looking to start or run a new business. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 0 down vote favorite

Is there a better time during the year to launch? Business is in the Food and drink / Restaurant industry, and will be an online service free for customers.

share|improve this question

4 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

The best time to launch is just about NOW

share|improve this answer
So true. There will always be something. Launching "yesterday" is the only way to get in the game. – Sam May 18 '11 at 15:14
up vote 2 down vote

Would you really be willing to wait for, say half a year if you concluded that that would be the best time of year to launch? I would suggest that you launch as soon as you are ready.

I could imagine some reasons to wait with launching. This could be to get a critical mass of users who are online at the same time. This could be essential for launching something like a chat service. Do you have any such reasons?

share|improve this answer
You're right, the concept of waiting to launch for us is relative. We could wait a little bit depending on the reason but I think you are right in terms of launching as soon as we're ready. Right now we are creating a database of beta users to roll out to, so we still have to go through that before the official launch. If there was a better time during the year to launch, we would simply plan to be ready for then. – Sam May 17 '11 at 18:45
up vote 0 down vote

It doesn't matter, at all. Why should it?

share|improve this answer
up vote 1 down vote

Don't launch during peak season for the restaurant industry if there is ANY chance that glitches or a failure of your technology could cause problems in their business or stop them from serving customers and capitalising on their busy times. They will hate you for it and you will lose customers for life. Much better to launch at a quieter time where you have more time and tolerance to work out any problems that might occur.

Of course, you should launch sooner rather than later, but if it was near a peak season (like Christmas or Thanksgiving for example) I would wait till that was over.

share|improve this answer
Thanks Susan, you make a great point. – Sam May 18 '11 at 15:10

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.