Everything version one
demands, in order.
Step by step guides for non-technical founders, arranged the way the work actually happens. Start at stage one if you have an idea and nothing else. Jump ahead if you are already building.
Twelve guides across the three stages of a first build: deciding what belongs in version one, getting it made, and what to do once it is live. Written by product managers who scope MVPs for a living, for founders who cannot write the code themselves.
Before you build
Deciding what version one should be. This is the week that saves the money, and the stage most founders skip.
What an MVP should actually mean for a first time founder
Not a demo, not a prototype, not a half built platform. A working product that does one job properly.
How to define your ICP before you write a feature list
Most bad first versions are not badly built. They are built for everyone, which means nobody.
How to decide what goes in version one
A simple test for every feature on your list: if you remove it, can a user still finish the job?
What a PRD is, and why your build needs one
The document that keeps a two week build from quietly becoming a three month one.
The build
Getting it made. Which tools fit which problem, who to trust with the work, and what a good build week looks like.
Lovable, Bubble, or custom code: how to choose
What each one is genuinely good at, and what you give up by picking it.
Questions to ask a studio before you pay them
The answers that tell you whether they will push back, or just build whatever you asked for.
What actually happens during a two week build
A day by day view of the work, so you know what to expect and when to be available.
How to review a prototype before you approve it
What to look for at sign off, and the questions worth asking while changes are still free.
After launch
Getting the first users, reading what they actually do, and deciding what deserves to be built second.
How to get your first 10 users without a budget
Where early users really come from when nobody has heard of you yet.
What to measure in the first month after launch
The short list worth watching, and the vanity numbers that will mislead you.
How to tell if you have found product market fit
The signals that mean keep going, and the ones founders talk themselves into believing.
How to decide what to build second
Your cut list is not dead. It becomes a roadmap once real users show you which part mattered.
Guides or blog, depending on what you need.
The guides
Evergreen and practical. How to write a PRD, define an ICP, cut a feature list, choose a tool. Read these to actually do the work, in the order the work happens.
The blog
Opinions, teardowns, and notes from real builds. Dated and argumentative. Read those to see how we think about scoping decisions before we make them.
Read the blogWould rather not do all this yourself?
These twelve guides describe the first week of every Firstspec engagement. Book a free call and we will do it with you, then build what survives the cut.
Get a free consultationClarity first. Then the build.
Two weeks from now you could have a live product, scoped properly. Book a free call and find out whether your idea is ready.
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