Purpose-built

Actionable advice for entrepreneurs who want to build products people love.

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Blog

Velocity vs. Quality - How do developers and founders meet in the middle?

Finding the right balance between writing quality software and shipping features rapidly can be difficult. Read the best practices for shipping quality software that users will love.

Tom Wey, Senior Developer, thoughtbot

Joël and Alejandro work on a product together.

Blog

Technical Considerations to Help Scale Your Product

Finding the right balance between writing quality software and shipping features rapidly can be difficult. Read the best practices for shipping quality software that users will love.

Joël Quenneville, Senior Developer, thoughtbot

Video

Tips for Conducting User Research Interviews

Join Boston Design Director Jaclyn Perrone as she shares tips for conducting user-research interviews, and what to do when things go awry.

Jaclyn Perrone, Design Director at thoughtbot

Video

Your First Technology Decisions

Boston Development Director Chris Toomey discusses what options and tradeoffs exist when making early and foundational development decisions, so you can get your software in front of real users as quickly as possible

Chris Toomey, Development Director at thoughtbot

Blog

Delivering Features Faster

Get the most velocity from your product team as it transitions from prototyping and validation to growth.

Kane Baccigalupi, Development Director, thoughtbot

People researching and planning for their MVP

Blog

Before you MVP

There's basic yet invaluable research needed to reduce the risk of failure before building your first MVP.

Emily Bahna, Managing Director, thoughtbot

Blog

Eight Essential Steps to Reducing Product Risk

One of the biggest risks when starting a new business is accidentally building something people won’t use. Here are eight essential steps to reduce this risk.

Chad Pytel, CEO and co-founder, thoughtbot

Video

Taking a marketplace app from concept to MVP to rapid growth

How non-technical founders took their fitness app to market

Topics

Validate or Fail Fast

Direct user feedback is your best friend. Learn how to improve your feedback loops.

Learn more about Validation →

De-risk Your Business

Increase your likelihood of success by addressing big risks quickly and thoroughly.

Learn more about De-risking →

Accelerate time to market

Take advantage of opportunities to get your product into new users’ hands quickly.

Learn more about time to market →

Ensure Product Quality

Build for quality and you build for customer (and employee) loyalty.

Learn more about ensuring product quality →

Spotlight guide

Product Design Sprint Guide

Answer your critical early business questions with our guide through the design and prototyping process.

Start here

Who is thoughtbot?

For entrepreneurs who are passionate about building great digital products, thoughtbot offers a range of premier design and development consulting services.

Beyond high-quality development work, thoughtbot provided invaluable guidance to us on hiring, process, and upskilling our team to be self-sufficient.

— Justin Seeley, DRAFT

Feeling stuck on something?

It can be frustrating to feel like you don’t know how to de-risk your business, move faster, or validate your idea. You’re not alone.

Running a startup is hard! We’re here to help.

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Office hours

Founder office hours

Review code, analyze customer feedback or rubberduck a pesky problem one-on-one with consultants.

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Hire us to help you build a great application

Our best work gets done when we can work face-to-face with you. Chat with a designer or developer at one of our studios near you.

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