Some of the most heartbreaking stories from all the time I’ve spent advising early entrepreneurs is when they tell me they have this great startup idea and they’re already paying a developer to build it out.
I love the aggressive attitude and the can-do spirit. But there are like a million things you need to do before you start spending money on that freelancer or offshore team.
Wait.
Five.
There are actually five things you need to do before you hire a software developer.
Step 1: Build Your Prototype
If you’ve already built a prototype, move on to Step 2.
You’re probably familiar with the concept of a minimum viable product (MVP) — and if not, that’s the next step.
Because the greatest misconception about an MVP is that you build it to prove that your idea can be pulled off. That’s not the case. An MVP proves an idea should be done. A prototype proves it can be done.
Now, should you develop the prototype yourself? Most definitely, because you don’t even have to learn to code yet. Building a prototype is more about learning to Hack Shit Together. It’s like building a regular MVP, only there’s a lot more duct tape.
There are all sorts of platforms that can emulate tech functionality with a much more manual approach. I’m talking about WordPress, GSuite, Zapier, Slack, and so on. These let you drag-and-drop your way to building mockups of apps, databases, APIs, whatever, with absolutely no code — you can literally fake the whole thing.
Your prototype should do one thing — the thing that’s going to prove out the functional viability of your idea — and do it such that you can visualize the user experience in a way you can document.
Now, should you launch the prototype as an actual real-world product? Absolutely not. But you can show it to people you trust to get their feedback, which you can use to develop your MVP.
If the prototype works, you’ve completed Step 1. Four more to go and then it’s the software developer’s problem.