Landing page vs functional MVP to test an idea? 🤺

Do whatever is hardest, first.

If it's easy to build, talk to people first.

If it's easy to find people, build it first.

one more thing: Limit yourself to 2 weeks for everything.

Create an MVP within 2 weeks and get it in front of people. If you can't build it within 2 weeks, edit what your MVP should be. If you're looking to solve a problem, making an INFO product first might be easier and you can write a Gumroad sales page within an hour. Then iterate infinitely.

I frequently write about this kind of stuff in my Micro SaaS Newsletter and discuss about validating MVPs, talking to users etc.

In most cases, Option 1 of creating a landing page and inviting signups should work and is recommended too. You can mimic a MVP functionality with some Figma mockups and take this forward with a landing page and few screenshots/mockups. But the mental model is that - If you think, you will be able to get 100 signups with a working protoype/MVP, you should be able to get at least 10 signups with just a landing page.

Having said that there are some exceptions too. For scenarios where a working MVP is a must and for scenarios where building a prototype is super easy and take 3-4 days, you can go with Option 2 of creating the MVP and experimenting. But if the MVP takes a couple of months, its recommended to go with Option1

Build the thing that is going to prove utility to your users, and will give you the validation that they need it. A landing page is not that.

I think most comments are leaning towards landing page. I think this is probably right, but I would caution that you should make sure that the audience you drive to your landing page is the right one. I've seen (sometimes first-hand) when companies throw a landing page up and share it on indiehackers, produchunt etc and get loads of sign ups and are pumped to get started, but those signups are not the real target audience - they're just other tech/product people that get excited about new ventures.

The result of that is that you go deep into development feeling you've validated there's demand, but there isn't, there's just nosey/curious hackers who want to track your progress but don't want or need what you're building. If you can avoid that problem then I think landing pages are right :)

Build the landing page first. 100%. It is to quickly and cheaply test if there is a need for the solution to the problem you are solving. Spending time and resources on products that people have no need for is the number 1 startup killer (Ref: CBInsights) Spend time validating the problem as much as you can.

The landing page should serve two purposes

1. Validation

• That there is a need for the solution to the problem you want to fix
• There is a big enough market

2. Getting an initial list of users

• Collect emails through the landing page. This is your initial list of customers, who likely are facing the problem you are going after. You want to stay close to them, interview them, take their feedback on potential solutions and the keep them in the loop when developing.

When I started my startup, we built a landing page with a wait list and created IG and FB ads. Got 1500 people on the wait list. Put them on a slack group, and took their feedback throughout the journey.

Lastly what you have right now is your idea to the solution to the problem. It may or may not be the best way to go about it. Speaking with potential customers will help you refine your idea and get closer to the best solution.

Validate and stay close to your customers.

From my point of view, MVPs give you more qualitative feedback and that is what you need.

Landing pages likely lead to superficial feedback because people may not really understand your plans from bare explanations. Since everything's hypothetical it's too hard to see if they're really interested and down to invest effort. Actions speak louder than words.

Bad feedback might be worse to no feedback because it guides you in the wrong direction.

If you can build out a MVP in acceptable time, do it. If the effort is huge, try landing pages or tricks like a Concierge MVP. Still, be critical with feedback acquired from landing pages.

3- OR, identify your potential niche by talking to people (you might have to try several niches), presell to them to make sure you're building something that people need, then build the MVP according to their needs. As a bonus, by the time you build your product you already have paying customers, a clear copy and testimonials to put on your landing page (just use your customers' own words), and, probably, product-market fit.

It really depends on the size of the project. I think you might get away with an MVP if your project is easy to build and market (e.g. a WordPress plugin), landing page-first is for more complex projects that you don't want to waste your time on, and talking-first is for even more complex projects.

There are two main ways to get feedback from potential customers or clients. The first one is through a landing page. Landing pages usually have a clear call to action, such as a button or link directly leading to your sales funnel. However, they don’t give much insight into whether someone would want your product or service.

The second method is called a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This allows you to test out your ideas without investing too much time or money. An MVP is often built using code – which means you can start testing functionality immediately after building it.

A good way to decide between these options is to consider whether you are looking at a conversion rate optimisation (CRO) campaign or a marketing automation tool. If you are building a CRO campaign then a landing page would be the best option. This is because the main goal is to generate leads or conversions and therefore the focus is on driving traffic to the site. The page allows visitors to read through the details about your service/product and take action.

Also, both landing pages and MVPs are useful tools that marketers use everyday. If you want to see what kind of responses you'll get from your landing page, launch one now. Launch an MVP later if you want to gauge customer interest in your idea.

For me, a landing page is enough to see if people understand your unique value proposition. Post it in FB groups or where your target is. It helps you start conversations with your potential customers, and set Zoom calls with them to better understand their problems.

MVP is about finding early adopters and collecting feedback to improve your product.

I prefer building out a basic working prototype, even if has to use google sheets as a database; Then take it to people and get their feedback.

IMO It's very easy to promise things from a distance but it takes quite some effort to build for the user to actually consume before giving feedback.

Why not create a landingpage to get signups for your MVP:)

I think in order to (in)validate your idea, the most important thing to do is to get feedback from your target customers and have more insights into the problem and your solution. Sometimes a good looking landing page is not enough because it only tells you if ppl are interested or not. The difficult parts are how to make customers willing to give you feedback and how to ask questions.

There is a big difference between "People need SOMETHING" and "People need THIS"

A landing page ...
verifies that "People need SOMETING". But it doesn't tell you anything about your product (whether you solved the pain with the right solution).

But only an MVP...
verifies that "People need YOUR THING"

Why can't you do both, validation + building?
Within 2 weeks you could:

1. Define what problem you are solving, and for whom.
2. Reach out to ~5/10 people and ask them to quickly discuss a potential problem they are facing in their area.
3. Define what an MVP might look like based on your assessment of the problem.
4. Repeat the exercise!

Landing page first. See if they sign up : I did not to that for fabform.io but I should have.

I can recommend getting the landing page first:

I created one, basically explaining my idea and promising a discount of some sort (when it is online) for people providing their e-mail. Then I went to reddit for advertising. You can gather the data on how many clicked on reddit ad (150 EUR already provides good insights, because the numbers are kind of consistent over time - at least from my point of view) and how many entered their email (if one is not interested, one probably would not provide a real email or any email).

Those numbers should give you a good idea on the question whether there is a market for your product.

Building an MVP can be quite hard: It took me close to a year and I am not done yet. But I would not invest this amount of time if I had not the data from the landing page gathered previously.

Was reflecting on this topic last week:

Founders keep asking the same question — how to build an MVP?

It depends… how you hack it.

Hacking is your innovation in certain areas of business. It can be technology, operations, resource management, hiring, remote team management, outsourcing work, and intelligence.

So it depends more on those fundamental factors but not on whether you will use the outsourced dev team to get your MVP together, hire someone in-house or find a tech co-founder.

It is about what kind of innovations you can do in business at the moment.

When painters paint, they first get it out there as a sketch and then take it from there.

So it’s more of a what kind of things are you going to be innovative enough to win with or without an MVP.

Just start already building it!

You learn by doing it.

***

I'd go with the landing page option. But the landing page is just a tool, you can make it all work with just a slide deck or a mockup. In deciding what way to go after, there is more to consider, but some good research and validation are always great.

For example: are you building something new? Or are there competitors on the market? Maybe the market is already validated by others.

If you have the skills to build an MVP, it's almost always better to build an MVP. The trick is to limit yourself what the MVP is and launch it very quickly (2-3 weeks).

If you don't have the skills to build an MVP, then a landing page is a good first step. Just be careful that the data you gather from the landing page might not be very representative of how people will like your actual product.

I have both but I am still afraid my MVP wouldn't stand out and how would I convince them that It will be improved.

I would say it depends on the startup idea, scope and business sector... Example:marketplace or ecommerce can go with landing page and fake MVP to present, and it will work great.

Going into a process management, financial sector, healthcare, etc. it becomes harder with landing page especially if you are solving/substituting a process in those sectors is kind of hard to go with landing page, where an MVP is the minimum to have.

There's a quote, don't know who originated it, but I heard it first from one of my mentors about 20 years ago:

The Fast will always eat the Slow.

For lots of situations, an MVP is a requirement, but as others have commented, you should still have a landing page, to gather email addresses of "interested" people.

From a marketing perspective, the hardest thing it to get someone to "take an action" (e.g. click a button, fill in a form, read a page, watch a video, etc.). Each individual action has drop-off from the previous action - which makes it extremely important to logically guide your potential user to the next action in the process.

So, I would believe the first step in any acquisition process is "Learn More", which means you will be creating some type of landing page (or landing site). If that's the first step in the process, then start there - create a Landing Page.

If a MVP is required, then make that Step 2.