Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
Last month, a potential client approached me with what seemed like a dream project: build a comprehensive AI-powered marketplace platform. The budget was substantial, the technical challenge was interesting, and frankly, it would have been one of my biggest projects to date.
I said no.
Now, you're probably thinking I'm crazy for turning down that kind of money. But here's the thing - they came to me because they'd heard about the "no-code revolution" and AI tools like Bubble. They weren't wrong about the tech being powerful. The problem was deeper.
Their core statement revealed everything: "We want to see if our idea is worth pursuing."
They had no existing audience, no validated customer base, no proof of demand. Just enthusiasm and a belief that the right Bubble AI template would solve their validation problem. This is exactly the trap I see founders falling into every day.
In this playbook, you'll discover:
Why hunting for the "perfect" Bubble AI template is backwards thinking
The real purpose of MVPs in 2025 (it's not what you think)
My framework for validating ideas before building anything
When templates actually help vs. when they hurt your progress
A step-by-step system for AI MVP development that doesn't rely on templates
Conventional Wisdom
What every entrepreneur googles first
If you search "where to find Bubble AI templates" right now, you'll get the same recycled advice from every no-code blog and YouTube channel. Here's what the industry typically recommends:
The Template Gallery Approach:
Browse Bubble's official template marketplace
Check out community-built templates on forums
Purchase "premium" templates from template shops
Customize existing templates to fit your needs
Start building and iterate as you go
This conventional wisdom exists because it feels productive. You're "making progress" by downloading templates, tweaking designs, and setting up workflows. It's tangible. It's visual. It feels like building a real product.
The problem? Templates optimize for the wrong thing entirely.
Every template assumes you already know what to build and for whom. They're solutions looking for problems, not tools for discovering whether a problem actually exists. When you start with a template, you're essentially putting the cart before the horse.
Most founders spend weeks perfecting their Bubble app's UI, adding AI features, and polishing workflows - all before talking to a single potential customer. Then they launch to crickets and blame the template, the platform, or the market. But the real issue was starting with building instead of validating.
Here's what I learned after watching this pattern repeat with countless clients: if you're truly testing market demand, your MVP should take one day to build, not three months with templates.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The client I mentioned earlier had this perfectly mapped out. They'd found several Bubble AI templates that looked promising. They'd even identified which AI integrations they wanted to use. Everything seemed ready to go.
But when I dug deeper, the red flags were everywhere. They had no email list, no social media following, no network in their target industry. Worse, they'd never actually solved this problem manually for anyone.
They wanted to test if their idea worked by building the entire solution first.
This reminded me of another client from my early freelance days - a founder who spent $15,000 on a custom marketplace platform. Beautiful design, flawless user experience, every feature you could imagine. The launch? Total silence. Zero signups in the first month.
The brutal truth hit me: we'd built the world's most expensive validation tool for an idea that nobody wanted.
That's when I started questioning everything about how we approach MVP development. Why are we so obsessed with building when the goal is learning? Why do we reach for templates and tools when the most valuable insights come from conversations and manual processes?
I realized that in the age of AI and no-code, the constraint isn't building anymore - it's knowing what to build and for whom. Templates make building easier, but they don't solve the real problem: market validation.
So when this latest client came to me excited about Bubble templates, I knew I had to share a different approach. One that prioritizes learning over building, validation over development, and customers over features.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Here's the framework I shared with that client (and now use with every MVP project):
The Day-One Validation System
Instead of hunting for templates, start with what I call the "Day-One Test." Create a simple landing page or Notion doc explaining your value proposition. No Bubble, no AI integrations, no complex workflows. Just clear copy about what you're solving and for whom.
Next, spend Week 1 doing manual outreach to potential users on both sides of your marketplace. This isn't about selling - it's about learning. Are people actually excited about this solution? Will they take time to explain their current process to you?
The Manual MVP Approach
For Weeks 2-4, manually match supply and demand via email or WhatsApp. Yes, it's messy. Yes, it doesn't scale. That's exactly the point. You're learning the nuances of your market before automating anything.
I had a client use this approach for a freelancer-client matching platform. Instead of building complex AI matching algorithms, she manually connected freelancers with clients for two months. The insights she gained about pricing, communication preferences, and deal-breakers were invaluable.
When Templates Actually Help
Only after proving demand should you consider building automation. And here's where the right template can accelerate development - not validation. At this point, you know exactly what features matter and what's just nice-to-have.
My selection criteria for templates becomes surgical:
Does it solve the specific workflow I validated manually?
Can I remove 80% of its features and still serve my customers?
Does the AI integration actually improve the core value proposition?
The Build-vs-Buy Decision Framework
After validation, I evaluate three options:
Option 1: Find a template that matches your validated workflow exactly. Rare, but when it exists, it's gold.
Option 2: Use a template as scaffolding and strip out everything that doesn't serve your specific use case. Most common approach.
Option 3: Build from scratch when your validated workflow is unique enough that templates add more complexity than value.
The key insight? Templates should accelerate development of a validated idea, not drive the direction of an unvalidated one.
Validation First
Your MVP should be your marketing and sales process, not your product. Distribution and validation come before development.
Template Selection
Only after proving demand manually should you look for templates that automate your validated workflow - not the other way around.
AI Integration
Most AI features in templates are solutions looking for problems. Focus on AI that enhances your core validated value proposition.
Build vs. Buy
Use templates as scaffolding for validated ideas, not as inspiration for unvalidated ones. Strip out everything that doesn't serve your specific use case.
The client I turned down? They followed my advice instead of hiring me. Three months later, they'd validated demand for a much simpler version of their original idea through manual processes.
More importantly, they discovered their target market wanted something completely different than what they initially planned to build. If they'd started with templates and spent months building, they would have learned this lesson the expensive way.
When they finally did build (using a simple Bubble template), they had a waitlist of 200+ potential customers and clear feature requirements based on real feedback. The template they chose was basic, but it perfectly matched their validated workflow.
The Real Metrics That Matter:
Days to first customer feedback: 3 days (vs. 90+ days if they'd built first)
Cost of validation: $200 for landing page and outreach tools
Features validated before building: 3 core workflows (instead of 15+ assumed features)
This approach doesn't just save money - it fundamentally changes how you think about product development. You become customer-obsessed instead of feature-obsessed.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
After applying this framework across dozens of MVP projects, here are the top lessons learned:
1. Templates are tools, not strategies. They can't validate your market for you or tell you what features matter. Use them to accelerate proven workflows, not to inspire unproven ideas.
2. The best MVP template is often no template at all. Manual processes teach you more about your market than any pre-built workflow ever will.
3. AI features should enhance, not define your MVP. Most AI capabilities in templates are impressive demos that don't solve real customer problems.
4. Validation before automation saves months of development. Every feature you don't build is time saved for features that actually matter.
5. The constraint isn't building anymore - it's knowing what to build. In 2025, anyone can build. Few can validate effectively.
6. Templates work best when you can remove 80% of their features. If you need everything in a template, you probably haven't validated your specific use case.
7. Distribution trumps development every time. A simple validated solution with customers beats a complex template without them.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups looking to apply this playbook:
Start with landing page validation before any development
Use manual processes to understand user workflows
Choose templates that automate your validated processes only
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce entrepreneurs using this approach:
Test demand through pre-orders or waitlists first
Validate your marketplace dynamics manually
Use templates to scale proven transaction flows