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. This is the other half of your answer: what to do once the thing works. It walks a non-technical founder through when and how... TechCrunch Article How to hire your first engineer: A guide for nontechnical founders TechCrunch In 5 answers
  2. The CTO of India's largest broker explains how a tiny team scales huge load by optimizing the application before touching... Zerodha Tech Blog Article · 15 min read Scaling with common sense Kailash Nadh In 5 answers
  3. Linear is a small, largely distributed team that ships a famously polished product, and this breaks down how they organize... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~20 min read How Linear builds product Lenny Rachitsky In 5 answers
  4. Users judge attractive products as more usable, which is why polish matters and also why it can hide real problems. As a... Nielsen Norman Group Article · 8 min read The Aesthetic-Usability Effect Kate Moran In 5 answers
  5. The full book behind the essay, for when you want the system and not just the idea. It gives you the language of outcomes over... Melissa Perri (O'Reilly) Book · 200 pages Escaping the Build Trap Melissa Perri In 5 answers
  6. YC is the canonical authority on early-stage team formation, and this is their direct playbook for the exact problem a... YC Startup Library Article · ~12 min read How to Find a Technical Co-Founder Y Combinator In 4 answers
  7. A punchy, contrarian classic on building a lean, sane, profitable company from the founders of Basecamp. It's the antidote to... 37signals Book · ~288 pages Rework Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson In 4 answers
  8. This is the founder essay that made the case for validating before you build, from the person who did it with Buffer. Gascoigne... Medium (Joel Gascoigne, co-founder of Buffer) Essay How to successfully validate your idea with a Landing Page MVP Joel Gascoigne In 4 answers
  9. This is the piece that gives you permission to stop waiting for a big study. Nielsen shows that just five people uncover... Nielsen Norman Group Article · About a 10 minute read Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users Jakob Nielsen In 4 answers
  10. This is the canonical framing for exactly your question: not all messy code is the same. Fowler splits debt on two axes,... martinfowler.com Essay · About a 5 minute read Technical Debt Quadrant Martin Fowler In 4 answers
  11. This essay names the exact trap you are in: delays in launching are usually fear of being judged and excessive perfectionism... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read The 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups Paul Graham In 4 answers
  12. The cleanest distillation of the one framework that turns a customer chat into a relationship instead of a survey. The three... Sachin Rekhi's Blog Article · 10 min read A Primer on Talking to Customers From Rob Fitzpatrick's The Mom Test Sachin Rekhi In 4 answers
  13. Context on how Indian founders are actually using no-code to launch without engineering teams, with real examples. It is useful... KrASIA Article Indian Founders Say Yes to No-Code Tools Shreya Asopa In 4 answers
  14. Once no-code has carried you to traction, this is a grounded guide to building the early team you eventually need, including... Lenny's Newsletter Article Hiring your early team Lenny Rachitsky In 4 answers
  15. A free, fast preview of the Refactoring UI mindset that you can apply this afternoon. It gives you seven fixes (use more white... Refactoring UI (Medium) Article · 10 min read 7 Practical Tips for Cheating at Design Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger In 4 answers
  16. A deep, practitioner heavy set of guides from operators who built strong technical teams from scratch, useful once you commit... First Round Review Article · long read Hiring engineers First Round Review In 4 answers
  17. Finding a great engineer is only half the battle when everyone is competing for them, and this piece is about the other half:... Y Combinator Startup Library Article · Medium read Convincing engineers to join your team Y Combinator In 4 answers
  18. A venture firm's field guide to engineering hiring for founders, covering the full arc from defining the role to sourcing,... CRV Article · Long read How to Hire Engineers: A Guide for Founders CRV In 4 answers
  19. Cagan argues your job is to deliver outcomes, not to maintain a prioritized list of everyone's requests. That is the backbone... Silicon Valley Product Group (Marty Cagan) Essay · 10 min read Product Roadmaps Marty Cagan In 4 answers
  20. A high-signal, battle-tested framework for evaluating engineering talent from a leader who's done it hundreds of times.... First Round Review Article · ~20 min read My Lessons from Interviewing 400+ Engineers Over Three Startups Marco Rogers In 3 answers
  21. A crisp, visual reference of the psychology principles behind good UX, perfect for a founder who wants the 'why' without a... lawsofux.com Article · reference site Laws of UX Jon Yablonski In 3 answers
  22. The most-quoted primary source on why founders should launch fast and iterate, short, canonical, and from the co-founder of YC.... paulgraham.com Article · ~8 min read Startups in 13 Sentences Paul Graham In 3 answers
  23. The standard modern playbook for keeping discovery continuous so roadmap decisions stay grounded in real customer input, not... Product Talk Book · ~240 pages Continuous Discovery Habits Teresa Torres In 3 answers
  24. The definitive manifesto for building a 'calm company', remote-friendly, sustainable, and free of chronic overwork, from a team... 37signals Book · ~232 pages It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson In 3 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 →