Prototype

A prototype is a rough, early version built to test an idea before committing full resources. It doesn't need to work perfectly — it needs to answer a question: does this concept hold? Will users interact this way? Can it be manufactured? Prototyping is the discipline of learning cheaply. The cost of a prototype is a fraction of the cost of building the wrong thing at scale. The more prototypes you build and the faster you test them, the more you learn before money is on the line. Skip the prototype and you're betting on assumptions; build one and you're buying information.

Identify the riskiest assumption. Build the cheapest thing that tests it — paper sketch, landing page, foam model, API stub. Put it in front of real users or real conditions. Learn, adjust, and either commit or kill. Repeat. Prototyping is not about polish; it's about speed to insight.

A prototype is a cheap, fast version built to test assumptions before committing resources. Identify the riskiest hypothesis, build the simplest thing that answers it, and learn. Prototyping buys information at a fraction of the cost of building the wrong thing.