Before writing a single line of code, smart founders validate their assumptions and prepare properly. This checklist ensures you don't waste time and money building something nobody wants.
1 Problem Validation
Identified a specific problem
Can you describe the problem in one sentence? Who has it?
Talked to 10+ potential users
Real conversations, not surveys. Understand their pain deeply.
Validated people will pay
Pre-orders, LOIs, or clear willingness to pay for a solution.
Understand current solutions
How are people solving this today? What are the alternatives?
2 Market Research
Defined target market size (TAM/SAM/SOM)
Is the market big enough to build a business?
Researched competitors
Direct and indirect. What are their strengths/weaknesses?
Identified your differentiation
Why will people choose you over alternatives?
Defined ideal customer profile (ICP)
Demographics, behaviors, needs—who exactly are you building for?
3 Feature Planning
Listed all potential features
Brain dump everything users might want.
Identified the ONE core feature
What single feature delivers the most value?
Prioritized MVP features (MoSCoW)
Must have, Should have, Could have, Won't have.
Cut scope ruthlessly
If it's not essential for Day 1, remove it.
Created user stories
"As a [user], I want to [action] so that [benefit]"
4 Business Model
Defined pricing strategy
Freemium? Subscription? One-time? Per-seat?
Calculated unit economics
LTV, CAC, margins—does the math work?
Identified go-to-market strategy
How will you acquire your first 100 users?
Set success metrics
What numbers prove you should keep building?
5 Technical Preparation
Chose tech stack
Based on requirements, not hype. Consider scalability.
Created wireframes/mockups
Visualize the product before building. Test with users.
Estimated development timeline
Realistic timeline with buffer. MVP should be 6-12 weeks max.
Planned for analytics
How will you track user behavior and key metrics?
6 Launch Preparation
Built a waitlist/landing page
Start capturing interest before launch.
Prepared launch channels
Product Hunt, Hacker News, relevant communities.
Set up feedback collection
How will users tell you what's working/broken?
Planned beta user recruitment
First 10-50 users who'll give brutally honest feedback.
💾 Keep This Checklist
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Bookmark This PageWhat Happens After the Checklist?
Once you've completed this checklist, you're ready to start building. But building is just the beginning—the real work is in iterating based on user feedback.
Remember: An MVP is not a crappy version of your vision. It's the smallest thing you can build to start learning from real users.
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