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. Facebook's first design VP explains what design actually is beneath the surface of pretty screens. She frames it as solving a... The Year of the Looking Glass Essay · 8 minute read Why Design Julie Zhuo In 2 answers
  2. This answers the flip side of the question, how much design to do yourself versus when to bring in a real designer. It lays out... First Round Review Article · 30 minute read The Ultimate Guide to the Founding Designer Role First Round Review In 2 answers
  3. This is the single best starting point if you think design just means making things look nice. Riley wrote it as an open letter... Wells Riley Essay · 15 min read Startups, This Is How Design Works Wells Riley In 2 answers
  4. Graham argues that good design is not just personal opinion, it has real properties (simplicity, honesty, solving the hard... Paul Graham Essay · 25 min read Taste for Makers Paul Graham In 2 answers
  5. The book behind the site, and worth it if you want the reasoning, not just the rules. Yablonski walks through familiar apps and... Laws of UX Book · Approx. 150 pages Laws of UX: Using Psychology to Design Better Products and Services Jon Yablonski In 2 answers
  6. The law in the author's own words, with the reasoning and the stakes spelled out. Nielsen explains why users transfer... Jakob Nielsen (Substack) Essay · 7 min read Jakob's Law of the Internet User Experience Jakob Nielsen In 2 answers
  7. Testing with the wrong five people teaches you nothing, so this piece helps you decide who your five should actually be.... Lenny's Newsletter Article Identify your bullseye customer in one day Michael Margolis In 2 answers
  8. Concrete rules for writing the words on your buttons and menus so nobody has to decode them. It covers using a verb plus a noun... Nielsen Norman Group Article · ~9 min read UI Copy: UX Guidelines for Command Names and Keyboard Shortcuts Anna Kaley In 2 answers
  9. Kapoor, a builder at Figma, breaks down the habits that let small teams keep a fast shipping rhythm without collapsing into... Lenny's Newsletter (Mihika Kapoor) Article · 20 min read How to ship like a startup Mihika Kapoor In 2 answers
  10. A runaway roadmap is usually a list of every decent idea, and this piece is the antidote. Build half a product that is great... Basecamp (37signals) Essay · ~3 min read Getting Real: Half, Not Half-Assed Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson In 2 answers
  11. A clear tour of roadmap styles that shows exactly why a feature by date roadmap sets you up to over promise. Torres contrasts... Product Talk Article · ~15 min read Product Roadmaps: How the Best Product Teams Plan for Uncertainty Teresa Torres In 2 answers
  12. Cagan makes the sharpest version of the argument: replace a list of features with a small set of outcomes you are trying to... Silicon Valley Product Group Essay · ~10 min read The Alternative to Roadmaps Marty Cagan In 2 answers
  13. A short, quotable case that the cadence at which you ship defines your company, and that shipping small and often is safer than... Intercom Blog Essay · 8 min read Shipping is your company's heartbeat Darragh Curran, Intercom In 2 answers
  14. This gives you the actual checklist a request has to clear before it earns a yes, starting with whether it fits the vision and... Intercom (Des Traynor) Essay · 10 min read Rarely say yes to feature requests Des Traynor In 2 answers
  15. Cutler names the exact trap your short answer warns about: shipping feature after feature while nobody measures whether any of... Cutle.fish Essay 12 Signs You're Working in a Feature Factory John Cutler In 2 answers
  16. Explains how to keep every change ready to release at any time, which is the technical backbone of a weekly staging link. It... DORA (Google Cloud) Article · ~10 min read Continuous delivery DORA (Google Cloud) In 2 answers
  17. This is the warning label for treating every customer request as a build order. Chen shows how a team can keep shipping... andrewchen.com Essay This is the Product Death Cycle Andrew Chen In 2 answers
  18. The nuanced counterweight: PMF isn't a single binary moment, it can be lost, and 'market' is doing more work than founders... a16z.com Article · ~20 min read 12 Things About Product-Market Fit Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
  19. The most systematic step-by-step process for de-risking an idea, built around the Lean Canvas. Where The Lean Startup gives... LEANSTACK Book · ~240 pages Running Lean Ash Maurya
  20. The primary-source telling of the milkshake story, the single most memorable illustration of Jobs to Be Done, straight from... HBS Working Knowledge Article · ~8 min read Clay Christensen's Milkshake Marketing Clayton Christensen (via Harvard Business School)
  21. A genuinely India-tailored guide with INR pricing, DPDPA 2023 compliance, Razorpay/Cashfree/Setu wiring, and a decision tree... productgrowth.in Article · ~20 min read Bubble for Indian Founders, 2026 Guide Product Growth (India)
  22. Directly answers the scoping question non-technical founders wrestle with, build in-house vs. outsource, backed by patterns... YC Startup Library Article · ~10 min read Does Your Tech Startup Really Need a Technical Co-Founder? (Yes) Y Combinator
  23. The canonical PM-community reference on choosing what to build next, from the most-read product newsletter. A pragmatic... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~15 min read Prioritizing Lenny Rachitsky
  24. The definitive text on how strong product teams discover and deliver products customers love, from the most cited voice in... Silicon Valley Product Group Book · ~370 pages INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love (2nd Ed.) Marty Cagan

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 →