Tori Hanson

What's the one thing you wish someone told you before you became a founder?

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My corporate background is in media and I had a great network there. However, I completely failed to appreciate how little that would help me once I moved into tech. With hindsight I should have begun developing it before I transitioned rather than waiting until I'd made the leap. Today, the network I have built has helped me learn the language of entrepreneurship, explore different startup ideas, and understand industry norms. It would have been far more efficient to have done this ahead of time and really set myself up for success from day one.

As a non-technical founder, how did you turn your idea into an MVP, and what worked or didn't?

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I built my initial MVP with no-code tools specifically Make and Airtable. I worked with a no-code coach to teach me how to use these tools rather than having them simply built it for me which was a great win win. For the first official version, I worked with a developer to create a custom platform. He was someone I met through a community I belonged to. However before meeting him, I'd gone down a traditional RFP approach, relying on personal research to discover and shortlist agencies. Unfortunately, the first one I chose backed out after initially agreeing because they got a bigger client, and the second one turned out to be a complete chauvinist who I had to sack one month into the project.

What are the first three concrete steps non-tech founders should take to build an MVP?

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Have you conducted research interviews? Do you know exactly what their biggest pain point is? Only then, should you think about building it. Rob Fitzpatrick's book, The Mom Test, is great for that. Find other founders who have done it before and ask them how they did it. Could be friends, people you meet at networking events, cold outreach on LinkedIn. And then think about what are the one or two features that would be the most impactful for your future customers to solve their "biggest" problem. Try to build it yourself with no-code and AI tools. This is great to save you money, to learn what customers really want before you over-engineer, and helps you feel more in control of your product. Even asking ChatGPT how they would build an MVP can help break things down and surface unknowns. Also, there are some great AI coding tools available now as well. So many options.

What's a major early mistake, and what did you learn from it?

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Not really a mistake but a mindset that I struggle with a lot (and I know has held me back) is delegation and asking for help. My default is always feeling like I have to complete the task rather than finding others who might be better placed to support. The founder community is so open to helping because we're all in at the same situation.

The more you do it, the easier it becomes and although I was slow to start, it's now becoming much easier and I'm seeing the benefits as a result.