0 to 1 in 90 days: what to build and what to skip
A week-by-week plan for taking an idea to a live product with paying customers, written by someone who has done it three times.
Ninety days is enough. Not because software got easier, though it did, but because most of what founders spend their first year on does not matter.
The plan below assumes you have direction and can work on this seriously. It does not assume funding, a team, or a technical co-founder.
The most valuable part of this playbook is the skip list at the end. Read that first if you only read one section.
Weeks 1 to 2: Decide what you are actually building
Two weeks, no code. This feels slow and saves you two months. The output is a written document you would be comfortable showing an investor, and a list of twenty named prospects.
- 01Fifteen problem interviewsTalk to people in the segment about how they handle the problem today. Do not describe your idea until the last five minutes.
- 02Write the one-pagerWho it is for, what changes for them, why now, what you charge, and why you are the person to build it.
- 03Cut the scope in halfThen cut it again. The first version does one job for one type of user.
- 04Pick the stack and stop thinking about itBoring, modern, one you can move fast in. Stack choice is not a strategic decision at this stage.
- Five people described the same pain in similar language
- At least three said they would pay, and named a number
- You can explain the product in one sentence without using the word 'platform'
- You know the single action that means the product worked
Weeks 3 to 6: Build the thin slice
A thin slice is the smallest complete path from a stranger arriving to a job being done. Complete matters more than small: half a workflow teaches you nothing.
- ◆One workflow, end to end, working properly
- ◆Auth, payments and a basic account page, all off the shelf
- ◆Manual behind the curtain wherever automation is expensive. Humans are a valid backend at this stage.
- ◆Instrumentation from day one: every meaningful action fires an event
- ◆A landing page that explains the offer, with the price on it
If it takes you longer than four weeks to build the first version, you scoped the wrong first version.
Weeks 7 to 8: Ten design partners
Not beta users, design partners. They pay something, even if it is discounted, and in exchange they get direct access to you and influence over the roadmap.
- 01Onboard each one personallyA live call where you set it up with them. You will learn more here than from any analytics tool.
- 02Set a success metric togetherAgree what has to be true in 30 days for this to have been worth their time.
- 03Weekly check-insFifteen minutes. What did you use, what did you avoid, what annoyed you.
- 04Ship visiblyEvery fix you make from their feedback gets announced to them by name. This is how you earn references.
Weeks 9 to 11: Pricing, funnel and the first real revenue
Now you turn a product people use into a company that gets paid. Three things happen in parallel.
| Workstream | What good looks like at day 90 |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Published, tested against two alternatives, with a clear reason for the tier boundaries |
| Funnel | Landing page to signup to activation, instrumented, with the drop-off known |
| Acquisition | One channel producing conversations every week without you buying attention |
- ◆Raise the price at least once. Early prices are almost always too low.
- ◆Write the onboarding email sequence. Five emails, each about one thing.
- ◆Fix the biggest activation drop-off before adding a single new feature
Week 12: Decide honestly
At day 90 you make one of three calls, and the discipline is to make it explicitly rather than drift.
- 01Double downCustomers pay, use it weekly, and refer others. Now you scale the one channel that worked.
- 02RepositionPeople like it but will not pay. Usually a segment problem, not a product problem. Same code, different customer.
- 03StopNobody activates, nobody pays, and the interviews were polite rather than urgent. Stopping in 90 days is a win, not a failure.
The skip list
Everything here feels productive and none of it moves you closer to revenue in the first 90 days.
- ◆Incorporating in three jurisdictions before you have a customer
- ◆A brand identity project. Pick a typeface, pick two colours, move on.
- ◆Building your own auth, billing, admin panel or design system
- ◆Mobile apps when a responsive web app answers the same job
- ◆Hiring anyone before the product has users
- ◆Fundraising conversations before you have something to show
- ◆Feature requests from people who are not paying you
- ◆Migrating stacks, rewriting, or optimising for scale you do not have
- ◆Conferences, accelerator applications and networking as a substitute for building
You do not need permission, a co-founder, or a round. You need ninety days of honest work and someone willing to pay you at the end of it.