This is what founders think building a startup is.

This is what building a startup REALLY looks like for most.

Founders get too worked up in the build.
WAY too much.

To the point where a product gets its first taste of the real world 6 months to 2 years+ in.

This is bad. *like* real bad.

If you are a founder doing this, you are putting your startup in danger.

Why?

You start building your product AFTER you launch.

Whatever you think your product is, your audience WILL hijack it, and take it into another direction.

So if you've spent over a year building before getting real world feedback, chances are, you've wasted a TON of time, effort, and resources.

You've also committed to a specific direction to build your solution around, and went deep into developing it.

The trap most founders fall into is that they feel they need to "perfect" the product before launching it:

• Impeccable Functionality
• Beautiful Design
• Fully Developed Features

They also get excited by the "build", seeing their vision come to life, and fantasizing about the success this perfect product will be when it launches.

Then you launch. And the response is flat.

Not a good feeling.

And by then, it's TOUGH to pivot.

You've already invested so much into this solution, spent A LOT of money on it, and you're WAY too emotionally attached to it to let it go.

Imagine having to go back to zero after this.

How do you avoid this? Launch early, fail often

Adopting a prototyping mindset is KEY to startup success.

As one of THE design thinking gurus puts it:

Prototyping allows you to go fast to market, with a product "good enough" to garner initial user feedback.

It doesn't need to be polished, it doesn't need to be perfect... it doesn't even need to work!

You can go to testing with something as simple as a paper prototype, and still get great feedback.

Your prototype just needs to deliver enough "fidelity" of the experience for you to start iterating.

Users will engage even with a simplistic solution, and you will quickly see:

• Are people able to navigate my experience seamlessly? Or is it confusing them?
• Do they understand intuitively what the product can do for them?
• What features seem to get them the most excited? Build more of these.
• What features fall flat or are disliked completely? Drop or pivot these.
• What are they missing in their interactions? Add these if they fit within your story.
• And more.

Simplistic executions can direct you in powerful ways to a successful launch.

Avoid Costly Failures

The idea behind prototyping is that RIGHT at the start, your solution can go in countless directions.

Someone needs to choose what direction to go in.

If YOU as a founder make that choice, and move forward with it without ANY validation, you're taking a big risk assuming you know your audience and their needs.

You're committing months of work, team resources and money into it.
It better deliver results.

And the numbers are NOT on your side:

Trying a LOT of ideas, failing fast and course correcting increases your chance of success.

Here's how you can implement a prototyping strategy TOMORROW

If you're right at the start, here's how a week should look like:

• M: Agree to build a no-code, low-res version of your product. Explore examples of how this can be done. Agree to do 2 launches a week.
• T: Build your first MVP. Recruit 3 to 5 users to test.
• W: Test your MVP with the users. Debrief on feedback, agree on iteration roadmap.
• R: Improve MVP based on iterations. Recruit 3 to 5 users to test.
• F: Test your MVP with the users. Debrief on feedback, agree on iteration roadmap.
• Rinse and repeat for a couple of weeks.

At one point, you will have a clear idea where to go next.

NOW, you start extending your testing cycle. Once a week. Then once a couple of weeks. etc.

Begin building. Design wireframes, code, work on operations.

Slowly, your product will shape up.

Let the audience guide you, launching regular MVPs and iterating based on user feedback.

The great thing here?

You are building for a market NEED.

And as you are a faithful reader of this newsletter I'm sure, you know what happens when you don't build for a need.

In 6 months to a year, you would have done 12 to 30 user tests, stress testing your product, and adjusting accordingly.

Avoid a DIFFICULT moment in the life of your startup, where you launch 2 years in and THEN find out you need to rework everything all over again.

Happy prototyping,
Majd

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P.S: Need some help with your startup? Here is what we can do together:

• Do you want to build your MVP? Want to figure out how to launch quickly and iterate your solution? Let's chat.
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