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. If your Hindi or Tamil text renders as boxes or looks broken, it is usually a font problem, and Noto solves it for free across... Google Fonts Tool · font family Noto Fonts Google
  2. When you want to show a trend or a comparison instead of a raw figure, this poster tells you which chart fits the relationship... Financial Times Visual Journalism Team Tool · Interactive poster FT Visual Vocabulary Financial Times
  3. A free tool with an excellent how-to library that teaches clean chart and dashboard building as you go. It nudges you toward... Datawrapper Tool · How-to library Datawrapper Academy Datawrapper
  4. Once you understand RICE, you still need somewhere to actually score your ideas, and this free Notion template gives you the... Notion Marketplace Template · Ready to use template RICE Prioritization Worksheet (Notion template) Notion Marketplace
  5. If launching is a repeated habit rather than one event, you need a low-stakes place to keep launching, and Product Hunt is the... Product Hunt Tool · Web platform Product Hunt Product Hunt
  6. If you want to actually run a Now-Next-Later roadmap rather than just read about it, this is the tool built for it by the... ProdPad Tool · software, free trial ProdPad (Now-Next-Later roadmap tool) Janna Bastow, Simon Cast
  7. If reading is not enough and you want to drill the skill, this is Torres's own course on running interviews as an ongoing... Product Talk Academy Course Continuous Interviewing (course) Teresa Torres
  8. GV's free step by step playbook for finding your bullseye customer and running interviews, including the recruiting scripts and... GV / Michael Margolis Template Learn More Faster (GV Bullseye Customer playbook) Michael Margolis
  9. A ready made doc that lays out planning, review, and communication rituals across weekly, monthly, and quarterly horizons,... Phil Farhi, Coda Template · Interactive doc Product Operating Rhythm Phil Farhi
  10. Amazon's method of writing the outcome in plain language before any code exists, which forces you to make a request someone... Working Backwards (Bryar & Carr) Template · template + guide Working Backwards PR/FAQ template and instructions Working Backwards (Bryar & Carr)
  11. This is a ready made, minimal workflow you can adopt as is on your first hire: branch, open a pull request, review, merge,... GitHub Docs Template · 10 min read GitHub Flow GitHub
  12. An open source, self hostable feature flag service that gives you gradual rollouts and instant kill switches without building... Unleash Tool · Tool Unleash (open source feature flags) Unleash
  13. The free home of the four delivery metrics plus a quick check that tells you where your team stands, so you can judge process... dora.dev Tool · Reference and quick check DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) DORA
  14. A ready made now, next, later template plus guidance so you can build a date free roadmap today instead of starting from a... ProdPad Template The Ultimate Product Roadmap Template and How to Use It ProdPad
  15. A dead simple paper tool for the exact habit this question needs: give every part of your day a job before it starts, including... Cal Newport Tool · Physical daily planner The Time-Block Planner Cal Newport
  16. A daily planner built specifically for timeboxing, so you drag tasks (including your fixed support and sales windows) onto the... Sunsama Tool · Daily planning app Sunsama Sunsama

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 →