Essay

Vetting a startup: The systematic birth of WP Engine

Jason Cohen · A Smart Bear (Jason Cohen) Free Intermediate

Cohen, who built WP Engine into a unicorn, shows how he validated it by getting real people to commit real money before building. His bar is not people saying the idea sounds good, it is people who will hand over cash. This is the discipline that makes the no-code versus custom code debate mostly irrelevant early on.

  • Validation means people who will actually pay, not people who nod politely.
  • Cohen only proceeded after around thirty people said they would pay monthly.
  • You do not have a business until you talk price and get commitments.
Open on blog.asmartbear.com ↗

The question it answers

  1. I'm non-technical and can't afford a developer. Can I ship a real MVP with no-code tools, or will that trap me later?

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