Salomon Web Services
The graveyard of software projects is full of products that were technically well-built but commercially irrelevant. Founders spent $150,000 building something users didn’t want, in a way that took too long, by a team that didn’t understand the problem.
An MVP is the antidote — but only if you understand what “minimum” actually means.
What Is an MVP?
An MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is the smallest version of your product that delivers enough value for real users to use, pay for, or at least give you meaningful feedback on.
It is not:
- A prototype or mockup (those are wireframes)
- A demo you show investors that doesn’t actually work
- A product with every feature you imagined
It is:
- A working product that solves the core problem
- Stripped of every feature that doesn’t directly serve the primary use case
- Good enough to get real signal — people use it, pay for it, or tell you why they won’t
The First Question: Have You Validated the Problem?
Before writing a line of code, you should have evidence that the problem is real and that people will pay to solve it. This doesn’t require software.
Validation tactics that work:
- Landing page with a waitlist — describe the product, add a “Join waitlist” button, run $200 in Google Ads. If you can’t get 50 signups, you should worry.
- Sell before you build — pitch 10 potential customers. If 3 of them offer to pay even a token deposit, you have product-market fit evidence.
- Manual service first — run the service manually (via spreadsheets, email, human effort) for your first 5–10 customers. Automate only what you’ve validated.
If you skip validation, you’re building based on assumptions. Most of the time, at least one critical assumption is wrong.
How to Define Scope
The scoping question is: what is the minimum set of features that lets a user experience the core value of the product?
Use this exercise:
- Write down every feature you think the product needs
- For each feature, ask: “Can a user get value from the product without this?”
- If yes, cut it from the MVP
- Repeat until only the irreducible core remains
Example — a B2B scheduling SaaS:
Full vision: calendar sync, team scheduling, custom branding, video conferencing integration, client portal, payment processing, automated reminders, mobile app, analytics dashboard, white-labeling.
MVP: a single-user booking page where clients can schedule appointments with you. That’s it. No team features, no custom branding, no payment. Just: client picks a time, you get notified, calendar event is created.
Calendly built their first product as exactly this. Everything else came later.
Realistic Cost Ranges
SaaS MVP development costs vary significantly based on complexity and who builds it.
| Complexity | Features | Cost (US agency) | Cost (Nearshore) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | 1 core workflow, no AI, basic auth | $25,000–$50,000 | $10,000–$25,000 |
| Mid | 3–5 features, integrations, admin panel | $50,000–$120,000 | $20,000–$60,000 |
| Complex | AI features, complex data, multi-role | $120,000–$300,000+ | $50,000–$150,000 |
Timeline: 8–16 weeks for simple, 16–28 weeks for mid-complexity. Anything under 6 weeks is a red flag — that’s not enough time to build something reliable.
What a Good MVP Includes
Core functionality — the one workflow that delivers the product’s core value. Everything else is cut.
Auth and basic security — user login, password reset, basic RBAC. Don’t skip security, even in an MVP.
Basic admin panel — a way for you to see users, view data, and troubleshoot issues. This is often excluded and always regretted.
Error handling — what happens when something goes wrong? A product that crashes silently destroys trust fast.
Basic analytics — who signed up, who used it, what did they do. You need this data to make decisions.
Deployment and CI/CD — the product should be deployed on real infrastructure, not running on your laptop. Continuous deployment saves enormous time.
What to Cut
- Mobile app (launch web first, add mobile later if web succeeds)
- Advanced settings and customization options
- Team and multi-user features (until you have a reason to build them)
- Reporting dashboards beyond the basics
- Integrations with tools only some users will need
- Anything the user asked for but hasn’t paid for
The product backlog is where good ideas wait. Cut without guilt — you can always add later.
Choosing a Technology Stack
Don’t over-engineer the MVP stack. The right stack is one your team knows, scales reasonably well, and doesn’t require months of setup.
Common solid choices for B2B SaaS MVPs in 2026:
- Backend: Node.js/Express or Python/FastAPI for APIs; PostgreSQL for the database
- Frontend: React or Next.js (gives you SSR for SEO if needed)
- Auth: Auth0, Clerk, or Supabase Auth — don’t build this yourself
- Infrastructure: Vercel + Supabase, or Railway, or a single DigitalOcean droplet
- Payments: Stripe (non-negotiable)
Red Flags in Development Partners
If you’re hiring an agency or dev shop to build your MVP, watch for:
- No discovery phase — if they quote you a price before understanding your product, the quote is fictional
- Lowest bidder won — cheap offshore builds often result in unmaintainable code that costs more to fix than to rebuild
- No existing portfolio — ask for references from clients they built for, not just screenshots
- Promises too short timelines — 6 weeks for a real SaaS MVP is aggressive; 3 weeks is impossible
- No post-launch support — launch is when bugs surface. You need a team that stays
We help US founders and operators build software MVPs at nearshore rates — the same technical quality as a US shop at 40–60% less. Book a 30-minute call and we’ll tell you honestly what your idea requires to build.