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 grounds the whole idea in the Indian context, where founders in cities beyond the metros are launching products without a... Scroll.in Article · 12 min read India's no-code boom has empowered a new wave of entrepreneurs Scroll.in
  2. Spolsky shows why big vague tasks hide the truth and why breaking work into small pieces surfaces real progress. That is the... Joel on Software Essay Painless Software Schedules Joel Spolsky
  3. An investor lays out the real risks of handing your core build to an agency: lost knowledge, agency incentives for speed over... Chris Neumann Essay Why I Don't Invest in 'Outsourced' Startups Chris Neumann
  4. A practical breakdown of how to tie payments to milestones with objective acceptance criteria and a holdback so the agency... Genie AI Article Milestone-Based Payment Structures: Protecting Your Investment When You Outsource Custom Software Development Will Bond
  5. This one focuses on the money mechanics: deposits, per milestone releases, retention amounts, and review windows. It supports... Genie AI Article Negotiating Payment Terms in Software Design and Development Services Contracts Genie AI
  6. An Indian payments company's practical playbook on structuring milestone payments, including proof of completion and review... Skydo Article Milestone Payments: Meaning, System, Templates and Playbook Skydo
  7. Even if you never use Upwork, this shows a working milestone model: fund one milestone at a time, review the submitted work,... Upwork Article Understanding Milestones on Fixed-Price Contracts Upwork
  8. Makes the case for a small paid trial before a big engagement, which is exactly your cheap first milestone. It explains how a... FreeUp Article How to Use a Test Project to Vet Freelancers FreeUp
  9. A focused guide to the milestone payment clause itself: how to tie amounts to deliverables, set review periods, and handle... fynk Article Milestone Payment Schedule: Essential Contract Clause Guide fynk
  10. A founder facing walk through of the whole engagement: brief, vet, contract, and launch, with a section on fixed price... icondevs Article How to Hire a Dev Agency: The Complete Founder Guide icondevs
  11. A checklist of the clauses that matter beyond price: scope, acceptance, IP, warranty, and termination. It helps you see a... Genie AI Article Essential Contract Clauses When Hiring a Custom Software Development Agency Genie AI
  12. A practitioner thread arguing over estimates, phases, and why 'almost done' is unreliable. It is worth skimming to hear working... Hacker News Thread Painless Software Schedules (2000): Practitioner Discussion Hacker News community
  13. Cooley is the law firm behind a huge share of venture-backed startups, and this short piece tells you exactly why your company... Cooley GO Article What You Need in Your Contractor Agreements Cooley LLP
  14. A plain founder-level explainer from a top startup law firm on why the person who writes the code owns it by default, and what... WilmerHale Launch Article Who Owns Your IP WilmerHale
  15. If your developer sits in France, Germany, the UK, or the US, this guide explains how code ownership actually works in each,... Orrick Article Intellectual Property Assignments from Software Developers (France, Germany, UK, US) Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
  16. A clear walk-through of what an IP assignment agreement is and how ownership moves from a person to the company, covering... Stripe Article How to Assign Intellectual Property to a Business Stripe
  17. Atlas built this guide with Orrick, and its blunt advice is to get signed IP assignments from everyone who touches the company,... Stripe Atlas Article Employment (Stripe Atlas Guide) Stripe Atlas with Orrick
  18. The most practical piece on this list: it tells you to own the repository from day one, set up GitHub in your business name,... Captain Pragmatic Article Do You Need Source Code Escrow? (Probably Not, But Here's When You Do) Captain Pragmatic
  19. A working handbook with ready-to-use contractor agreements and sample IP assignment language, including a version written for... Nolo Book Consultant & Independent Contractor Agreements Stephen Fishman
  20. A free companion to Nolo's book that lays out the two tools you need: a work-for-hire clause where it applies, and an... Nolo Article How to Protect Your Intellectual Property Rights in Works Created By Contractors Nolo
  21. A concise lawyer's post on the single most common and most avoidable legal mistake early startups make: never securing clear IP... The IP Law Blog Article Who Really Owns Your Startup's IP? Jeffrey Pietsch, Weintraub Tobin
  22. Y Combinator's own primer on the legal machinery of a startup, including why everyone must assign IP to the company or there is... Y Combinator Startup Library Article Startup Legal Mechanics Y Combinator
  23. A corporate-counsel reference on why the work-for-hire doctrine frequently does not cover software, and how to structure... Association of Corporate Counsel Article Quick Counsel: Software Work for Hire (United States) Christopher T. Varas, Association of Corporate Counsel
  24. The Supreme Court case that turned on two words, and this article explains why "hereby assigns" beat "agrees to assign" and... The National Law Review Article Agree to Assign vs. Hereby Assign: In Stanford v. Roche, the Wording Decided Kevin W. McCabe, The National Law Review

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 →