You've validated. You've designed. Now comes the part where most founders either ship too slowly (and run out of money) or ship too quickly (and build garbage).
The trap is perfectionism disguised as quality. You add "just one more feature." You refactor code that works. You debate tech stack choices for weeks. Meanwhile, your competitor ships something uglier, faster—and wins.
Here's the truth: Building an MVP isn't about writing perfect code. It's about shipping something real fast enough that you still have runway left to iterate.
What You'll Learn
Week-by-week breakdown: setup, core features, polish, launch—without sacrificing quality.
Choose boring technology. Use what you know. Skip the hype.
Foundation, core features, polish, and launch prep—in that order.
Write tests for critical paths. Skip premature optimization. Accept technical debt strategically.
Feature creep, perfectionism, skipping deployment early, ignoring security basics, and solo building too long.
Reading time: 15 minutes | Time to build: 6-8 weeks
The 6-8 Week Build Framework
Most MVPs can be built in 6-8 weeks if you're ruthless about scope. Here's the timeline that works:
- Week 1: Setup and foundation (10% done)
- Weeks 2-4: Core features (70% done)
- Week 5-6: Polish and testing (90% done)
- Week 7-8: Launch prep and first users (100% done)
Notice what's missing: No "planning phase" (you already did that in Design). No "v2 features" (they're not in the MVP). No "perfect refactoring" (ship first, refactor later if needed).
An MVP built in 6 weeks that gets users is better than a "perfect" product built in 6 months that nobody sees.
This timeline assumes one developer working full-time, or two developers working part-time. If you're coding nights and weekends, double it to 12-16 weeks. If you have a team of 3+, you're probably building too much.
Tech Stack Decisions That Matter (And Ones That Don't)
Founders waste weeks debating tech stacks. Here's the truth: for an MVP, it almost doesn't matter.
What Actually Matters
1. Use What You Know
If you know Ruby on Rails, use Rails. If you know React, use React. Learning a new framework while building your MVP is like learning to swim while drowning.
2. Choose Boring Technology
Pick proven, stable tech with good documentation and a large community. Don't be the first person to use that new framework for production.
- Frontend: React, Vue, or Next.js (not the hot new framework from last week)
- Backend: Node.js, Python (Django/Flask), Ruby (Rails), or PHP (Laravel)
- Database: PostgreSQL or MySQL (not a trendy NoSQL database unless you have a specific reason)
- Hosting: Vercel, Railway, Render, or DigitalOcean (not "bare metal servers I'll configure myself")
3. Use Managed Services
Don't run your own auth server. Don't build your own payment processing. Don't manage your own email infrastructure.
- Authentication: Auth0, Supabase Auth, or Firebase Auth
- Payments: Stripe (just Stripe)
- Email: SendGrid, Postmark, or AWS SES
- File storage: AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, or Supabase Storage
- Analytics: PostHog, Mixpanel, or Google Analytics
What Doesn't Matter
Framework debates: React vs Vue vs Svelte? They're all fine. Pick one and move on.
Monolith vs microservices: For an MVP with 10 users? Monolith. Always monolith.
SQL vs NoSQL: Unless you have a specific need for NoSQL (you probably don't), use PostgreSQL.
Perfect architecture: Your MVP architecture will be wrong. That's okay. You'll refactor when you have users and revenue.
The Four Build Phases
Phase 1: Foundation (Week 1)
Goal: Get your development environment working and deploy a "Hello World"
What to do:
- Set up your repository (GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket)
- Configure your local development environment
- Set up your database (local and production)
- Deploy to production (yes, on day 1)
- Set up CI/CD so deployments are automatic
- Implement basic authentication (sign up, log in, log out)
Why deploy on day 1: If deployment is hard, you'll avoid it. If it's easy (because you set it up early), you'll deploy often. Deploy often = faster feedback = better product.
End of week 1: You should have a live URL with working authentication, even if there's nothing else yet.
Phase 2: Core Features (Weeks 2-4)
Goal: Build the 3-5 features that make your product useful
What to do:
- List your core features (from your Design phase)
- Rank them by priority
- Build them one at a time, starting with #1
- Deploy each feature as soon as it works (even if it's ugly)
- Test with real users after each feature (friends, beta testers, anyone)
The one-feature-at-a-time rule: Don't build features in parallel. Finish one, deploy it, test it, then move to the next. This prevents you from building things nobody wants.
What "working" means: Users can complete the task. It doesn't crash. It saves data correctly. That's it. Perfect UI? Nice-to-have. Edge case handling? Later. Performance optimization? Only if it's unusably slow.
End of weeks 2-4: Your core features are live and testable. The product does what it promises, even if it's rough around the edges.
Phase 3: Polish & Testing (Weeks 5-6)
Goal: Make it not embarrassing
What to do:
- Fix obvious bugs: Things that crash, data that doesn't save, buttons that don't work
- Improve the UI: Make sure text is readable, buttons are obvious, spacing isn't chaotic
- Add basic error handling: What happens when things go wrong? Show a message, don't crash silently
- Write tests for critical paths: Sign up, core features, payment (if applicable)—don't test everything
- Mobile responsiveness: Does it work on phones? It should, even if it's not perfect
- Performance check: Is anything unusably slow? Fix those things only
What to skip: Pixel-perfect design. Animations. Advanced features nobody asked for. Over-engineering for scale you don't have.
End of weeks 5-6: Your MVP looks presentable and works reliably for the core use cases.
Phase 4: Launch Prep (Weeks 7-8)
Goal: Get ready for real users
What to do:
- Set up analytics: Google Analytics, Mixpanel, or PostHog—know what users do
- Add basic monitoring: Get notified if your app goes down (UptimeRobot, Sentry)
- Create onboarding: What does a new user see? Make it obvious what to do first
- Write help docs: FAQ, how-to guides for core features (keep it short)
- Prepare your launch post: Where will you announce this? LinkedIn, Twitter, Product Hunt?
- Soft launch: Get 5-10 users using it before your "official" launch
End of weeks 7-8: You're live, you have early users, and you're collecting feedback.
Quality Without Over-Engineering
Quality matters. Over-engineering kills MVPs. Here's how to balance them:
Write Tests, But Not All Tests
Test these:
- Core user workflows (sign up, main feature, payment)
- Critical business logic (calculations, data transformations)
- Anything that's expensive if it breaks
Don't test these (yet):
- UI components (save this for when the UI stabilizes)
- Edge cases you haven't seen in practice
- Code that's changing every day
Rule of thumb: 20-30% test coverage for an MVP is fine. 80% is overkill. 0% is reckless.
Accept Technical Debt Strategically
Some technical debt is fine. Some will kill you. Know the difference:
Acceptable debt:
- Messy code that works (refactor later if needed)
- Basic UI instead of beautiful UI
- Manual processes that you'll automate later
- Features that are "good enough" instead of perfect
Dangerous debt:
- No authentication or authorization
- Storing passwords in plain text
- No database backups
- Hardcoded secrets in your codebase
- Core business logic that's fundamentally broken
The rule: Take shortcuts on polish and features. Never take shortcuts on security and data integrity.
Performance: Fix Real Problems Only
Premature optimization is the root of all evil. Here's when to optimize:
- Optimize if: A page takes >3 seconds to load, users complain it's slow, you can see the slowness yourself
- Don't optimize if: You think it "could" be faster, you're worried about scale you don't have, you're optimizing for 10,000 users when you have 10
Your MVP doesn't need to handle 1 million users. It needs to handle 100 users well. Optimize when you hit real limits, not theoretical ones.
Five Build Mistakes That Kill MVPs
Mistake #1: Feature Creep
You validated 5 features. You designed 5 features. But now you're building 12 because "it would be cool if..."
The problem: Every extra feature adds 1-2 weeks. Twelve features = 6 months delayed. By the time you launch, your market has moved on. Build exactly what you validated. Nothing more.
Mistake #2: Perfectionism Disguised as Quality
You rewrite the login flow for the third time. You debate button colors for an hour. You refactor code that already works.
The problem: Perfect is the enemy of shipped. Users don't care if your code is elegant. They care if your product solves their problem. Ship something that works, even if it's ugly.
Mistake #3: Not Deploying Until "It's Ready"
You build for 8 weeks on your laptop. Then you try to deploy. Nothing works. You spend 2 weeks debugging deployment.
The problem: Deployment should be boring. If you deploy on day 1 and every day after, it's never a big deal. If you wait until the end, it's a crisis. Deploy early. Deploy often.
Mistake #4: Ignoring Security Basics
You skip authentication. You store API keys in your code. You don't validate user input. "It's just an MVP."
The problem: Security breaches kill startups. Basic security isn't optional. Use a proven auth library. Never store secrets in code. Validate inputs. Back up your database. These take hours, not weeks.
Mistake #5: Building in Isolation Too Long
You build for 3 months without showing anyone. You finally show users. They're confused. The main feature doesn't make sense. You rebuild from scratch.
The problem: Assumptions don't survive contact with real users. Show people your product every week. Even if it's broken. Feedback is cheaper when you have less to undo.
How to Know When You're Ready to Launch
You're ready to launch when:
- Core features work: Users can sign up and complete the main task without errors
- It's live and accessible: Anyone with the URL can use it
- You've tested with 5+ people: They weren't confused. They completed the task. They understood the value
- Basic security is in place: Authentication works. Data is validated. Secrets aren't in your code
- You have analytics: You'll know if people use it and where they get stuck
You are NOT ready when:
- The UI isn't pixel-perfect (it never will be)
- You haven't built every feature you brainstormed (you shouldn't have)
- The code isn't clean (refactor when you have users)
- You're worried about scale (optimize when it's a problem)
- You want "just one more week" (you'll always want one more week)
If you're not a little embarrassed by your MVP, you launched too late.
Final Thoughts
Building an MVP is not about writing great code. It's about learning fast. The code you write today will probably be rewritten when you have product-market fit. That's fine. The goal is to get to product-market fit before you run out of money.
Ship in 6-8 weeks. Get users. Collect feedback. Iterate. This is how you build products that people actually want—not products you think are perfect.
Next in this series: Scale - how to grow your MVP from 100 to 10,000 users without everything breaking.
Built an MVP Recently?
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