Alternatives to an MVP Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Building a full-blown product is unwise at the early stage, as the startup will inevitably build the wrong thing. It’s best to test the market first. Minimum viable products or MVPs are a better solution than a product, as it’s cheaper and easier to do. The goal of the MVP is to generate a dialogue with customers and estimate demand. There are alternatives to building an MVP. Here are some examples: Create a datasheet showing the product you intend to build and sell. Show the features and benefits of it. Use this to spark a dialog with customers. In-person interviews work best so as to gauge interest and capture feedback. This can be especially useful in setting the initial price for the product. Another alternative is to create a website landing page with key information. Then drive traffic to it. This will demonstrate how interested or disinterested the target market is in the proposed product. Set up the landing page to take orders for the product to see how many actually sign up. Tweak the content till you have interest in the product. Pretend you have the proposed product available today and try to sell it. This will inform your decision about what to build and is far cheaper than an MVP. Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. Let’s go startup something today. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.

Copyright (c) 2026, Hall Martin and investorconnect.org. All rights reserved.

Disclaimer:
Hall T Martin is the director of Investor Connect, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to the education of investors for early-stage funding. All opinions expressed by Hall and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Investor Connect. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for the basis of investment decisions.