Video · ~15 min

How to Plan an MVP

Michael Seibel · Y Combinator Startup Library Free Beginner

Michael Seibel's crisp framing of holding the problem and customer tightly while holding the solution loosely, the mindset that keeps competitor and problem research honest. Free and canonical.

  • Hold the problem and customer tightly, the solution loosely
  • Talk to a few users before building, a little research beats none
  • 'No competitors' often signals a weak problem, not a blue ocean
  • Iterating changes the solution; pivoting changes the problem
Open on ycombinator.com ↗

It answers 16 questions

  1. I'm non-technical, do I actually need a technical co-founder?
  2. When is my product 'ready' to launch?
  3. What if my customers say they have no competitors, is that good or bad?
  4. How do I build a roadmap without over-planning?
  5. Who are my real competitors once I think in jobs to be done?
  6. How do I actually validate my idea with a no-code prototype before I sink weeks into building the real thing?
  7. What's a fair way to structure a milestone-based contract with a dev agency?
  8. How do I run a weekly ship cadence when I am non-technical and depend on a dev agency or freelancers?
  9. Everyone says do things that don't scale, but where's the line between that and just wasting weeks doing manual work?
  10. Is it a mistake to fall in love with my solution before I understand the problem?
  11. Should we ship an ugly, half-working version now or wait until it feels good enough to be proud of?
  12. Should my MVP be a mobile app or a web app? My users are mostly on phones in smaller Indian cities.

And 4 more across the hub.

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 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
  3. 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
  4. The origin text for the modern MVP and validated-learning vocabulary every founder now uses. Read it for the mental model that... theleanstartup.com Book · ~330 pages The Lean Startup Eric Ries
  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. 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
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