How to build a culture of rapid iteration for faster product development

Ever thought about what makes something truly great? Whether it’s a dish or a product, creating something special involves understanding how different elements come together.

Think about the times you’ve made a dish and realized, “It could use more salt,” or “Maybe it needs some butter.” Those small adjustments are what iteration is all about – tweaking and improving something over time. Just like your grandma’s famous sauce recipe, it’s the product of continuous refinements to get it just right.

I’m Elliot Koss, and throughout my career, I’ve led teams, shipped new products, and made hundreds of improvements at big companies, startups, and even my own bootstrap businesses. I’ve also had the privilege of advising and consulting a wide range of companies on how they can move faster.

All that is to say, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to practice rapid iteration, and I’ve seen just how powerful it can be when done right.

So, today we’ll explore: 

• What rapid iteration is.
• Who can use rapid iteration.
• Why it’s important.
• When to use it.
• Five ways to make it part of your company’s culture.

Let’s dive in

What is rapid iteration?

Iteration is the process of making something better incrementally. Rapid iteration takes that a step further – it’s about making lots of iterations and testing them in a short period of time.

When you rapidly iterate, you’re not just adding salt. You’re making ten different adjustments, from the ingredients you use to how you prepare them and the cooking method. Instead of taking years to improve a dish, you make improvements in days or weeks, testing along the way.

Your grandma’s famous recipe was probably the result of rapid iteration. She created an amazing dish in a short amount of time and refined it through years of recreating it for her friends and family.

Who can use rapid iteration?

The short answer? Everyone.

Let’s look at two products. One has a big, single release with tons of press. The other has a hundred smaller releases with little press but a lot of word-of-mouth.

Do we know which one is using rapid iteration? Not yet. 

Now, what if I told you one product tested 10,000 different variations before launching, while the other incorporated direct user feedback? That changes things, right? It shows that rapid iteration is more than just about how often you release something.

As you might have guessed, Product One was the lightbulb, and Product Two was Facebook.  

Thomas Edison didn’t fail 10,000 times when developing the lightbulb – he simply found 10,000 ways that didn’t work, rapidly testing and iterating until he landed on the solution that worked. That’s a clear example of rapid iteration. 

On the other hand, Facebook started as a closed beta at Harvard, and over time, it evolved through continuous user feedback and iteration, slowly refining itself into the social media giant it is today.

These examples of rapid iteration highlight an important point: Release speed is a business decision. Iteration speed is a product decision.

You can release once a year or a hundred times, and both can still be rapid iterations. This is often associated with startups or pre-product-market-fit companies – the ones moving fast, testing, and iterating to survive.

While that’s true, rapid iteration doesn’t stop after you reach product-market fit. Take the iPhone, for example. It took years of rapid iteration to get to the version we know today. When it was first released, it wasn’t clear that it would change the world, but every year Apple rolls out incremental improvements through rapid iteration.

The point is: rapid iteration isn’t just for startups or early-stage products. It’s a strategy that can drive growth and improvement at any stage of development. Whether you’re refining an existing product or launching something new, rapid iteration helps you stay competitive and continue evolving.

Why rapid iteration matters

So, everyone can use rapid iteration, but why is it so important?

As a product pro, you probably already know the answer. You’re expected to do a lot – build the product, create new features, grow metrics, innovate, and bring fresh ideas to market. Once the foundation is built, you’ve still got to maintain that product. It’s a lot to juggle.

And while you might have some educated guesses about what will work to grow and improve your product, you don’t actually know for sure, right? Even something as seemingly straightforward as a chatbot – you might think it’s going to be a great fit for users, but even with the data to back it up, that’s just an educated guess. 

The power of rapid iteration: Real-world examples

Let’s look at two teams with the same aim. Team One raised a million dollars. They’re world-renowned experts. They get all the attention, all the press. Team Two, on the other hand, is bootstrapped. They don’t have fancy degrees, they’re not experts, and no one knows who they are.

Who do you think wins?

The common thought is that Team One, the well-funded experts, will obviously win. But there’s a twist: Team One does lots of calculations and presentations, but they’re only planning to do two big public demos for the year. Team Two, meanwhile, is building and launching every single week.

You probably already guessed it. Team One was Samuel Langley – the expert in flight around the start of the 20th century. Team Two was the Wright brothers, who, despite being complete unknowns, were the ones who figured out how to fly.

Simon Sinek’s book Start with Why explains that the Wright brothers won because they knew their “why.” They were deeply connected to their purpose, which is why they succeeded. 

It’s a great book – I highly recommend it. But here’s where I disagree with Sinek: I think the Wright brothers won because they embraced rapid iteration. Every week, they planned, built, and tested. They knew the more they tried, the better their chances of success.

The Wright brothers didn’t figure out flight on their first try. Apple didn’t get the iPhone right on the first prototype. Facebook didn’t have everything nailed down when they first launched. Sure, they had a vision – a “why.” But more importantly, they rapidly iterated until things just started to work.

That’s why rapid iteration matters – it’s how you turn uncertainty into opportunity and, ultimately, success.

When to implement rapid iteration

It might seem like a no-brainer, but rapid iteration is a choice, and like any choice, timing matters. So, when should you use rapid iteration?