4 ‘Revenue Now’ paths for Seedstrapped founders
Stop building MVPs and products that nobody pays for. Here's how to generate revenue while you validate your idea.
Every founder who eventually had millions in revenue started with their first pound of revenue. Where is your first pound coming from? And when?
Stop building Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) nobody pays for. Start here instead - with four proven, revenue-first approaches that help you learn about your customer whilst getting paid.
Founders who've worked with me know that I'm a big advocate for Lean Startup methods (I'm great fun at parties). But after working with hundreds of founders, I've come to believe that one of its core concepts - Minimum Viable Product - is so wildly misused that it actually holds people back.
Why are so many founders building MVPs that never generate revenue?
New to Seedstrapping? Check out my Seedstrapping 101 article
The MVP trap that's costing you time and money
The way MVPs are usually executed today creates a very un-lean mindset. Founders build a token MVP, get a couple of non-paying users to play with it, tick the MVP box - then raise a big round to build the "real" thing. It's risky, inefficient, and pushes any meaningful test with real revenue dangerously far down the road.
Worse still, too many founders jump straight into scaling up MVPs to customer problems they've still not really understood. They also underestimate how tough it is to generate meaningful revenue from an MVP - unless you're laser-focused on that from day one.
So with no early revenue coming in, you're forced to fundraise on charm and pitch deck shine - or worse, run out of personal runway and give up.
But if the point of starting a business is to create value, solve problems, and make money… why not focus on doing that from the very start?
Side note: if your intention is that users will eventually pay for your product then they MUST also pay for the MVP to prove they are really customers not just users.
How we made ‘Revenue Now’ work in the earliest days of OpenDialog
Back in 2017, when conversational AI was even more of a mystery than it is now to most businesses, my co-founder and I took a Revenue Now route in our early days building the conversational AI platform, OpenDialog.
Instead of building the OpenDialog product in isolation, we also did consulting work for clients to help them understand how they might effectively use conversational AI to solve their problems. We even undertook design and build projects for clients as varied as the UK Government to multinational companies.
This wasn't just market research - it was revenue. It was also essential because customers needed support in order to actually know how the product would be useful to them! (Note: there is such a thing as being painfully early in a market)
We learned how customers saw their challenges and opportunities in the context of conversational AI - which shaped our marketing and our roadmap. And we reduced our burn rate by bringing in cash from day one.
We were building and earning simultaneously. There are many, many other things we could have done better but this approach meant we were aligned with customer value - not just building on a hope.
Revenue changes everything.
Generating revenue from day one gives you radically different choices
These founders are not agonising over pitch decks written to convince investors who know less about their customer and market than they do. They're extending their runway, proving they can execute, and signalling that they're serious about building a business - not just a slide deck.
Four 'Revenue Now' paths
Here are four practical ways to generate income immediately while you're building your Seedstrapped startup:
1. Consulting/Services: solve the problem manually
Start by becoming the solution yourself. If you're building project management software, first offer project management consulting. You'll learn exactly where the pain points are while getting paid for your expertise.
How to start:
Package your knowledge into a clear service offering
Price at 50–70% of market rate to win early clients quickly
Document pain points and repeated tasks
Use client work to validate assumptions
Tip: Don't get stuck as a permanent consultancy. Set a clear deadline to become product-only.
2. Info products: package your expertise
Your knowledge has value right now. Turn it into courses, templates, guides, or workshops that solve specific problems for your target market - ideally a niche market you can appeal to strongly.
How to start:
Begin with a simple PDF guide or Notion template
Use platforms like Gumroad for distribution
Treat buyers as your early community
Tip: Don't over-engineer. A well-structured Google Doc can be more valuable than a fancy course platform.
Example: Before building Angel Investing School Andy Ayim tested the market and drove early revenue by selling an angel investing guide on Twitter. The process of writing the book and promoting it allowed him to quickly validate there was a market he could reach, consolidate his knowledge and understand what customers wanted most. He then went on to train over 600 angels with customers including Google UK.
3. Concierge/Done-for-You: deliver the outcome manually
Manually deliver the results your future product will automate. This is especially powerful for marketplace or platform ideas.
How to start:
Create a landing page offering a clear outcome
Deliver everything manually behind the scenes
Charge 70–80% of what the product would cost to drive demand
Learn efficiently what customers actually want, not what they say they want
Tip: Pick a customer category who is willing to put up with some rough edges, and a customer problem that is high value that they are actively looking for solutions. Set expectations about the manual process.
4. Early product sales: pre-sell or offer discounted access to early versions
Sell access to your product before it's fully built. This validates demand and funds development simultaneously.
How to start:
Offer lifetime deals or deep discounts to early adopters
Use Product Hunt or AppSumo for reach
Turn early customers into collaborators
Tip: Don't overpromise on timelines. Add a buffer to your launch dates for delays in development.
The Seedstrapping advantage
Each of these paths does three critical things:
Validates demand (real customers paying real money is the ultimate validation)
Funds development (every pound earned is a pound you don't need to raise)
Builds insights and relationships (early revenue customers become your strongest advocates)
More importantly, they change your mindset. Instead of building in hope, you're building in response to actual customer needs. Instead of pitching what might be, you're demonstrating what already is.
Which path fits you?
Got deep expertise? → Info Products
Love working hands-on? → Consulting
Building a platform? → Concierge
Got early believers? → Pre-Sales
Your next move
Pick one path that aligns with your strengths. If you're great at teaching, start with info products. If you love working directly with clients, begin with consulting.
The difference with seedstrapping is that you make that first pound your priority, not something you'll work out later.
The best time to start generating revenue isn't after your product is perfect - it's today.
Hit reply and tell me: Which path resonates most with your current situation?
Next week: Introducing the Seedstrapping Framework – the 5-part system for succeeding on the Seedstrapping path.
Tim
P.S Found this helpful? Forward it to a founder who needs to stop polishing their MVP and sell something.
