Before we dive into how to build an MVP with $0, make sure you have validated your problem space and have spoken to your ideal customer profile. For the step by step process on how to do that check out our previous article on "How to validate your idea quickly with $0".
Step 1: Ideate
If you properly followed the first step of idea validation (focusing on a problem and talking to potential customers), then now is the time to begin ideating.
How can you solve this problem? Maybe your initial idea still stands as a potential solution. Write it down.
How else can you solve this problem? Write down at least five different ways you could solve this problem for your ideal customer profile and we will get into how to build an mvp with zero dollars for one of them.
Be as imaginative or as simple as you want here. Let the creative juices start flowing. No idea is a bad one, if it popped into your head write it down.
Step 2: Roasting session
Now that you have written down a few ideas, it is time to start the roast session.
Go through each one and find any issue with why it won’t work. These issues should not be around time, money, or technical feasibility - we will save that for later.
Here you want to focus on why they won’t solve the customer’s problem.
Don’t spend too much time here. 5-10 minutes on each one. Pick which you feel is best. Honestly, a lot of it will be gut feeling. Even though you have tons of data, it is hard for you to consciously process it.
Once you pick it, it is time to figure out an MVP (minimum viable product).
Step 3: Coming up with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
What is an MVP? At its essence, it is all about finding the quickest way to test out if people will pay to solve their problem.
This is usually where people get stuck and end up running to Upwork to find a freelance developer to pay to build a “simple” app. No. This is not how you build an MVP with $0.
If you have to spend more than $100 to build your MVP, then it is not an MVP it is a prototype.
We want to simply show a tangible solution to put in front of our potential customers without actually having something ready to use yet.
Just remember an MVP = ready to buy, NOT necessarily ready to use.
An MVP will differ greatly depending on your business, but here are some examples:
A simple landing page that you can build on sites like Versoly for free:
(you don’t need a domain name but if you want one for about $10 use GoDaddy)
Your landing page should have three things: an explanation of what problem you are solving and how, a call to action (usually a simple email sign up), and a visual mockup of what the solution looks like.
The visual mockup applies to you if you are building some sort of software application. DO NOT go and code this. Simply use a tool like Canva to create a quick prototype of a dashboard or something and export it as a png or gif to add to your site. (see example of one we made for our product manager focus time tool that we put on the landing page).
Send your landing page to potential customers (use online groups and the ones you spoke to in the previous section) and see if they sign up. Because if they don’t even enter their email, you can feel confident knowing they sure as hell won’t pay you money.
Figma (and FigJam AI):
Figma is an incredible tool to create a simple but comprehensive MVP. We have used this many times and the reason it is so effective is because it really feels like a fully functioning software, app, or website.
It takes just a day to learn it and, in our opinion, it provides the best results at this stage. If you want help on how to use it, reach out to us here.
Once you create your clickable MVP on Figma, you want to reach back out to past ICP’s and ask to hop on another call to show them a prototype and get some feedback.
You can either share your screen and click through it for them, or better yet, share it with them and have them share their screen and click through it.
Make sure to tell them to think out loud and simply play around with it however they feel best. Do not give them hints or explain things to them. Stay quiet unless they really get stuck.
If they take actions you didn’t expect, ask them why. See how they react. What questions are they asking? Write this all down.
At the end, make sure to tell them that you created this in a day. This will remove any ego and allow them to be more honest if they do not like it.
Ask them what they think. Is it something they would use? Ask them if they would like to sign up for the beta and get notified when it is released.
Also keep track of what they ask you.
Good responses: “how much does it cost?”, “when can I try it?”, “do you have a free trial?”.
Bad responses: “wow that looks great”, “really cool”.
Overall, Figma is one of the best ways for how to build an MVP with $0.
A service-based MVP:
As Paul Graham said, you want to do things that don’t scale early on. (that's us in the picture offering driveway parking services to homeowners BEFORE building our app).
A service-based MVP is a great way to validate your idea and build an MVP with $0.
Why? Because you are using your time and no money to do it.
You may be thinking, “But I want to build an app, how can my MVP be a service?”.
Something to always keep in mind is that technology is simply a vessel to scale your solution, it is not the solution itself.
What is the job to be done for your ICP? And how exactly are you solving it?
For example, one of the problem spaces we were looking at was to help product managers find focus time and optimize their calendar.
Instead of building a software to automatically optimize their calendar, we offered to optimize it for them. They were doing it themselves anyways, and barely had time, so we simply offered to just do it for them.
The outcome and job to be done is the same. They get more focus time and an optimized calendar. We didn’t have to spend any money to do it, we only used our time.
This gives you the chance to see if people will pay to solve it and if you end up reaching your capacity and have too much demand then you know it is time to build a more scalable solution.
Anything else! Get creative:
Some examples here could be a simple one-pager to post online or share, dropshipping on Shopify, and anything else you can come up with.
A great example is the hose under the table. This is a story we heard where founders wanted to test out if people wanted to buy a Keurig machine but for alcohol mixers.
What they did was buy a coffee pod machine from Japan for $100 and stripped the inside out except for a hose.
They then set up a table at a food and drink pop up event and put the machine on the table with a sign “free alcohol”. They filled 4 buckets with mixed drinks and put it under the table, where a co-founder hid holding the hose connected to the machine.
When people began showing up they gave them the options of 4 mixer pods to choose from. When they would choose, the other co-founder who was standing would say something like “great choice, I LOVE RUM AND COKE”.
The co-founder under the table would hear this and put the hose in the rum and coke. The customer would then insert the pod and press the button and voila! Rum and coke would pour out.
The customers had no idea this was not a working machine and that the founder was under the table, but they got the exact experience they would have if it was real.
This gave those founders incredible insights and data to be able to actually go out and build the first prototype with confidence. The company is called Bartesian and they have had tons of success.
Step 4 - Iterate, iterate, iterate
The rest is in your hands. When you feel that this is something people want you can finally get started on building. Now you know how to build an MVP with $0.
Check out ufoünd if you need help finding your ideal customers or beta testers for your MVP!
Happy validating,
Eyal & Yoav
