I’ve gotten many messages from founders who found the episode really useful, and one thing I took for granted really seemed to resonate with a lot of folks.
Prototyping ideas on
Figma (or any design tool) before building them in code (or whatever medium you are using).
Prototyping and testing our ideas in a design tool is always faster than coding/building a demo (even if you have ninja coding skills like me 💅).
With a simple prototype, no matter the stage of your business, you can first check whether it is feasible (can we build this thing) and, just as if not more important, talk to customers (do they need the thing).
We always want to make sure what we build is valuable, usable and feasible.
You can take that prototype and get feedback from current users, potential users and/or former users.
I’ve seen founders lose months, even years of work by optimistically thinking their idea is perfect without testing it and pouring thousands of euros/dollars/moneys into the hopeless model of “build it, and they will come”.
Fail fast and fail often is much easier when you test your ideas daily before committing to the much more significant investment of time and cash on the actual build.
The added bonus of prototyping and talking to people is that you will also have much greater confidence in your success and a framework for building a rock-solid product roadmap.
If you’ve never done a prototype test before, check out this great article written by Marty Cagan to give you a rapid crash course.