You don’t need code. You need clarity.

Most early-stage founders think the MVP is the end goal. Build something, launch it, and boom, users.

But in reality, the MVP is just the beginning.

Here’s the story of how we built a working MVP for $1,500 using no-code tools, got 50 users and why what we did next mattered way more than the tech stack.

The Backstory:

The founder came to me after getting ghosted by another agency. They’d burned 3 months and $9,000 trying to “build the full thing.” No feedback. No progress. Just a bloated Figma file and broken promises.

They were ready to give up. But I told them something simple:

Let’s stop building what you think users want.

Let’s build something that shows us what they do.

We mapped out the core outcome users cared about, scrapped 80% of the “features,” and launched a simple no-code version in 14 days.

It looked basic, but it worked.

What happened next:

50 users signed up. More importantly? We watched what they clicked.

What confused them. What they ignored. What they kept coming back to. We tagged feedback, tracked sessions, and built a heatmap of real behaviour.

And guess what?

The final product we built after that looked nothing like the original idea. But it worked, because it was rooted in real usage, not assumptions.

I’ve seen this story play out 20+ times. Founders waste months (and money) building full-featured products before validating anything.

But your MVP isn’t a launchpad.

It’s a lens. A way to see your users clearly, before you spend big. If I had to give you one rule:

Build the simplest version that proves something and let users show you what matters.

Ever shipped an MVP that surprised you? Or built something no one used?

I’d love to hear what you learned, drop it in the comments.