I meet so many non-technical founders who have brilliant app ideas, a killer marketing pitch, and solid business plans — but zero progress on an actual product. They’re stuck waiting for some magical “technical co-founder” to appear and build their MVP. If this sounds like you, I’m going to be blunt: stop waiting and start prototyping.
Seriously, build your product now. And don’t worry if you can’t code yet. A prototype doesn’t require you to be a full-stack genius. All you need is any tool you’re comfortable with — ChatGPT, Zapier, Make, Bolt, Airtable, Bubble, Webflow, the list goes on! What matters is doing it.
Why do I hammer so hard on prototyping? Because it’s the best way to learn about your idea, your customers, and yourself before you spend big money and time on code. And let’s not forget that a working prototype can also help you snag that elusive co-founder, land early customers, or even woo a few investors.
But What Is a Prototype, Really?
A prototype is a simple, model of your product that lets you validate quickly. Think of it like a sketch that moves and responds - it's not the final painting, but it helps you figure out the composition. The key is that it's interactive, allowing users to click, tap, or navigate through your concept, even if some parts are just smoke and mirrors.
I believe the best definition of a prototype is:
Whatever you can make in 2 full days.
This timeframe is crucial - it forces you to focus on the essentials and prevents perfectionism from taking over. If you can't build it in two days, you're probably over-complicating things. Remember, a prototype isn't about perfection; it's about proving your concept quickly. While the 2 days is simply based on my experience, use it as a landmark for your own prototypes.
It can be super lo-fi “gray boxes,” or a high-fidelity design that looks almost final. It can be basic navigation between screens, or get wild with animations and server data. It’s basically a fake-but-functional mockup that answers crucial questions about your user experience, viability, and “how the heck does this solve my problem?”.
Examples of Prototype Types
- Paper Prototypes: Draw your app screens on paper and use sticky notes for interactive elements. Perfect for quick user testing - just slide different paper "screens" in front of users as they click through. In my opinion, this one is outdated. Even if you’ve never used any of the tools like Figma, you can still build an astonishing clickable prototype (next point) in Bolt.
- Clickable Mockups: This is the gold standard in 2025. ****Use tools like Figma or Bolt to create linked screens. For example, design a signup flow where clicking "Next" actually takes users through each step of the process. Although probably don’t spend time reinventing the wheel—you have nothing to prove with a sign up page. Build whatever’s unique to your product.
- Feature-Specific Prototypes: Build just your core feature. If you're making a photo editing app, prototype only the filter application feature using something like ChatGPT or Bolt. Every time we tell this one client to filter down the scope, they say “but without X we have no product”, while correct in some ways, they're missing the point. You can't validate the core value without building something first. Start small, prove one piece works, then expand from there. That's the whole point of prototyping.
To give you a tangible example, one of our partner’s projects was an app to guide students to become financially literate (savings, debt, investing, etc.) through gamification. The project’s planned scope was massive; paper stock trading competition, courses, gamification, profile building, etc. Yet we were able to build a prototype within a day (sure… a long day 😅). This minimal version allowed her to go out and do what she does best: get funding.
Everybody Should Prototype
This isn’t just the domain of designers and engineers. Anyone with a startup idea can and should prototype. Because everyone will learn something by actually building a version of the product.
“Creation is Discovery.”
— Bret Victor
He’s spot on. When you prototype, you learn. You might have a crystal-clear vision in your head, but once you start putting shapes on a screen, your assumptions get tested fast and you’re like “what the heck do I even want”. All of our clients and own projects have gone through a phase of “wait… but I don’t even know what I want to build”. Prototyping an iterative way of figuring out what your product truly needs to do.
6 Reasons You Need to Prototype More
- Save Time
- I know it sounds weird, but trust me: prototyping is always faster than coding. If you’re thinking, “We don’t have time to prototype,” that’s nonsense. You actually save time by catching mistakes early and refining your concept before real development.
- Save Money
- Fewer dev cycles, fewer reworks, fewer resources wasted. Enough said.
- Understand the Problem Better
- You think you already know your solution, but prototyping reveals blind spots. Your first prototype might suck — good! You’ll have learned something you never would’ve caught with just an idea in your head.
- Get Feedback Quickly
- People won’t know if they want your product until they can touch it (even if it’s only semi-functional). A prototype invites stakeholders, potential customers, and co-founders to give meaningful feedback right away.
- Get Started Immediately
- Procrastination is a killer. Prototypes cut through that inertia because you can whip up a rough design in a day. Maybe it won’t look perfect, but you’re making progress, not just talking about it. This prototype hopefully gives you more motivation to continue working on it instead of dreaming about it.
- More Iterations = Better Product
- The more times you tweak, the better your final product. The big enemy to iteration is time and money, but a prototype is cheap and fast. So you can iterate more, and end up with a far stronger solution.
- In "Art & Fear," David Bayles shares a story about a ceramics teacher who divided his class into two groups. The first group would be graded solely on quantity (50 pounds of pots = A), while the second group would be graded on quality (one perfect pot = A). During the evaluation at the end, guess who had a better pots? The quantity group. While they were churning out pot after pot, learning from each mistake, the quality group sat theorizing about perfection and produced little.
- While this is an art story, we take it to heart with SaaS and so should you. The lesson? More iterations, even rough ones, lead to better results than pursuing perfection from the start. It also follows the second principle of The Cult of Done, “Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.”
How to Begin (Fast)
- Pick a Tool
- Don’t overthink this. If Keynote is your jam, run with it. If you want something more app-like, Figma is a great choice. If you’re onboard the AI train, Bolt is your go-to. There are dozens of options — just pick one and move.
- Define the Prototype’s Goal
- Are you trying to see if Feature X resonates with users, or do you just need a rough concept for potential investors or tech co-founder? Know your aim.
- Prototype in Rapid Cycles
- Mock up a small section, test it with a friend or a colleague, iterate, repeat. Don’t be afraid to toss prototypes and start fresh. Each version gets you closer to the final product. When do you know you're done? When your prototype successfully demonstrates your core value proposition and helps you answer your key questions. Don't get caught in an endless cycle of refinement. It’ll be a tough transition to real development due to the time and cost investments. You’ll be looking back at your prototyping days with nostalgia, remembering how quickly you could test and validate ideas. But that's exactly why prototyping is so valuable - it lets you fail fast and learn faster, setting you up for success when you do move to full development.
Closing Thoughts
Listen, I get it: as a non-technical founder, you might dream of a star co-founder who can handle the tech for you. But nothing shows you’re serious like having a tangible prototype in hand. It crystallizes your vision, energizes potential partners, and proves to investors (and yourself) that you mean business.
So stop waiting. Take a page out of your own entrepreneurial playbook and just start. Build a prototype, show it off, gather feedback, and iterate. Trust me, you’ll be miles ahead of everyone else still waiting for their “technical co-founder” to magically appear.
Now go forth and prototype. You’ll thank yourself later.
Best of luck founders o7
