No version 4 ... excellent point to keep in mind. The beta is now the v1 the one you need to make a splash with.

I think that depends. The one I want to make a splash with is the one that I've attached a scalable revenue model to. I don't mind going beta before that, but it shouldn't be splashy. A lot of startups seem to miss that important little point.

when we designed Blogware, we ignored it

Explain...
 

We didn't realease it until version 4.0 had been completed. In other words, we left it unreleased for so long that we had waaaayyyy too much luxury in terms of "what features do we want to throw in next" when it came to each point release. Very little of it was thought through to a recognizable use-case. User-profiles are a great example of this. We had a vague notion of how they ought to function, but very little thinking went into how users would benefit from them. What we ended up with was an overly complex set of features that very few users actually use.

Very v4.0.

Have you read Seth Godin's "Purple Cow"?

No - I avoided it based on the title. After working for Tucows so long, I'm a little bit sensitive about the whole thing ;-)

You never get a second chance to make a first impression is my favorite cliche, because it is true. DD hasn't made an impression yet, (all due respect to Scooter and the crew) so have at it.

DD has made a great impression with its existing users. I really want to build on that, grow that, evolve that. Making a great impression on everyone else, well - that's a different story - its the story I'm talking about here. How do I make that impression without trying to outspend....