MVP first or clients first? I keep getting stuck between both
Once and for all: MVP first or clients first?
I know distribution is what matters.
Especially now that building has become weirdly easy. Every second post is some version of “market before you build” and honestly, I agree with it.
But here’s the thing: I still catch myself and my team building instead of marketing.
We agreed on one final building sprint:
finish V1, start beta testing, then only build new features once at least 5 real users say they’re missing the same thing.
That “one last week” has now become two.
And I can see us polishing things that could probably be shipped uglier.
The part that messes with me is this:
Everyone says “don’t build before you have customers lined up.”
But when I talk to potential customers, advisors, founders, whoever - they ask:
“How far along is it?”
“Can I try it?”
“Have you used it on your own startup?”
“What exactly does the full product do?”
“How did you build that part?”
So the advice is: don’t build until people want it. But the people I’m talking to often want proof that it exists before they take it seriously.
So how do you decide, in the early stage, whether the week should be spent building the MVP or getting in front of customers?
Because I want to be client-first.
I just also don’t want to use “client-first” as another excuse to avoid shipping, or “shipping” as another excuse to avoid distribution.