Before you touch a line of code.
Checklist:
- Can you describe the problem in one sentence?
- Have you talked to real humans with this problem?
- Are they already solving it with Excel / Notion / duct tape?
- Would they pay for a better solution?
If yes → continue.
If no → stop coding.
🧪 Step 1 — Build the Smallest Possible Thing (MVP)
Your MVP is not v1.0 — it’s an experiment.
Rules:
- One core feature
- One user flow
- Zero optional settings
- As little code as possible
If you’re building microservices for an MVP — you’re doing it wrong.
📣 Step 2 — Launch Early (Earlier Than You Want)
Dev brain says:
“Let me polish this 3 more weeks…”
Ignore it.
Announce your MVP in:
- Twitter/X
- Dev.to 😏
- IndieHackers
- Niche communities
- Private Discord/Slack groups
You aren’t launching a product — you’re launching a conversation with users.
🔁 Step 3 — Iterate With Data
Collect:
- Where users drop off
- What they click
- What confuses them
- What they expected to happen
- What they tried but couldn’t do
Then:
- Fix the biggest blockers
- Kill unused features
- Add what users repeatedly request
💸 Step 4 — Monetize Early
Charging money early is not greedy — it’s validation.
Try:
- Beta pricing
- Preorders
- Founding users plan
- Usage-based billing
- Monthly subscriptions
If people pay → real problem.
If they don’t → hobby project.
🧠 Step 5 — Scale After Product/Market Fit
Only after users ask for:
- Teams support
- API access
- Features in your backlog
- Reliability & uptime
Then:
- Architect properly
- Add monitoring
- Set up CI/CD
- Secure the system
- Think about DB scaling
Don’t start here — finish here.
🏆 Final Tips for Devs
- Don’t fall in love with code — fall in love with the problem
- Speed > Perfection
- User feedback > Your intuition
- Simple > Beautiful
- Done > Perfect
- Launch → Learn → Iterate → Repeat
Go build it. 🚀
Source: DEV Community.
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