When you’re chasing product–market fit, speed matters.
Too many founders spend months (or years) building in a vacuum—only to discover customers wanted something different.
My journey with Adaptive Reader taught me a better way: build lean, test constantly, and use today’s AI + no-code tools to accelerate everything.
Here’s a playbook you can apply right away By Ethan Pierce, Founder of Adaptive Reader, LLX Cohort Alum.
Start with User Research, Not Code
When ChatGPT first launched, I imagined Adaptive Reader as a purely digital tool for rewriting books at different reading levels.
Instead of building, I ran $70 worth of quick interviews—seven teachers on Upwork, $10 each for 20 minutes.
Every single one asked:
“Will there be paperback versions?”
That single insight changed the company’s trajectory.
Takeaway #1: Don’t assume you know the form. Run short, cheap interviews and pay attention to the unexpected—that’s where the real opportunities live.
Go Asynchronous to Eliminate Bias
Founders’ passion can bias interviews. People tell us what they think we want to hear.
My workaround? Run interviews asynchronously:
- Write a clear script (I often draft it with ChatGPT).
- Share via Upwork or UserInterviews.
- Ask participants to screen-record while thinking aloud.
Without me “in the room,” I get more candid (sometimes painful) insights—like one teacher who flat-out said my UI was “clunky and confusing.”
Uncomfortable? Yes. Valuable? Absolutely.
Takeaway #2: Step out of the process. Remove your presence and uncover the hard truths users might not tell you face-to-face.
Build Prototypes in Hours, Not Months
In a previous role, I watched a project take years of effort and a big team to get off the ground.
Today, with modern no-code + AI tools, I can replicate that kind of functionality in a weekend.
For example: I spun up a Shopify-integrated storefront for publishing partners in under 48 hours.
Instead of asking, “Would you pay for this?” I showed them a working demo.
Five partners immediately said yes.
Takeaway #3: Don’t pitch concepts. Ship scrappy prototypes. Tools like Bolt (AI-powered app builder), Lovable (no-code prototyper), and Supabase (backend as a service) let you test in days, not months.
Use AI as Your Research + Design Partner
AI isn’t just for writing code. I use ChatGPT to:
- Draft interview scripts.
- Write Upwork job postings.
- Generate product ideas to test.
- Rewrite books—like producing a 4th-grade-level version of Frankenstein.
It’s like having an extra research assistant who never gets tired.
Takeaway #4: Offload repetitive work to AI. Free yourself to focus on what matters—customer insights.
Build Your Own Competency with AI Tools
Even if you’re a non-technical founder, you can’t afford to stay on the sidelines.
What once required a dev team can now be done by one founder in a weekend.
As your product matures, you’ll still hand core infrastructure to engineers—but you’ll retain the ability to quickly test new ideas with lightweight micro-apps.
Takeaway #5: Learn enough to build and test yourself. In 2025, every founder can—and should—be a builder.
Keep It Lean, Keep It Playful
Not every prototype will scale. Some will break. Others will flop. That’s fine.
The point isn’t perfection—it’s learning faster than your competitors.
As one founder said during our i-lab session: “It’s all in the prompt.”
You’ll refine, iterate, and discover along the way.
Takeaway #6: Treat prototyping as play. The faster you experiment, the faster you’ll learn what works.
Try It Yourself: 4 Steps in 24 Hours
- Write a research script with ChatGPT.
- Hire 5–10 users on Upwork for quick feedback.
- Build a scrappy prototype with Bolt or Lovable.
- Put it in front of real users and watch their reactions.
Your path to product–market fit won’t come from guessing—it will come from testing, learning, and iterating faster than you thought possible.
A Real Example from the Workshop
During an i-lab session hosted by Ethan Pierce, one student used Bolt to create a working prototype in under an hour.
The app—Harvard i-Lab Alumni–Student Meetup Platform—lets alumni founders post events and students browse and join.
In a single workshop, the idea went from concept to functional product, ready to strengthen alumni–student connections.
If that’s possible in an hour, what could you build this week?
Challenge: Pick one problem in your venture. Build a scrappy prototype with Bolt or Lovable. Share it with three users. See what you learn.
