Build the product

Ship an MVP, work with builders, and iterate toward something people use.

What founders use for build the product, ranked by how many answers lean on it.

  1. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick In 47 answers
  2. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham In 35 answers
  3. The origin text for the modern MVP and validated-learning vocabulary every founder now uses. Read it for the mental model that... theleanstartup.com Book · ~330 pages The Lean Startup Eric Ries In 21 answers
  4. Basecamp's battle-tested, opinionated system for shipping meaningful work in fixed cycles without endless backlogs, a primary... Basecamp / 37signals Book · free online book Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters Ryan Singer In 20 answers
  5. Turns the vague feeling of product-market fit into a number you can move. Ask users how they would feel if they could no longer... First Round Review Article · ~20 min read How Superhuman Built an Engine to Find Product/Market Fit Rahul Vohra In 19 answers
  6. The most accessible, practical intro to usability ever written, you can read it in a weekend and immediately fix your product.... sensible.com Book · ~200 pages Don't Make Me Think, Revisited Steve Krug In 12 answers
  7. Free to read online, with chapters like "Build Less" and "Half, Not Half-Assed" that name your exact trap. It argues that... Basecamp / 37signals Book · Free online, ~4 hr Getting Real (free to read online) Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson (37signals) In 12 answers
  8. Design tactics written specifically for developers and non-designers who need to ship good-looking UI without a design... refactoringui.com Book · ~250 pages Refactoring UI Adam Wathan & Steve Schoger In 10 answers
  9. Altman's condensed operating manual for founders, including sharp guidance on focus, spending your time on what only you can... playbook.samaltman.com Article · long Startup Playbook Sam Altman In 8 answers
  10. The essay that put 'product-market fit' into the startup vocabulary. Read it for the gut-level description of what PMF feels... pmarchive.com Essay · ~15 min read The Only Thing That Matters Marc Andreessen In 7 answers
  11. This is the canonical source of the ship-ugly-first idea, the LinkedIn co-founder's own essay behind the line about being... LinkedIn Essay · About a 6 minute read If There Aren't Any Typos In This Essay, We Launched Too Late Reid Hoffman In 7 answers
  12. The definitive essay on where good ideas come from: notice problems you personally have, don't force it. Use it as the lens for... paulgraham.com Essay · ~20 min read How to Get Startup Ideas Paul Graham In 6 answers
  13. The foundational text on human-centered design that every product person should read once. It rewires how you see every... jnd.org / Basic Books Book · ~350 pages The Design of Everyday Things Don Norman In 6 answers
  14. Battle-tested YC advice on landing your critical first engineering hire, from founders who've done it at scale. It reframes... YC Startup Library Article · Essay How to hire your first engineer (YC Startup Library) Y Combinator (Greg Brockman, Harj Taggar) In 6 answers
  15. The two ways to fake a product while you test real demand. Do the work by hand in the open (concierge), or hide the manual work... LogRocket Article · ~12 min read Concierge vs. Wizard of Oz MVP LogRocket In 6 answers
  16. Des Traynor makes the case that "no" is the product strategy, and that adding a feature for one loud customer quietly costs... Intercom (Des Traynor) Article · ~8 min read Product Strategy Means Saying No Des Traynor In 6 answers
  17. The single most-cited usability framework in the field, from the definitive UX research authority. A checklist you can hold... Nielsen Norman Group Article · ~15 min read 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design Jakob Nielsen In 5 answers
  18. The original, primary source where the RICE framework was introduced, cite this, not the SEO reposts. The clearest way to... Intercom Blog Article · ~12 min read RICE: Simple Prioritization for Product Managers Sean McBride In 5 answers
  19. Most founders treat customer research as a one-time pre-launch exercise, then go quiet once the product ships. Torres makes the... Amazon Book · ~200 pages Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business Value Teresa Torres In 5 answers
  20. When you and your technical hire are arguing about the stack, this essay reframes the whole fight: the goal is not the best or... mcfunley.com Essay · ~20 min read Choose Boring Technology Dan McKinley In 5 answers
  21. This is Google's own field research on building for people coming online in markets like India, and it names the exact... Google Design Article · ~12 min read Connectivity, Culture, and Credit: Designing for the Next Billion Users Google Design (Next Billion Users team) In 5 answers
  22. Todd Jackson studied how dozens of now-large companies validated their very first idea. The pattern that repeats: deliver the... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~15 min read How to Validate Your Startup Idea Todd Jackson In 5 answers
  23. Blank, who built customer development, uses a real founder story to show how a team defaulted to 'build a smaller product' when... steveblank.com Article · 7 min read An MVP is not a Cheaper Product, It's about Smart Learning Steve Blank In 5 answers
  24. Jason Levin grew a product to $100K ARR on Bubble with no engineers, then raised $3M and re-platformed to an API. It is a clean... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~20 min read From a $6.90 newsletter to $3M API: How a non-coder built Memelord Jason Levin In 5 answers

Show the next 24

The questions

Building your MVP 18

Build the smallest thing that tests the biggest risk.

What actually counts as an MVP, and what's the smallest one I can get away with? 20 → How do I decide which features to cut from v1? 18 → How long should building an MVP take? 19 → Should I build an MVP at all, or can I validate without one? 20 → How do I get my first users for the MVP? 17 → All 18 questions in Building your MVP →
No-code & low-code building 18

Ship a product without writing code.

Which no-code tool should I use to build my first product? 20 → Can I really build a serious business on no-code, or will I hit a wall? 18 → Should I use an AI app builder like Lovable or Replit instead of traditional no-code? 20 → How do I connect payments and handle data if I'm building no-code in India? 20 → What can I build with just a spreadsheet as the backend? 20 → All 18 questions in No-code & low-code building →
Finding & working with developers 18

Get it built when you can't build it yourself.

I'm non-technical, do I actually need a technical co-founder? 18 → How do I actually find a technical co-founder? 19 → Should I hire an agency or a freelancer to build my MVP? 17 → How do I hire good engineers in India when everyone's competing for the same talent? 18 → How do I evaluate a developer's skill if I can't code? 19 → All 18 questions in Finding & working with developers →
Product design & UX basics 18

Make it obvious, not clever.

I'm not a designer, how do I make my product not look terrible? 18 → What are the core UX principles every founder should know? 20 → How do I know if my product is confusing to users? 17 → Should I learn Figma, and how much design do I really need? 19 → Why does good design actually matter for an early-stage startup? 19 → All 18 questions in Product design & UX basics →
Shipping, iterating & roadmap 18

Ship weekly, learn constantly, prioritise ruthlessly.

How do I decide what to build next? 19 → How often should an early-stage startup ship? 19 → How do I build a roadmap without over-planning? 19 → How do I keep talking to users while I'm heads-down building? 18 → How do product teams keep a consistent shipping rhythm as they grow? 18 → All 18 questions in Shipping, iterating & roadmap →
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →