Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
Last year, a potential client approached me with an exciting opportunity: build a two-sided marketplace platform using Bubble. The budget was substantial, the technical challenge was interesting, and it would have been one of my biggest projects to date.
I said no.
The conversation that followed changed how I think about MVPs, validation, and what founders actually need when they ask "how long does a Bubble MVP take?" Most people are asking the wrong question entirely.
Here's what I learned from turning down that project and what happened next:
Why timeline isn't the real constraint for most MVPs
The one-day validation test that saves months of development
When Bubble makes sense (and when it absolutely doesn't)
How to know if you're building an MVP or just procrastinating
The framework I use to decide what to build and when
If you're considering building an MVP on Bubble, this playbook will save you time, money, and probably a lot of frustration. Let's dive into what most people get wrong about the whole process.
Industry Reality
What Every Founder Believes About MVPs
The startup world has created this mythology around MVPs that's completely backwards. Most founders approach me with the same story: they have an idea, they want to "test the market," and they think building an MVP is the logical first step.
Here's what the industry typically recommends:
Build fast and cheap: Use no-code tools like Bubble to quickly prototype your idea
Ship early: Get something in front of users as quickly as possible
Iterate based on feedback: Make improvements based on user responses
Scale when validated: Once you prove demand, invest in proper development
Measure everything: Use analytics to understand user behavior and optimize
This advice isn't wrong, but it misses the fundamental question: what exactly are you trying to validate?
The problem is that most "MVPs" I see aren't actually testing market demand at all. They're testing whether people will use a free tool when there's no alternative and no commitment required. That's not validation – that's just building a prototype and hoping.
Even with tools like Bubble that can dramatically reduce development time, you're still looking at weeks or months to build something meaningful. And here's the uncomfortable truth: if you need to build something to test your idea, you probably don't understand your market well enough yet.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The client who approached me had everything figured out – or so they thought. They wanted to build a two-sided marketplace connecting service providers with customers in a specific niche. They'd done their research, identified the pain points, and even had some preliminary conversations with potential users.
Their plan was solid from a technical standpoint:
Use Bubble to build the core platform quickly
Launch with basic features and iterate
Scale based on user feedback and growth
When they asked "how long will this take?" I could have easily quoted them 2-3 months for a functional MVP. With Bubble's capabilities and the right approach, that timeline was absolutely achievable.
But then they said something that made me pause: "We want to see if our idea is worth pursuing."
That's when I realized they had the whole thing backwards. They weren't building an MVP to serve validated demand – they were building an MVP to figure out if demand existed in the first place.
I asked them a simple question: "Have you tried manually connecting even one service provider with one customer yet?"
The answer was no. They had no existing audience, no proven demand, and no validation beyond conversations. They were essentially asking me to build them an expensive research project.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Instead of quoting them a timeline for building their platform, I shared something that completely changed their approach: "If you're truly testing market demand, your MVP should take one day to build – not three months."
Here's the framework I walked them through:
Day 1: Create Your Validation Test
Build a simple landing page or Notion doc explaining your value proposition
Include a way for both sides of your marketplace to express interest
Set up basic contact collection (email, phone, brief details)
Week 1: Manual Outreach
Start reaching out to potential users on both sides of your marketplace
Don't sell them on a future platform – sell them on solving their problem today
Use existing tools (email, WhatsApp, Google Sheets) to facilitate connections
Week 2-4: Prove the Model
Manually match supply and demand
Charge for successful connections (if that's your model)
Document every friction point and challenge
Build a waiting list of people who want more matches
Month 2: Only Now Consider Automation
If you've proven demand and have a backlog of work, then build systems
You'll know exactly what features matter because you've done it manually
You'll have paying customers waiting for your solution
This approach flips the entire MVP timeline on its head. Instead of spending 3 months building to test an assumption, you spend 1 month manually testing the core assumption, then build only if you prove demand exists.
Validation First
Test demand manually before building anything. One successful manual transaction is worth more than a perfectly designed platform with zero users.
Know Your Market
Understand exactly who will pay you and why before writing a single line of code. Assumptions are expensive when turned into features.
Build vs Buy
When you do build, you'll know exactly what to prioritize because you've experienced every pain point yourself through manual processes.
Demand Signals
Real validation means people are willing to pay or wait for your solution, not just "think it's a good idea" in a survey.
The client I turned away ended up following this exact framework. Instead of building a platform, they started with a simple Google Form and began manually connecting service providers with customers in their network.
Here's what happened in 30 days:
They facilitated 12 successful matches manually
Generated $3,200 in transaction fees
Built a waiting list of 40+ service providers
Identified 3 major pain points they hadn't anticipated
More importantly, they learned that their original platform design would have solved the wrong problems. The manual process revealed that the real bottleneck wasn't discovery – it was trust and payment processing.
When they eventually did build their platform (6 months later), they knew exactly what features mattered. The development took 6 weeks instead of 3 months because they weren't guessing anymore.
The difference? They built a solution for proven demand rather than building demand for an assumed solution.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
This experience taught me that the question "how long does a Bubble MVP take?" is usually the wrong question entirely. Here are the key lessons that changed how I approach every MVP project:
Manual First, Digital Second: If you can't do it manually, you can't automate it successfully. The manual process teaches you what actually matters.
Assumptions Are Expensive: Every feature you build based on assumptions costs time and money. Every feature you build based on proven demand makes money.
Timing Matters: Build too early and you're solving imaginary problems. Build too late and someone else captures the market. Manual testing helps you find the sweet spot.
Tools Don't Validate Ideas: Bubble, no-code, AI – none of these tools can validate whether people want your solution. Only real behavior can do that.
Distribution > Product: I've seen beautifully built platforms fail because founders spent all their time building and no time validating demand or distribution channels.
When You Do Build: Bubble actually shines when you know exactly what you need. With validated demand and clear requirements, 2-6 weeks is realistic for most MVPs.
The Real Timeline: 1 day to start testing, 1 month to validate demand, then 2-6 weeks to build – if validation succeeds.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups specifically:
Start with a landing page and manual onboarding before building automation
Use existing tools (Airtable, Zapier, email) to deliver your service manually first
Focus on proving people will pay for the outcome, not the tool
Build your MVP in Bubble only after you have a waiting list of paying customers
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce businesses:
Test demand with pre-orders or waiting lists before building complex platforms
Use existing marketplaces to validate products before building your own store
Focus on proving the business model before optimizing the technology
Consider Bubble for internal tools and automation, not customer-facing stores