Tips For Technical Startup Founders | Startup School

Rapid Prototyping

Rapid prototyping is crucial for early-stage startups. Diana Hu advises building a prototype quickly, even if it doesn't fully work, to demo to users and gather feedback. She highlights the importance of using prototyping software like Figma or InVision for software companies and 3D renderings for hardware companies 1. Diana shares examples from companies like Optimizely and her own startup, Escher Reality, to illustrate how rapid prototyping can lead to valuable user insights and quick pivots 1.

   

MVP Launches

Launching an MVP involves iterating based on user feedback and refining the product. Diana Hu stresses the importance of using both hard data (analytics) and soft data (user feedback) to guide iterations. She cites examples from companies like Wepay and Segment, which pivoted and continuously launched new features to achieve product market fit 2. Diana also discusses the balance between building new features and addressing technical debt, emphasizing that some level of tech debt is acceptable in the early stages 3.