Prototype

A prototype is a quick, throwaway version of an idea built to answer a question before you commit to building the real thing. It might be a clickable mockup, a rough script, or a hacked-together demo, the point is to make something concrete enough to test a design, a workflow, or a technical risk without production-grade polish. For a lean founder, prototyping is how you avoid expensive guesswork. Instead of debating whether a feature feels right, you build a rough one in an afternoon and watch someone use it. Crucially, a prototype is disposable: you learn from it, then often rebuild properly rather than dragging the rough code into production. The mistake is letting a prototype quietly become your live product, inheriting all its shortcuts. Used well, prototypes turn arguments into evidence and let you fail cheaply, which is exactly what you want when resources are tight.