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Overcoming Early-Stage Anxiety: How Two Founders Went From Idea to MVP Fast

  • January 10, 2025
  • Dosh Domanic
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Tech startups don’t always begin with a team of developers and a big bank account. Sometimes, all it takes is a clear vision, a hunger to learn, and the right community to propel you forward. That’s exactly what happened for Barb Swanson (Done Life Management Platform) and Andres Lombana (CitiTrails) when they joined the Fishburners + Bigger Sprint Program. In this blog post, we’ll explore their journeys, biggest learnings, and what they recommend for anyone planning to follow in their footsteps.

 

Meet Barb: Navigating a Second Career in Tech

After 20 years in corporate and already having done a tech startup two decades ago, Barb found herself with a brilliant new idea: a single command center for busy families called Done Life. She quickly discovered: 

1. Financial Readiness Is Key:

Before diving into a full-time startup, Barb advises ensuring you have the financial runway to commit yourself 100%. “Figure out your budget,” she says, “because building technology takes time and resources.”

2. Use Your Corporate Superpowers:

Having years of corporate experience means you can assess ideas like a business case—where will revenue come from, is it workable, and do people truly want this?

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Barb is pitcing Done Life Management Platform at the Startup Sprint Program Founders Showcase

3. Leverage No-Code Solutions for Quick Proof of Concept:

Barb discovered the world of no-code tools has completely changed the startup game. She could validate her idea rapidly without hiring an expensive dev team. The Bigger experts guided her on platforms and prototypes, allowing for small tests that lead to a bigger MVP.

4. Community Beats Isolation:

For Barb, working alone at home wasn’t an option. The energy of Fishburners—where other founders collaborate and share real-time feedback—delivered immediate benefits: introductions to grants, incubators, and mentors.

5. Trust Your Gut:

Barb’s biggest professional regret was ever doubting herself. If your instinct tells you something’s off—or that you should pivot—listen.

Next Steps for Barb

Within the next six months, Barb plans to have Done Life publicly in-market, leveraging her new network and knowledge to seek funding. She’s confident her MVP is shaping up faster and more affordably than she ever expected.

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Andres is working at the Fishburners Sydney Coworking Space

Meet Andres: Sprints, Wireframes & Golden Paths

Andres Lombana, the founder of CitiTrails, also entered the Sprint to MVP program juggling a full-time job. Despite limited hours, he made big strides:

1. Put Your Ideas on a (Digital) Board:

Andres recommends starting with a rough roadmap—whether it’s a Miro board or Lucidchart—to visualize your user’s “golden path.” Even if it changes, having something concrete helps you prioritize.

2. Rapid Validation via Customer Interviews:

Forget endless speculation—Andres insists you need just 10–15 minutes per interview with potential users to gather real feedback. Five quick conversations in one day can save you months of misguided effort.

3. Time Management = Ruthless Prioritisation:

Balancing a startup with other responsibilities means focusing on your top three tasks per day. Everything else? Put it aside until tomorrow.

4. Leverage a Supportive Community:

At Fishburners, Andres could turn to someone sitting next to him and say, “Hey, can you give me quick feedback on this page design?” That instant input from peers and mentors can spark invaluable improvements.

5. Adopt an Agile Mindset with Frameworks:

Tools like the “MoSCoW” (Must, Should, Could, Won’t) prioritization method helped Andres decide which features absolutely had to be in his MVP and which could wait.

 

Next Steps for Andres

With new wireframes, a technical architecture outline, and clear prioritization in hand, Andres is ready to keep refining CitiTrails until it’s market-ready. Although a three-week sprint won’t land you instant funding, it provides tangible outputs to build upon.

Why Fishburners?

Both Barb and Andres credit the Fishburners + Bigger collaboration for making their journeys faster and less stressful. From no-code workshops to a high-energy community atmosphere, the combination of resources, expert mentorship, and peer feedback proved invaluable.

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If you’re looking to transform your business idea into something real—no matter your age, background, or skill set—take a page from Barb and Andres’s playbook:

  1. Validate quickly with real customers.
  2. Stay organised with time-blocking or digital boards.
  3. Use no-code tools to build proof-of-concepts.
  4. Tap into a community that understands your journey.

 

Ready to supercharge your startup? Join Fishburners and surround yourself with founders, mentors, and resources that will help you launch your MVP faster than you ever thought possible.

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