Most startups fail from building too much too soon — not from lack of passion. This playbook walks you through validation, MVP focus, co-founder alignment, and choosing the right funding path.
Landing page, waitlist, and five customer interviews in one weekend. That is enough to know if you are solving a real problem or falling in love with an idea.
Ship one core job-to-be-done well. Twelve features where users only need two is not an MVP — it is a waste of months.
Discuss equity, roles, and exit expectations before the product ships. Politeness without alignment kills more startups than bad code.
Bootstrap for control. Raise VC for speed. Neither is pure. Pick based on your timeline, sleep needs, and whether you can grow without capital.
You don't need a product to test demand. I use this weekend validation sprint before writing code.
I shipped too much and too little at the same time. An MVP should solve one problem well.
We didn't talk about equity, roles, or exit expectations early. Almost destroyed a good product.
Twitter debates bootstrapping vs raising. Both work. Pick based on your goals and sleep needs.
Not every idea deserves more time. Failing fast saved me a year of pain. Here's what I learned.