One of the most expensive mistakes a first-time founder can make is picking the wrong first artifact. Spending three months building an MVP for an idea that nobody wants is a painful lesson. Spending three weeks tuning a landing page for an idea that people already want, instead of just building it, is a painful lesson too.
The mistake is not usually in the execution. It's in the choice between a landing page and an MVP. Here is the way I think about it, and it's the same framework I use when a founder messages me on a Tuesday asking which one I should build for them first.
What a landing page actually validates
A landing page is a test of demand. It answers one question: given a clear pitch, how many people in your target audience will raise their hand? That's it. A landing page with a waitlist or a pre-order button gives you a number you can defend with a screenshot.
A landing page does not validate whether your product will actually solve the problem. It does not validate willingness to pay at scale. It does not validate retention. It tests whether your positioning makes someone curious enough to click.
What an MVP actually validates
An MVP is a test of usage. It answers a different question: given a working version of your product, will anyone actually use it more than once? That's a harder question, and it's the one that kills most early-stage products.
An MVP does not validate your marketing. It does not validate whether you can get traffic. It tests whether the thing you made is the thing someone needed.
A simple rule of thumb
“Build the artifact that tests the thing you're most unsure about.”
If you're not sure anyone cares, ship a landing page. If you're sure they care but not sure the solution works, ship an MVP. If you're not sure about either, start with a landing page, because it's faster and the signal arrives sooner.
Three scenarios I see constantly
You're selling to a niche audience
You know your audience (indie game devs, real-estate investors in one city, second-career nurses). You just don't know if they'll buy your specific angle. Landing page first. You can reach this audience directly and you don't need a working product to start a conversation.
You're selling a workflow tool
Your pitch is 'this replaces the spreadsheet you fight with every Monday.' Landing pages convert poorly here, because the product is the pitch. MVP first. Ship something that works for one workflow and see if anyone keeps using it.
You're selling to enterprise
Your first customers will need an NDA before they read your about page. A landing page is for marketing hygiene, not validation. Skip the landing page for now and have direct conversations. Build the MVP against a pilot customer.
When to do both, and in what order
Most consumer products benefit from a landing page before the MVP. Most B2B products benefit from an MVP before a serious marketing site. The exception is if you're already getting inbound interest, in which case you should ship the landing page today and the MVP as soon as you can.
The wrong order is always the same wrong order: spending months on an MVP nobody asked for, then trying to retrofit a landing page onto it at launch. That's how good ideas die quietly.
The honest answer
If you're reading this post and you still don't know, the answer is landing page first. You can ship it in a day, you'll learn something real, and the MVP you build next will be aimed at an audience you already know wants it.