I'm just going to come out and say it. I don't like either of these two guys' responses. You cannot build a Minimal Viable Product without The Real MVP: the Most Valuable Problem. This is the problem that is so painful your target customers will PAY YOU to solve it.

95% of your startup business can be started, tested and figured out before a software developer is involved.

For example, a woman comes on Shark Tank to pitch her chocolate pretzel business. She's gotten her products into stores like Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, and Saks. She now has a HUGE order to fill for the holiday season but she doesn't have the capital to fulfill the order. So she raises money from the investors to pay for manufacturing because the business is there. She's proven it.

It's possible to do the same with building a software product, too! You can get investors to pay for the development work because your success/business is all but guaranteed.

Another example: My client is not technical at all. She has a serviced based business hosting events for like-minded singles in LA & NYC. She's going on 4 years. Now, she wants to build something scalable so she decides she needs an app...but she's not sure of all the features. Through our work together, in 3 months time, I had her prototyping the business assumptions of her new venture using only her Squarespace site...no developers needed.

I'd be happy to talk to you here or you can schedule a call on my website. Best, xx