Building The MVP

Hello, on 2020 I launched Tutting, a marketplace for private tutoring. I imagined but never dimensioned the amount of effort required to build its MVP (Minimum Viable Product). As a sole founder you have to play all the roles (product management, engineering, design, customer support, financials and accounting, marketing, etc.).

Even though it was not easy, Tutting is the work that I'm most proud about.

The Idea

Every startup is born with an idea, but let me tell you something, an idea is worth nothing without execution. That is the reason why you must not be afraid of sharing it with others, it will help you to validate it as quick as possible and receive early feedback. An idea is not special by itself but your ability to execute it. Investors know this and specially on early stages.

The idea of Tutting came from a personal necessity. When I was at college I used to give private tutoring as a secondary activity to earn money. The first problem I faced was that at the beginning it was pretty difficult to find students. Time passed and then I enrolled for a traditional tutor agency, the problem of finding students was solved but other ones came in. I didn't have my own schedule, pricing or location preferences, even had several troubles with my payments.

So I though why can't I build a reliable platform, one that you can search for tutors, book lessons with them and automate the whole payment process. After all Uber, Airbnb had done marketplaces like this before so at some extent I knew it was possible.

Building It

With a problem to solve and an idea, the next step is to execute. Creating software is complex, the first thing you should do at least is to have clear what you are going to build. A product requirements document is a good start point, because it will define the product's features, functionality, scope, and purpose. And with that you have a better understanding on what's going to take to build it and possible approaches.

Don't go crazy developing a lot of features, you don't even know yet if the thing you are building will work. Instead, focus to create something that does one thing exceptionally right. For Tutting, this was to create the best experience to find and book lessons with tutors. When you have a clear goal distractions (unnecessary features) go away. Remember anything that you build that does not provide value to your stakeholders is a waste of time.

I have analyzed, designed, implemented and launched the product. Each one of these phases deserves its own blog post. With a clear idea and goal, I proceeded to create some mockups for the mobile application. The key value of them was to focus solemnly on the user experience, without distracting in visual design or technical implementations.

I strongly believe that quality is in detail, thats why since the beginning I created a brand and identity manual with the help of a designer. Then with that guidance a design system was created. The mockups helped a lot to understand what components were required and then build the final design prototype.

As a builder with its house plans, I proceeded to then define the technical implementation, architecture and technology stack to use. As an MVP the premise was simple, implement the best cost and time effective solution, don't reinvent the wheel. If is scalable better, but first you have to prove it and do not fall in premature optimization.

The development process started and in a matter of six months I had the application ready to go to production. It all involved users authentication, booking funnels, landing pages, payment automation, testing, profile settings, users verification process, develop and production environments, getting incorporated and much more.

Fundraising

Have I done fundraising? Raising capital is binary, it works or it doesn't work. It requires preparation, execution, effort and commitment. Why should you raise capital? Some reasons are to extend the life of the business, invest in growth, accelerate speed, or create new intellectual property. In short, you are selling risk and benefits.

You should not need to raise capital to build an MVP. (specially if you are an indie entrepreneurship) No smart investor will give you money if you have nothing to show or proof. If you are not capable of building the MVP yourself, then look instead for a cofounder. In the tech industry we call this person the CTO (Chief Technology Officer). The only people that you are probably able to raise money from at this stage is what we call the triple F (family, friends and fools).

Learnings

Entrepreneurship has been the experience that has made me grow more than anything else, and that's because it is painful. If you start a business you will fail cause that is what happens (about 90% of startups fail), the key is to have peace of mind that you can accept that failure and try again.

If you are young (or old enough), risks decrease significantly. What is the level of risk you are willing to take? If you fail who will get the punch? Media is overwhelmed that the idea of success is only creating your own business, in order to have freedom and no boss. That is nothing more than a big lie. Success is subjective, only you define how it looks. And more surprisingly happiness is a decision (willingness in Martín Seligman happiness formula).

Now I truly understand how difficult is to have a successful startup, even one that is pretty small. And because now I value it, I've found purpose and realization working with ones that seek a noble goal.