MOP BOOKSStartupMethodsThe Venture Builder'sPlaybook for the AI EraFaris Zacina

Startup Methods

The Founder/Developer Playbook for Proper Engineering in the AI Era

by Faris Zacina
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7 parts
·39 chapters·63,600 words

Old Principles, New Speed. A practical guide to building startups using time-tested methods, accelerated by AI.

1 / 39
Getting Started
About Us

Why Ministry of Programming wrote this book—and why it matters.

1,200 words

2 / 39
Getting Started
Introduction

Why most startup methodology fails—and how to fix it.

800 words

3 / 39
Getting Started
Modern Product Building

AI changes the speed. The fundamentals stay the same.

1,600 words

4 / 39
Getting Started
Product Building Principles

The six fundamentals that AI makes faster—but can't replace.

1,400 words

5 / 39
Lean Strategy
Jobs to Be Done

Understanding what customers actually hire your product to do.

2,000 words

6 / 39
Lean Strategy
Lean Canvas

Your entire business model on one page.

1,800 words

7 / 39
Lean Strategy
Mission, Vision & Values

The decision-making tools that end arguments.

1,800 words

8 / 39
Lean Strategy
Goals & OKRs

Turning intentions into measurable commitments.

1,800 words

9 / 39
Product Leadership
Feature Roadmap

Outlining your product.

1,600 words

10 / 39
Product Leadership
Product Requirements Document

Defining requirements that engineers actually want to read.

1,600 words

11 / 39
Product Leadership
Story Mapping

Visualizing the user journey to plan releases.

1,500 words

12 / 39
Product Discovery
Behavioral Analytics

Understanding what users actually do, not what they say.

1,400 words

13 / 39
Product Discovery
Competitive Research

Learning from the market without copying it.

1,400 words

14 / 39
Product Discovery
Design Systems

Building consistent UI faster with reusable components.

1,300 words

15 / 39
Product Discovery
Discovery Sprints

Fixed-time sprints to explore and validate ideas.

1,400 words

16 / 39
Product Discovery
High-Fidelity Prototyping

Testing ideas before writing code.

1,300 words

17 / 39
Product Discovery
Minimum Viable Product

Build just enough to learn, not everything you imagined.

1,500 words

18 / 39
Product Discovery
Pivoting

Knowing when to pivot vs. persevere is the most important startup decision. Learn the signals, frameworks, and famous examples to guide your choice.

1,800 words

19 / 39
Product Discovery
Usability Testing

Finding UX problems before your users do.

1,300 words

20 / 39
Product Discovery
User Interviews

Understanding users through conversation, not surveys.

1,600 words

21 / 39
Product Discovery
User Journey Mapping

Visualizing the complete user experience.

1,300 words

22 / 39
Product Engineering
Architectural Documentation

Documentation that people actually read and update.

1,300 words

23 / 39
Product Engineering
CI/CD Pipelines

Automated testing and deployment that just works.

1,400 words

24 / 39
Product Engineering
DORA Metrics

Measuring engineering performance that matters.

1,300 words

25 / 39
Product Engineering
Feature Flags & Progressive Delivery

Deploy hundreds of times per day safely. Learn feature flags, trunk-based development, progressive rollouts, and how elite teams ship continuously.

2,200 words

26 / 39
Product Engineering
Infrastructure as Code

Reproducible infrastructure with Docker and modern tooling.

1,400 words

27 / 39
Product Engineering
Low-Code & No-Code

Building faster by writing less code.

1,400 words

28 / 39
Product Engineering
Modular Monolith Architecture

The architecture that scales without the microservices headache.

1,500 words

29 / 39
Product Engineering
Quick Deployment Tools

Shipping MVPs to production in minutes, not weeks.

1,200 words

30 / 39
Product Engineering
Modern Tech Stacks for Rapid Development

Choose the right tech stack for modern development. Compare TypeScript, Python, and Go. Learn which frameworks AI assistants work best with for rapid development.

2,400 words

31 / 39
Growth & Distribution
Content-Led Growth

Build an audience while building your product—the founder's guide to content as a growth engine. Build in public, educational content, and thought leadership strategies.

1,900 words

32 / 39
Growth & Distribution
Customer Acquisition Channels

A tactical breakdown of every channel for finding customers—from SEO to paid ads to partnerships. Channel selection framework and prioritization matrix included.

2,100 words

33 / 39
Growth & Distribution
The First 100 Customers

How to do manual sales before you scale—and why it matters more than your product. Finding, approaching, and closing your founding customers.

2,200 words

34 / 39
Growth & Distribution
Go-to-Market Planning

The strategic framework for bringing your product to customers—channels, messaging, and timing. Define your target market, pricing, and sales motion.

1,800 words

35 / 39
Growth & Distribution
Launch Strategy

Beyond Product Hunt—how to orchestrate a multi-channel launch that actually moves the needle. Pre-launch preparation, day-of coordination, and post-launch follow-up tactics.

2,000 words

36 / 39
Playbooks
AI Prototyping Sprint

Go from idea to clickable prototype in 4 hours using AI tools.

1,400 words

37 / 39
Playbooks
Continuous Development and Delivery

A comprehensive guide to modern software delivery as a continuous, sustainable process.

2,000 words

38 / 39
Playbooks
Design & Discovery Sprint

A structured 1-2 week sprint to go from unclear problem to validated solution direction with user feedback.

3,200 words

39 / 39
Playbooks
MVP Building Sprint

Ship a functional MVP in 2 weeks by combining validated learnings with rapid development.

1,500 words