Building an MVP
Scope, cost, timelines and who to hire, with UK prices.
How to build an MVP in 2026: scope, cost and processPick one first user and the one job the product does for them, cut every feature that job does not need, then design the flows before anyone writes code. The scope decides the cost and the timeline more than anything else: my MVP Builds start at £12,000 and typically goes live in 4 to 6 weeks, depending on scope once the scope is written down.Building a SaaS MVP: the essentialsA SaaS MVP needs secure sign-in, one core workflow done well, data that each customer can only see their own of, subscription billing, a few transactional emails, error tracking, backups and honest legal pages. Teams, roles, SSO, usage-based billing, a public API and integrations can usually wait.Building an AI tool MVPAn AI tool MVP is a normal MVP plus three extra jobs: work out the model cost per request and cap it per user, design around provider rate limits and spend caps, and build a small evaluation set so you know the output is good enough before real users see it. The model call itself is the easy part.Fixed price vs day rate for MVP developmentWith a fixed price, the developer carries the risk of the work taking longer, so you pay a known amount for an agreed scope. With a day rate, you carry that risk and pay for time. Fixed price suits an MVP with a clear scope. Day rate suits open-ended work. A capped day rate sits in between.How long does it take to build an MVPA focused web MVP with one type of user usually takes 4 to 6 weeks for one experienced person, plus a week or two of scoping first. Marketplaces, native apps and complex payments add weeks. UK agencies publish 8 to 16 weeks of build, often after a separate discovery phase.How to scope an MVP in one afternoonSpend one hour each on four things: who the first user is and the one job the product does for them, the core flow from sign-up to that job done, a feature list sorted by three questions, and a written one-page scope with a time budget and a cut list. Hand that page to whoever builds it.MVP examples: real products and what they launched withDropbox launched with a screencast demo, Buffer with a two-page site and a pricing page test, Zappos by photographing shoes in local shops, Airbnb by renting space in the founders' own flat, and Product Hunt as an email list. Each tested one question with the smallest thing that could answer it.Questions to ask before hiring an MVP developerAsk to see products they built that are live, who will actually do the work, who designs the screens, what is in and out of the price, how changes are handled, who owns the code and the accounts, how they protect your users' data, and what happens after launch. Get the answers in writing before you pay.Should you use AI tools or hire someone to build your MVPBuild it yourself with AI tools when you are still testing whether anyone wants the idea and nobody pays through it yet. Hire when strangers will trust it with their data or money, when you are stuck on the same bug for days, or when your time is worth more spent on customers. Often the best answer is both, in that order.What to cut from your MVPCut anything your first user does not need to get value or to pay you: admin panels, notification systems, roles and teams, settings pages, native apps, integrations and polish. Do those by hand or with off-the-shelf tools. Never cut sign-in on private data, data security, working payments or basic error handling.
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