I built a full-stack MVP in 4 weeks.

Cover thumbnail showing that I reached my goal!

A couple of months ago, a friend of mine (shoutout to Chirag and critter.blog) recommended “The 12 Week Year” by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington. Immediately, I wanted to try it out so I set out on a mission to earn $100 online (along with 2 other goals).

Earning $100 online proved to be very difficult, but it quickly turned into brushing the dust off of old ideas and seeing them through. One of them in particular was a chicken scratch of notes that detailed a visual goal diary that I was then calling “Habits Book.”

So with the help of the 12-week year framework, I built an MVP from chicken scratch to a full-stack mobile app live on the app store in just 4 weeks. TLDR, it was awesome and you should try.

Disclaimers:

Some say you should build an MVP in 2 weeks. Some say 1 month. Others say, “Just put up a landing page and call it a day.” For me, 4 weeks is the time I thought it would take to build a product that would let customers accomplish the key task. The 12-week year principles still apply.

I'm a baby coder. So this also factored in the time I was using to learn new languages.

I didn’t use ChatGPT. I don’t think it was a thing at the time. Or I likely was being resistant 😅.

The 12-Week Year

Almost everyone knows about the idea of setting and pursuing a yearly goal. But, most people start out strong, dwindle down over the months, panic when the end of the year is near, and try their hardest to reach their goal in the last sprint.

Gym on the first week of January vs. gym on the second week of January

The 12-week year consolidates the year into 12 weeks and gives you 12 weeks to reach your goals. This is more focused and predictable. The idea is that you’ll cut the procrastination and optimize your energy and commitment over the 12 weeks to get more done than you would’ve over 12 months.

In the most simple explanation, the 12-week year works off of 3 principles: planning tactics, measuring results, and checking in.

Applying the 12-Week Year to Your MVP

Planning Tactics

Before setting out for your first week, write your vision. It should be something aspirational and unfiltered. Just simply:

Think about all the things that you want to have, do, and be in your life. What is most important to you and why?

What would a great personal and professional life look like three years from today?

After you’re done, set your goals for the 12-week year as they relate to your overall vision. The authors suggest you should come up with ~3. It could really be anything, but since you’re reading an article about building an MVP on Indie Hackers, let’s say one of your goals is:

Build an MVP for [insert project here]

Now, building an MVP needs specific actions: create a landing page, set up security, build a nav bar, etc. These are your tactics - every single thing you need to do in order to complete your MVP.

To put actions in motion, at the beginning (or end) of each week, write down the specific tactics you need to complete.

Example of my weekly plan

Measuring Results

This framework measures 3 main numbers: lag indicators, lead indicators, and execution scores.

Lead indicators: the things that might predict your future success. (ex: hours worked)
Lag indicators: the end results. (ex: app on app store)
Execution score: the percentage of tactics you completed. (ex: 80%)

At the end of the week, take a look at your progress and fill out these metrics.

By doing this, you create a very definitive way to tell:

If you’re on track to build your MVP.
If you’re committed to your goal.

It’s kind of like an accountability mirror because numbers don’t lie.

Checking in

One huge part of the 12-week year is weekly accountability meetings (WAMs). For this, partner with someone you trust (it helps if they’re also doing a 12-week year or even just working towards some goals) and talk for 15 minutes at the end of every week. Talk about:

What went well
What didn’t go well
What’s your plan for the next week

Try it yourself

The organization behind the 12-week year may seem like a lot. But, for me, it was totally worth it. I spent ~15 minutes every week planning and ticking off tactics and 15 minutes for my WAM. It led to more productive deep work and a clear sense of purpose.

Have a product idea in mind? Have a revenue goal to reach? Want to challenge yourself to gain 100 customers? Interested in trying it out? Awesome! You really don’t need much. I ran mine on Notion, others have done this with simple pen and paper.

If it’d help, check out my template! It’s free (but if you choose to pay for it, thanks so much!).

Preview of 12-week year digital template

That’s it! I’d love to hear if you have any thoughts or if you’ve tried out something similar - let’s discuss. Also, let me know if you have any questions!

BTW - shameless plug. Journaleo is live on the app store - this is the MVP I built in 4 weeks. If you’re looking for a visual goal diary, you’ve found it. You can keep track of your goals, add recordings for milestones, and review your progress. Check it out! Also, I’d love to connect - you can find me at @heyallieson on Twitter.

Thanks for reading!