Prototype or v1: the difference that decides your launch

Three words circulate through every founder conversation: prototype, MVP, v1. They get used as synonyms. They are not — and the confusion gets paid at the exact moment it hurts most: in front of the first real user.

A prototype is built to be thrown away

A prototype answers one question: “is this worth building?”. It exists for a demo, a user test, a raise. It is allowed to be shaky under the hood, because no one is going to live inside it. The classic trap: a prototype so impressive you decide to “finish” it instead of rewriting it. You have just turned a mockup into technical debt.

A v1 is built to last

A v1 answers a different question: “does this hold when a real customer uses it every day?”. The data model is solid. Error cases are handled. Payments actually work, not in demo mode. It is the only version I build — the one a founder can put in front of an investor, or a paying user, without flinching.

And the MVP, in between?

The “minimum viable product” has become a catch-all. To some it is a slightly more polished prototype; to others a tight-scoped v1. The word settles nothing. The right question is not “is it minimal?” but “is it viable for a real customer?”. If the answer is yes, you are talking about a v1, regardless of the feature count.

How to choose

Choose the prototype if you are still testing the idea and no one is paying this week. Choose the v1 if you already have signals — a waitlist, a pilot customer, an investor watching. The simple rule: the moment a real user puts money or data into it, you need a v1, not a prototype in disguise.

Building the wrong artefact does not lose you code. It loses you the moment — the window when attention was there and the product was not ready. That moment is the part you cannot buy back.