Video · About 25 minutes

Building Product

Michael Seibel · Y Combinator (YouTube) Free Beginner

Building Product

Michael Seibel names the exact trap directly: founders who act like an artist getting the thing in their head into the world, rather than a business owner serving what customers actually want. His blunt line, launch something bad quickly, is the counter-habit to endless building. It is a short, high-signal warning against over-building before you have proof anyone wants it.

  • The idea in your head may be something customers do not want at all, so ship early and let real usage correct you.
  • Trying to make everything scalable and perfect before launch is a classic way to build features nobody asked for.
  • If you take one thing away: launch something bad quickly, then learn from real users instead of adding more.
Watch on YouTube ↗

It answers 4 questions

  1. How long should building an MVP take?
  2. My first 5 customers were friends who signed up to be nice. How do I know if any of them actually want the product?
  3. What are the warning signs that I have weak founder-market fit and I'm forcing it?
  4. Do I even have a real problem, or just a solution I'm attached to?

Read with 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
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. 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
  6. Video · ~25 min How to Talk to Users Eric Migicovsky
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