Consulting · Stages 02–03 of the MVP1 methodology
Know exactly what you are building — and prove it works — before a line of code is written.
Most platform budgets are destroyed in the first few weeks, not the last. This is the engagement that converts your idea into a locked scope, a designed product, and a working prototype real prospective customers validate before you commit build capital.
Fixed scope. You own every asset. Delivered by a structured methodology, not a discovery workshop.
The short answer
What is product discovery, design and validation?
Product discovery, design and market validation is a structured pre-build engagement that turns a concept into a product you can see, click and sell before any code is written. MVP1 Ventures delivers it in two phases.
Product Discovery defines the product: personas, user journeys, a product requirements document with acceptance criteria, wireframes covering every Version 1.0 journey, and a roadmap. Design, Prototype and Validate turns that definition into a design system, high-fidelity screens, an interactive prototype, and structured sessions with real prospective customers.
You finish holding a product that exists in every respect except code — 20 to 30 wireframes, up to 40 high-fidelity screens, and a clickable prototype — plus documented evidence from real prospective customers that it solves the problem you believe it solves, and a vendor-neutral developer handover pack any competent engineering team can build from.
This covers Stages 02 and 03 of the MVP1 methodology, and is Track 2 of the Founder's Accelerator Program.
The gap
You are not short on ideas. You are short on certainty.
You have the market knowledge and the budget. What you do not have is a document that tells a development team precisely what to build, in what order, and what "done" looks like. That gap costs money in three specific ways.
Strategic risk
Scope written in conversation gets interpreted in code. Every ambiguity becomes a change request, and every change request resets your timeline. The build does not fail loudly — it drifts quietly, until the number no longer resembles the quote.
Capability gap
Your team runs a profitable business. It has never run a product definition process, priced a feature against commercial value, or arbitrated between what users ask for and what the platform needs. That capability lives in product organisations. You are buying it, not building it.
Missed leverage
A designed, clickable product is an asset before it is software. It sells to customers, recruits your first users, anchors investor conversations, and lets several development partners quote against identical scope. Founders holding this asset negotiate from strength.
Phase A · Product Discovery
A locked, costed, buildable scope.
We define the product. Personas, user journeys, the full feature universe — then the hard prioritisation call on what belongs in Version 1.0 and what waits for the roadmap.
What you receive
- Product Requirements Document — features, user stories, acceptance criteria and a maintained out-of-scope log. The document that stops a build from drifting.
- Customer personas and user interaction model — who uses the platform, what they are trying to achieve, and the path they take end to end.
- Wireframes — 20–30 black-and-white screens covering every Version 1.0 journey, with the data elements behind each transaction identified.
- Product roadmap and solution architecture — the release sequence beyond V1.0, and the technical shape that supports it.
- Brand brief — tone, positioning, look and feel, ready to drive the design phase.
- Build quote and delivery schedule — a fixed scope, priced, with a timeline you can plan a business around.
The commercial effect: your build scope becomes fixed-price-able. Ambiguity is where developer margin and client overruns both live. Phase A removes it.
Phase B · Design, Prototype & Validate
Proof that people will pay, before you fund the build.
We turn the defined product into a designed one, then put it in front of the people who will pay for it. Requires approved wireframes from Phase A, or an equivalent input we assess first.
What you receive
- Brand and visual identity application — logo development where required, colour, typography and a full style guide applied consistently across the product.
- Design system — reusable components that keep the product coherent as it grows, and cut development time on every future feature.
- High-fidelity screens — up to 40 production-ready designs covering the complete Version 1.0 experience.
- Interactive Figma prototype — clickable, realistic and demonstrable. Not a mockup; a product simulation.
- Early-adopter validation — structured sessions with real prospective users, findings documented and design changes made before build, where changes cost hours instead of sprints.
- Developer handover pack — specifications, assets and component documentation any competent engineering team can build from directly.
The commercial effect: you carry a demonstrable product into every conversation that matters — customer, investor, partner and development vendor — long before software exists.
Which phase do you need?
Phase A and Phase B, side by side.
Commit to one phase or both. If you already hold approved wireframes and a documented scope, Phase B can run on its own.
| Phase A — Product Discovery | Phase B — Design, Prototype & Validate | |
|---|---|---|
| The question it answers | What exactly are we building? | Will anyone actually use and pay for it? |
| Starting point | A concept and market knowledge | Approved wireframes and a documented scope |
| Core output | Product requirements document and wireframes | Interactive prototype and validation evidence |
| Design work | Black-and-white wireframes only | Full brand application and design system |
| Customer contact | Personas and journeys, defined internally | Structured sessions with real prospective users |
| What you can do next | Quote the build across several vendors | Sell, raise, recruit users, then build with evidence |
| Decision it unlocks | Scope lock — the build becomes fixed-price-able | GO / NO-GO on committing a development budget |
How we run it
Structured delivery. Visible progress. No open-ended discovery.
Intake and lock
We capture your inputs against a structured framework, confirm scope, and set the schedule. No indefinite exploration.
Working sessions
Facilitated workshops where you bring domain expertise and we bring the product framework. Every session recorded.
Build and review
We produce artefacts between sessions, with written status each week. Revision rounds are built into scope, not billed as extras.
Validate
Real users, real reactions, documented findings, and design corrections applied before anyone writes code.
Handover
Every file, every asset, every source document — transferred to you.
Ownership
You own the output. Completely.
Every document, wireframe, design file, prototype and asset produced transfers to you on completion. Native Figma files. Editable source. No licence conditions, no hostage terms, and no requirement to build with us.
We earn the build engagement on the quality of the definition work. We do not secure it by holding your assets.
Scope boundaries
What this engagement does not include.
Clarity here protects both sides. Each of these is a separate stage, deliberately.
Delivered in another stage
- Software development, infrastructure and deployment — Stage 04
- Commercial validation, financial modelling and market sizing — Stage 01, delivered as the Commercial Opportunity Assessment
- Go-to-market execution, CRM configuration and launch campaigns — Stage 05
- Ongoing design retainers beyond the defined revision rounds
Who this is for
- Founders and CEOs of established businesses building a platform to scale a model that already works
- Product leaders who need a defensible scope before requesting build capital from a board
- Businesses burned before, who refuse another open-ended engagement with vague milestones
- Not for anyone seeking a cheap mockup, a logo, or a two-day workshop
Where a finding changes the commercial case materially, we tell you directly. We are paid for the work, not for the answer you want.
Straight answers
Questions founders actually ask.
Can we start at Phase B?
Yes, where you already hold approved wireframes and a documented scope. We assess your inputs first and confirm whether they meet the threshold to design against. Where they do not, we say so directly rather than designing on top of an unstable definition.
Do we have to build with MVP1 afterwards?
No. The handover pack is deliberately vendor-neutral — specifications, assets, native Figma files and component documentation any competent development team can build from. Many clients use it to run a competitive quoting process across several development partners, which is precisely what a well-defined scope enables. We earn the build engagement on the quality of the definition work, not by holding your assets.
What if validation shows the product needs rethinking?
That is the point of validating before building. Discovering a flawed assumption during design costs a design revision. Discovering the same flaw once development is underway costs a rebuild. Where a finding materially changes the commercial case, we report it directly — we are paid for the work, not for the answer you were hoping for.
Where does AI fit into the product design?
Where AI creates genuine commercial value, we design it into the product architecture from the start — with the governance, data handling and cost model defined up front. We do not bolt AI onto a finished product, because retrofitting it usually means rebuilding the data model underneath it.
How much of our time does this take?
A few hours a week from you or a nominated decision-maker, in facilitated working sessions plus review of the artefacts produced between them. You bring domain expertise, industry knowledge and the authority to make prioritisation calls. We bring the product framework and do the production work. This requires your judgement, not your labour.
Who owns the design files and the prototype?
You do, on completion. Every document, wireframe, design file, prototype and asset transfers to you, including native editable Figma files. No licence conditions, no hostage terms, and no requirement to build with us.
How is the engagement priced?
Every engagement is scoped first and priced second. You get a fixed price for a fixed scope, confirmed in writing before you commit — not a rate card, and not an hourly rate that turns into a blank cheque. No additional charges arise to complete the agreed scope. Book a fit call and we will scope it and quote it.
Do we need the Commercial Opportunity Assessment first?
Not necessarily. If the commercial case is already proven — you know who pays, what they pay, and that the numbers work — you can start here. If it is not, the Commercial Opportunity Assessment tests that first, and designing a product whose business model has never been examined is how expensive rework begins.
Where this sits
One stage of a methodology, not a standalone workshop.
Commercial Opportunity Assessment
Commercial due diligence that proves the business case, sizes the market and models the numbers — before you design anything.
- Value exchange and monetisation model
- Market sizing across five jurisdictions
- A GO / NO-GO before you spend on product
The Founder's Accelerator Program
All five stages, from due diligence through discovery, design and validation, into development and launch — with three entry points depending on the conviction you already hold.
- See where this engagement sits in the journey
- Compare all three entry tracks
- Understand the validation gates between stages
Already have a working prototype that needs hardening rather than designing? Vibe-coded to production is the shorter path.