Skip to content

Custom Software

SaaS and MVP development: each stage answers one question

A new product moves through stages: a prototype to show the idea, an MVP to test it with real customers, then a product many customers can use without you. Each stage exists to answer one question. The screens built to answer it are often rebuilt. The foundations underneath, such as accounts, the core record, history and each customer's data kept apart, are built once and carried forward.
Talk through your productSee the three stages ↓
PrototypeDo managers understand it?MVPWill managers send requeststhrough a link?SaaS productWill firms setthemselves up?clickable screenssample requestsmanagers want photoson the requestnothing kept but the lessonrequest linkphotoscontractor inboxstatus updates54% · not yet+ tenant link · same codeworkspacesplansonboarding checklist↓ same foundationbuilt once, carried forwardaccounts and roles · the request record · history · each firm's data apart

Three stages, three questions

What's built for real at each stage depends on the question, not on how much time there is.
PrototypeDo people understand it?NothingThe data, the back end, everything behind the screens
MVPWill they use it for real work?Accounts, the core record, history, separationOnboarding, billing, reports, the rare cases
SaaS productWill it grow without us?Workspaces, plans, onboarding, monitoringLess every month

Built properly from the first real user

Once real customers' data is in the product, these are expensive to redo. So they're built right the first time.

  1. 01

    Accounts and roles

    Who's who

    People sign in as themselves, belong to a firm and have a role, from the first day.

  2. 02

    The core record

    The thing the product is about

    For this product, the maintenance request: its fields, states and links, designed to last.

  3. 03

    History

    What happened, when

    Every change is kept, so questions about real use can be answered later.

  4. 04

    Separation

    Each customer's data apart

    Every record belongs to one firm, so the second customer never sees the first one's data.

  5. 05

    Measurement

    The number that answers the question

    The stage's question is counted from the start, in the product itself.

Three ways a stage ends

The rule is written before the stage starts, so the evidence makes the decision.

Continue

Evidence
the answer is yes, by the rule written at the start
Next
build the next stage on the same foundation
Kept
everything, including the measurement

What product development hands off

In

The question
and the rule for deciding
Users
what they actually do
Foundations
already built
Product development
build what the question needs

Out

A decision
continue, change or stop
Foundations
carried forward
Measurements
behind the decision

Worth doing when you can name the question

Good fit

  • You have a product idea and a first group of customers to try it.
  • You can say what result would make you stop.
  • You expect to keep building if it works.

Not the right fit

  • The software is for your own team. An internal tool or platform fits better.
  • Nobody outside the team has heard the idea yet. Talk to customers first.

Where this capability is used

Next to SaaS & MVP development

Questions about SaaS and MVP development

Shouldn't an MVP be cheap and thrown away?

The screens may be rebuilt; the foundations shouldn't be. Accounts, the core record and history cost little more to build properly once, and rebuilding them later means moving real customers' data.

How do we know when to move to the next stage?

Write the rule before you start: what result means continue, change or stop. Then the evidence decides.

Do you work with non-technical founders?

Yes. We write the question and the decision rule with you, and say plainly what's being built for real and what isn't.

Is the prototype code?

Often not. It can be design files or a clickable mock-up, and it's meant to be thrown away once it has answered its question.