A Founder’s Tech Diary: 30 Days of Building a New Product

Starting a new product is an exciting journey filled with challenges, insights, and a lot of learning-by-doing. Over these 30 days, I documented my experience as a founder navigating the earliest stages of building something from scratch. The process can be broken into two main phases: the initial groundwork — ideation, validation, and set-up — and the more active building phase, where ideas become tangible prototypes. Here’s a detailed look at what transpired during these first thirty days, organized day-by-day yet organized into two clear sections.

Day 1–10: Laying the Groundwork — Ideation, Validation, and Setting Up the Development Environment

The opening ten days were all about setting a solid foundation. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of “building something,” but before writing a single line of code, I knew I had to ensure my ideas were aligned with real user needs and that the technical setup was ready for action.

Brainstorming and Ideation:
It all started with a broad brainstorming session. I allowed myself to explore different problems I was passionate about solving—whether it was improving remote team collaboration or streamlining personal budgeting. I kept asking questions: Who exactly benefits from this? What pain points do they have? Is this a problem worth solving? The goal was to identify a niche where my product could genuinely add value.

Market Research and Validation:
Next, I dove deep into researching existing solutions. I looked at competitors, read user reviews, and tried to find gaps that my idea could fill. I reached out to potential users through informal conversations, social media polls, and online communities. These early conversations revealed important insights: what features mattered most, what frustrations users had, and whether they’d be interested in trying a new solution. Validation isn’t about having a perfect product right away, but rather confirming that there’s genuine demand for what I plan to build.

Documenting Insights & Sketching:
All these insights were carefully documented—taking notes, creating rough sketches, and mapping user journeys. I doodled wireframes on paper and used simple digital tools to outline key features. This visual planning helped clarify the product’s core value proposition and kept my team (even if it’s just me at this stage) aligned.

Setting Up the Tech Stack:
With the direction clear, I turned to technical planning. I chose a tech stack that balanced familiarity, scalability, and speed. For instance, opting for a popular frontend framework like React allowed for rapid development and plenty of community support. On the backend, I picked Node.js because I wanted asynchronous, real-time capabilities. I also set up version control with Git — creating repositories on GitHub — to keep track of every change and facilitate collaboration (even if it’s just for future expansion). Additionally, I configured project management workflows—using tools like Trello or Notion—to organize tasks, priorities, and deadlines.

Creating a Flexible Mindset:
Throughout days 1–10, I embraced an iterative, flexible mindset. I resisted the urge to overplan or aim for perfection early on. Instead, I focused on learning, validating assumptions, and setting up a process that allowed for adjustments along the way. This phase isn’t glamorous, but it’s incredibly valuable — laying the groundwork that makes the subsequent building days more efficient and focused.

By the end of this phase, I had a clear product concept, validated my target audience, and established a ready-to-go development environment. These ten days set the tone for the rest of the journey: methodical, user-focused, and prepared for rapid development.

Day 11–30: Building, Testing, and Refining — Turning Ideas into a Working Prototype

With the foundation in place, the next fifteen to twenty days concentrated on transforming ideas into a working prototype. This is the phase where the rubber meets the road—writing code, designing interfaces, and iterating quickly based on feedback.

Developing Core Features:
The priority was to build a minimal yet functional set of features—the MVP. I started by breaking down the feature list into manageable chunks, focusing on the “must-haves” that demonstrate the product’s core value. For example, if I was building a task management app, core features might include task creation, basic editing, and simple notifications. I kept the code modular to make future updates easier and to prevent technical debt from piling up early on.

UI/UX Design Focus:
User interface design was kept intentionally simple. The goal wasn’t pixel-perfect aesthetics but usability and clarity. I used wireframes as a guide and built out basic interfaces, ensuring that early users (friends, mentors, or test users) could easily navigate and understand the product. Their feedback was invaluable and often highlighted usability issues I hadn’t considered.

Iterative Development & Flexibility:
The development process wasn’t a straight line; I kept an open mind about adjusting features and workflows based on real-world testing. Sometimes, user feedback suggested a feature was unnecessary or needed to be rethought. Other times, I discovered better ways to implement functionality or streamline the user experience.

Testing & Continuous Integration:
To keep quality high, I set up simple testing workflows—unit tests for critical functions and manual testing for UI flow. Using tools like Travis CI or GitHub Actions, I automated some of the testing and deployment steps, enabling me to push updates quickly without breaking the existing build.

Sharing for Feedback:
As the prototype started to take shape, I shared it with friends and mentors. Early feedback is crucial: it helps identify pain points, bugs, and unexpected user behaviors. I also observed how users interacted with the product, which often revealed nuances that weren’t obvious during planning.

Refining & Improving:
The cycle of build, test, gather feedback, and refine became my daily rhythm. I aimed to release small, incremental improvements rather than waiting for perfection. This way, I was continuously learning and improving—a key principle in startup building.

Creating a Functional MVP:
The ultimate goal here was to deliver a Minimum Viable Product—something that, although rough around the edges, clearly demonstrated the core value proposition. It’s tempting to keep adding features, but during this stage, focus was on making sure the essential parts worked reliably and provided real value.

Final Reflection

These 30 days marked an intense but rewarding phase of building my new product. The first ten days emphasized thorough preparation—validating ideas, setting up infrastructure, and aligning my vision. The subsequent days shifted gears toward execution: coding, testing, iterating, and refining, all focused on bringing the concept to life.

For other founders venturing into product development, my advice is to respect the importance of both phases. Invest time early on to understand your users and set up a flexible, scalable environment. Then, embrace the grind of building a real, usable product, but stay open to feedback and improvements. Progress might be messy, but persistence and learning will turn those initial 30 days into a strong launching pad for future growth.

Building a product is never a perfectly linear process, but experiencing the highs and lows firsthand is invaluable. Remember, every expert was once a beginner—so keep iterating, keep validating, and most importantly, keep building.