Don’t Build the Whole Product—How Minimum Viable Testing Saves Time and Accelerates Learning

When a small team in a cramped co-working space wanted to launch a new scheduling app, they worried about wasting months building features people might not want. Instead, after a late-night brainstorm and sandwiches on their cluttered table, they created clickable PDFs and a short video showing how booking appointments would feel. No real software, just a few hours of work. They sent it out to ten early users—four ignored it, three loved the ability to reschedule with one click, and the rest got stuck on the calendar view. Only then did the team start building, focusing on the two most-requested features. Their first real version launched just two weeks later. Feedback was immediate—users were surprised how quickly changes showed up.

The next time you have a new project, pause before diving into full development. Grab whatever tools are handy—slides, simple graphics, or even phone photos—and build a quick demo or mock-up of your core idea. Schedule short conversations with potential users, asking them to walk through your demo and react openly as you watch. Listen for what sparks excitement, where they hesitate, and anything they ignore. Keep tweaking your mock-up and holding sessions until certain requests come up in nearly every conversation. This small investment in pre-building will let you focus on what matters and avoid months of wasted work.