Build Mvp With Limited Resources

Whenever I talk with my CEO, we often discuss how to build our product. Usually, the CEO tells me, ‘I want to build a nice feature for a product-ready service with high scalability.’ So, If I ask them ‘when you want to get the feature?’, a typical response would be ASAP.

In a startup, we have very limited resources and tight schedules, and founders often want to achieve the goal (AKA MVP) within a strict timeline. As a CTO, I usually show this picture and ask to choose which qualities you want to get. Then, most of them point out the nicely done parts and ask one more question: ‘How much will you spend on that?’ Then they become quiet.

One of the common reasons why startups fail in terms of the tech side is that they often ignore technical debt because they want to build their MVP as soon as possible, and they religiously believe that is the key thing to achieve their success.

However, whenever I join a company as a CTO from seed to Series A stage, usually they have already spent over 2 years building a product. But the technical debt is almost always ready to kill the startups. I often tell them, ‘You need to replace your engine while you’re driving on the expressway; you can’t just stop. So prepare to crashdown.’

🚀 Here are a few things I suggest to build your MVP:

🧐 Hire Engineers Wisely: Almost always, you need to think about hiring engineers. If you choose the wrong framework or languages, you are doomed.

💰 Tech Budget Realism: Avoid chasing new technologies if your budget can’t accommodate skilled talent for them.

⏳ Beware of Legacy Tech: Don’t choose old technology, especially by considering outsourcing companies. Later, when you want to build your internal team, you won’t be able to find any talent willing to work with that.

🏗️ Embrace Imperfection: Think about your reality. What you build is most likely a very shoddy codebase, and you shouldn’t think that it’s good and mature, If not you will need to rewrite everything. This is exactly like having a severe disease but thinking you’re okay because you’re just taking a Tylenol.

💸 Future Spending: Don’t focus on how much you are currently spending; instead, think about how much you will need to spend.

🤔 Engineer Attitude Check:If your engineers become negative, it’s still fine – you can fix your MVP. If your engineers become quiet, you are doomed. 🚨

#startups #mvp #earlystage #founders