Beware the Dogma

As you push the throttle and start rolling down the runway, the to-do list starts to explode—company registrations, URLs, bank accounts, insurance, building the product, launching the site, marketing… it’s a lot.

And here’s what you’ll quickly notice: every step of the way, someone will have strong opinions about “the right way” to do it. They'll speak with authority, drop industry lingo, and make it sound like if you’re not following the exact process, you’re doing it wrong.

Spoiler alert: you’re not.

Yes, a lot of the systems, processes, and rituals in these domains exist for good reasons. But if you stop to study and follow them all to the letter, you’ll never get off the ground. You’ll be out of time, out of energy—and probably out of cash.

Let’s zoom in on one area where dogma runs deep: product development.

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The Traditional Product Process (a.k.a. Death by Process)

Big companies love this stuff—they’ve got time, money, and teams of people to run through the full playbook. But as a startup, this can drain your entire fuel tank before you even take off.

Here’s the classic process:

1. Idea Generation – Brainstorming, customer interviews, or one of those lightning bolt moments.

2. Idea Screening – Market sizing, competition, scalability, pricing, risks. A lot of theory, very little data at this point.

3. Idea Refinement – Asking for feedback from potential customers, friends, advisors.

4. Business Analysis – Costs, risks, margins, and the all-important question: can you build a moat around it?

5. Product Development – Build a prototype (MVP), refine, and scale.

6. Market Testing – Release it to a small audience, get feedback, tweak again.

7. Launch – Marketing, support, go-time.

   
   

Now, all of that sounds sensible, right? But here’s the catch: it can take weeks or months to get through. And in a world where someone with an idea can spin up a landing page and get market feedback in hours, that’s a big problem.

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Skip the Dogma: Try a Painted Door Test

Enter one of my favorite hacks: the painted door test. This method is quick, cheap, and gives you real-world insights without having to build anything upfront.

Here’s how it works:

• You’ve got an idea? Great.

• Write a one-line pitch. If you can’t explain it simply, you’re not ready yet. Refine it until it’s clear and niche.

• Create a quick digital ad—Facebook, Google, wherever your potential customers hang out.

• When people click, take them to a "coming soon" landing page. Something like:“Not available in your area yet” or “Launching soon—register your interest.”

• Then just watch what happens.

  
  

For example, imagine you’re thinking about building an AI-powered lawnmower for £199. Throw up an ad that says:“No more mowing. Let RoboMower do it for you – £199. Click to learn more.”When people click, they land on a page saying it’s not available yet, and you invite them to leave their email.

Now you’ve got data:

• How many people saw the ad

• How many clicked

• How many signed up

  
  

From just a couple hundred bucks, you get clear early signals about real demand—way more helpful than theoretical spreadsheets or guesswork.

And if you’re unsure which features are most appealing? Run multiple ad variants with different angles. See which gets the best traction. Instant customer insights—no product needed.

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A Real-Life Example (and a £10K Save)

Back when I was running a legal SaaS platform, one of our team suggested we’d increase signups by adding social sign-in (think Google, Facebook logins). Sounded legit, but building it properly would take 6 weeks and £10K.

Instead, we ran a painted door test. We added a fake social sign-in button on the signup page—no code behind it, just tracked the clicks.

We had 2 clicks in a week.

That’s £10K saved and 6 weeks we didn’t waste building something nobody cared about.

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Bottom Line

As a founder, especially early on, you don’t need to follow every "best practice" to the letter. Processes are great—but only when they serve you. Don’t let them become a roadblock.

Sometimes, the smartest move is to cut the fluff, run a test, get real feedback, and iterate fast. Keep the momentum, stay scrappy, and keep your fuel tank full for what really matters.