A must read for founders: "The $1M MVP" by Patt Walls

I was recently reading a Google doc called "The $1M MVP" by Pat Walls and just realised how insanely valuable it is for founders. It contains concrete information on what to do and what not to do when building an MVP and takes like 15 minutes to read. It will save you years of time and headache.

Check it out here: https://x.com/thepatwalls/status/1856341863910760727

To just give an example, check out the excerpt from the doc below:

For example, let’s say you want to build an iPhone app. 

Option 1:

- Spend 6 months building an app

- Bang your head against the wall figuring out the tech, authentication, App store approval etc etc

- Take wild guesses at what features to build and hope for the best.

- Launch the app and hope for the best

- No customers, THEN you have to figure out marketing (which could take another 6 months).

- A year later, you MIGHT have a validated idea, but you might not.

Result: 12+ months of work, potentially nothing to show for it.

Option 2:

- In 24 hours create a landing page about your upcoming app. 

- You share that landing page with your network, online, and to potential customers

- The landing page collects emails through a waitlist. 

- You reach out to those customers and ask them about the most important features for them.

- You ask these customers what features they would pay for.

- You know exactly what features to build.

- You build up a strong waitlist

- Then you build the app in 1 month, and potentially have paying customers on Day 1, and you know it’s already validated.

Result: In 24 hours, you got enough information that helped inform your decision to build even further.

The MVR mindset is kind of like a “fake it til you make it” approach.

Sell the dream first, with a super stripped down approach. You don’t need all of the fancy stuff. Fancy logo, growth strategy, all the features, just focus on getting information.