Building & Testing a Simple MVP (Mod 1 • Ep 4) | Starting a Company

Most founders waste months building something nobody asked for—because they misunderstand what an MVP is. In Module 1, Episode 4 of Starting a Company, you’ll learn how to run the fastest, cheapest experiment to test your single most critical assumption before you build anything real.

In this episode, we bust the biggest MVP myth, then walk through a clear framework for choosing the right MVP approach—Concierge, Landing Page, or Prototype—based on your biggest unknown (demand, willingness to pay, or product experience).

What you’ll learn

What an MVP actually is (and isn’t)—why “smallest version of the product” is the wrong goal

The one question every MVP must answer: “Will people actually pay for this?”
Three MVP types with examples

Free + low-cost tools to run real tests without a dev team or budget (Notion, Typeform, Stripe, Carrd, Mailchimp/ConvertKit, GA, Figma, Maze/Useberry, Loom)
Why Carrd is a go-to for founders—and what a good MVP landing page needs
How to define success before you launch so you don’t rationalize weak results
How to read results honestly, including “Not Yet” vs “Never” signals and a 4-question debrief
Decision time: Pivot, Persist, or Walk Away (and how to choose)

Key takeaway
Your MVP is not about features—it’s a validation machine designed to get a real answer fast, using real signals (especially payment or simulated payment), not compliments or “I love this idea.”

Your action steps this week

Define your critical assumption
Pick an MVP type + tools
Set your threshold + launch date
Then ship—even if it’s “just” sharing a Carrd link with strangers. Real signal beats perfect preparation. [Building-a...Simple-MVP | PowerPoint]

Coming next
Episode 5: Talking to Customers Without Steering the Conversation—how to run discovery interviews that reveal what people really think and how to turn that into product decisions.

📣 CTA (Call to Action)
If you’re building a startup (or thinking about it), subscribe for the full Starting a Company series.
✅ Like if you want more practical frameworks (not fluff).
💬 Comment: What are you testing right now—demand, willingness to pay, or product experience?

🏷️ Tags
starting a company, startup, entrepreneurship, minimum viable product, MVP, build an MVP, MVP framework, validate startup idea, startup validation, idea validation, product validation, product market fit, early stage startup, customer validation, willingness to pay, landing page MVP, concierge MVP, prototype MVP, MVP myth, test before you build, pivot or persist, startup experiments, Carrd tutorial, Carrd landing page, Stripe preorders, Google Analytics for startups, Figma prototype, Maze usability testing, customer discovery, startup tools, lean startup
(These tags align tightly with the episode content: MVP definition, three MVP types, tools list, Carrd demo, thresholds, interpretation, and pivot/persist/walk away.)


#️⃣ Hashtags
#Startup #MVP #Entrepreneurship #ProductValidation #BuildInPublic