A Guide to Building and Product Development (I will not promote)

*Recently, I interviewed a friend of mine who built an AI Robotics startup ("Hivebotics") that creates automated toilet-cleaning robots. I can't post the full article because of Reddit's word limit, so I'll be posting it in sections here instead. This section of the transcript goes through his approach to building and product development.* Enjoy and let me know what you think! (I will not promote) \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ # (2) Building and Product Development # Market Your POC for Early Product Validation A key insight I gained from observing Chinese companies was the value of early marketing using your Proof-of-Concept (POC). Many big tech founders underestimate marketing, but it can be a powerful tool. Early on, I didn't have the resources to build a full robot, but I had enough to create a video. This video showcased the concept of the product and demonstrated its potential, even though it wasn't an actual working robot yet. With just $600, I created a video and showed it to potential customers, and that helped me secure initial interest and resources. # Build the MVP Quickly When building a product, one of the most crucial lessons I learned early on was the importance of creating a minimum viable product (MVP) quickly. Convincing my co-founders was challenging, but it's essential to launch with something that demonstrates the core concept, even if it's a basic version. I've seen companies with plenty of funding who spent too much time in the lab, trying to perfect the product before releasing it, and that approach doesn't work. You need to put something out there, even if it's a rough prototype or a demo that isn't fully functional yet, to get validation and attract the next round of resources. As we moved forward after gaining interest with my POC, we built an MVP prototype. It wasn’t perfect; it used off-the-shelf components like a $100 steamer, but it was functional enough to demonstrate the core features. I did most of the coding myself, and the hardware was built by my co-founder. We also worked with an external development agency for some specialized components, spending about $10,000 to get the hardware right. Even though the prototype wasn't perfect, it was functional enough to showcase to potential customers. # Secure Customer Commitments Early On At this point, I didn't focus on perfecting the product—I focused on showing customers that it could work. This stage was about building interest and securing commitments. We collected letters of intent (LOIs) from potential customers who were interested but needed to see a working prototype before committing to purchase. The goal at this stage was to get funding to move forward. # Iterate using Customer Feedback and Sales Validation Once we secured pre-seed funding, we developed a more refined prototype and continued to show it to potential customers. I didn’t have enough resources to develop a fully functional product yet, but the feedback from customers was invaluable. We were still in the pre-seed stage, which means we were just getting to the point where we could build the prototype. With seed funding, we planned to refine the prototype and prepare it for commercialization. We moved from proof of concept to an actual working prototype by integrating an industrial-grade steaming system. While the robot wasn't yet stable enough for full deployment, it could perform basic cleaning tasks, and we were able to demonstrate this to customers. By getting early feedback, we were able to iterate on the product and make improvements quickly. We focused on solving the most critical problems first, and prioritized based on customer feedback. One important lesson here is that product validation comes through sales validation. You need to determine whether the solution you've built is actually commercially valuable, which you validate through securing early sales commitments like LOIs (i.e real-world proof that the customer would be willing to pay for your solution). At this stage, our robot could clean, and that was enough to secure some early orders. The key was to prove the value to the customer, even if the product wasn’t perfect. We kept iterating based on their feedback, which helped us to define and develop other features the product needed. The key point here is that the development process isn’t just about building the perfect product; it’s about showing enough to get customer interest, validating that interest through commitments, and then using that to secure the resources needed to move forward. Early customers helped us define the MVP, and their feedback guided us through the iterative process of refining the product. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Hope that was helpful for all you early-stage builders out there! As usual, let me know what you think in the comments along with any feedback.