Building an MVP: Start with the foundation

How to solve the aged old chicken and egg problem

I’ve done this many times before, so I know the most critical aspect of building something is validation. Don’t go too far down the path without getting early validation.

Talking to close friends and family and explaining an idea without any concrete visuals or facts isn’t validation. Anyone that has validated under in this circumstance can relate to the following;

• Anyone in your close circle will say yes, great idea!

• Impressive, for sure I will use that!

Honestly, you need something a little more tangible!

The problem is, What comes first, the Chicken or the Egg?

Simply put, I need users, but I have no content.

1. I could create my content and build from there, but as many know, this takes a long time.

2. I could contact content creators in the space and ask them to post their content on the platform. Unfortunately, this will promote the other problem; I have no users to consume that content, so why would a creator provide their hard work for nothing in return?

3. In my head, the shortcut is, can I utilize a current platform like YouTube?

I used Upwork to find a developer to help me build out the MVP. Simply put, I want to build a simple MVP that showcases only CrossFit-related content using the YouTube API. In other words, create a scraper pulling in the content I only want.

Milestone 1 & 2

• Daily, hook into the API to pull in simple things like title, thumbnail, video, and description.

• Create a database on our side with keywords; channel IDs to help bring in the most focused and relevant content.

• Ability to create a user and have a login.

• Ability to add videos to a watch list.

• Ability to follow an athlete or brand.

• Ability to display content via categories.

This should give me the basic outline and a chance to see what sort of content I can aggregate and see if this is something we can build. Will it provide the right content? Will it provide relevant content based on quality and recency?

Stay tuned and will provide an update on Milestone 2 and 3.