"The first version of our financial app forced customers to fax a signup form in 2018. It worked. That experience taught me a lesson every founder eventually learns the hard way: early traction matters more than elegant systems. If you are waiting to build something polished before testing demand, you are probably waiting too long. This is the story of how an "ugly" MVP helped us validate trust, surface real customer behavior,"
"Behind the scenes, in 2018, the only way to actually open that 529 account through the registered financial advisor was by faxing a PDF to a US state. When the first fax successfully went through, we celebrated like we'd just closed a Series A. A few days later, the provider called: "We no longer accept faxes. Please send everything by snail mail.""
"It wasn't just UNest. The most iconic startups didn't start polished - they started scrappy. Zappos: Nick Swinmurn photographed shoes in stores, posted them online, bought pairs at retail, and shipped them himself. Airbnb: Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia rented air mattresses in their apartment during a sold-out conference and served breakfast to guests."
UNest launched a savings and investment app in 2018 that required customers to fax a PDF to open a 529 custodial account. The rudimentary signup proved that customers would use the product and helped validate trust and behavior without heavy investment. A successful fax and a later request to use snail mail highlighted operational fragility but confirmed demand. Starting with a low-cost proof of concept focused the team on what mattered most and prevented overbuilding. Many iconic startups likewise began with manual, scrappy experiments to test market demand first.
Read at Entrepreneur
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