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Test Before You Invest: The Pretotype → Prototype → MVP Sequence.
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Test Before You Invest: The Pretotype → Prototype → MVP Sequence.

Save months of development on features destined for the product graveyard.

Mike Watson's avatar
Mike Watson
Apr 08, 2025
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Test Before You Invest: The Pretotype → Prototype → MVP Sequence.
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Your product team excitedly gathers around a whiteboard, mapping out a feature that will "revolutionize the industry."

Six months and countless development hours later, you discover users are about as interested in it as they are in reading terms and conditions.

Sound familiar? You're not alone.


The Validation Trinity

The product development process has evolved far beyond the old "build it and they will come" mentality.

Today's strategic product leaders understand the crucial differences between:

  1. Pretotyping: Market validation with minimal investment. ("Would anyone care?")

  2. Prototyping: Experience validation with simulated functionality. ("Can users figure it out?")

  3. MVP: Solution validation with core features only. ("Does this solve the problem?")

Each represents a progressive investment level, designed to protect you from the most expensive mistake in product development: building something nobody wants, perfectly.

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