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How to build and launch an MVP as a pre-launch startup
Executive overview
Most founders overbuild before anyone has used their product. The goal of an MVP is to get something — anything — in front of real users as fast as possible to test whether you deliver value at all.
Launch something bad quickly. Everything else follows from that.
Hold the problem tightly, hold the customer tightly, hold the solution loosely.
The four goals of a pre-launch startup
- Launch quickly — weeks, not months
- Get initial customers — anyone using the product counts
- Talk to users after launch and collect feedback
- Iterate on the solution; do not pivot away from the problem
What a lean MVP looks like
- Buildable in weeks, not months
- Extremely limited functionality — focus on the highest-order problem for a small set of initial users
- Can be as simple as a landing page and a spreadsheet
- Not special — it is only a base to iterate from
Real examples of minimal day-one products
- Airbnb (2008): No payments, no map view, part-time engineer writing all the code
- Twitch (Justin.tv): One channel, one person's life, barely recognisable video quality, no games
- Stripe (/dev/payments): No bank deals, almost no features; founders personally integrated it for every early user
When a heavy MVP is necessary
- Regulated industries (insurance, banking, some drone tech) require regulatory approval before launch
- Hard tech — rockets, biotech, tunnels — cannot be built in weeks
- In these cases, start with a simple website that explains what you do; build it in days
Why the "launch moment" does not matter
- Nobody remembers the day Google, Facebook, or Twitter launched
- Press launches are irrelevant at the early stage
- Reframe: "launch" = first customer; "press launch" = much later
- You cannot learn from customers who have no product to interact with
Four hacks for shipping an MVP fast
- Time-box your spec — decide on a deadline (e.g. three weeks) and only include features buildable in that window
- Write your spec down — unwritten specs silently mutate; writing forces honesty about changes
- Cut your spec — one week in, cut whatever is not essential; shipping anything beats shipping nothing
- Don't fall in love with your MVP — none of the billion-dollar examples ended up resembling day one; the MVP is a first-grade essay, not a masterpiece
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