Prototying and MVP
Design and Protyping Tools
Figma
Figma is a collaborative design tool used to create, refine, and share user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) designs. It enables teams to work together in real time, using shared design files, reusable components, interactive prototypes, and built-in commenting to streamline the process from concept to final design.
For product managers, Figma is a commonly used tool for aligning teams around a shared vision. It allows PMs to visualize product ideas, give feedback directly on designs, collaborate with designers and developers, and share clickable prototypes for testing. This helps speed up decision-making, improve communication, and ensure the final product matches the intended user experience.
New AI design and prototyping tools are rapidly changing where Figma sits in the product tech stack. Figma itself is rapidly evolving into an AI first company with the launch of their Figma Make product.
Replit, Bolt, V0, Lovable
A number of AI tools—such as Replit, Bolt, V0, and Lovable—are now making it possible to generate high-fidelity mockups and even functional prototypes directly from text prompts. In some cases, this can bypass the need for sophisticated clickable mock-ups in Figma, since these tools merge design and development into a single step. For example, V0 can turn descriptions into production-ready React components, Bolt can generate full-stack web apps from a prompt, Lovable can design and deploy complete products, and Replit enables collaborative, AI-assisted coding. These platforms are shifting the product workflow, reducing the time from concept to working product and changing how and when Figma fits into the process.
Customer Feedback and Rapid Iteration
Once you have a prototype built in Figma or generated with an AI tool like Bolt, V0, Lovable, or Replit, the next step is to put it in front of real or representative users as quickly as possible. The goal is to validate whether the product solves the right problem, delivers value, and feels intuitive to use before investing heavily in full-scale development.
Effective approaches include usability testing, where you watch customers interact with the prototype and note points of confusion or friction, and structured interviews or surveys, where you ask targeted questions about specific features, flows, or visual elements. The key is to focus on observable behavior and specific feedback rather than general opinions.
Once feedback is gathered, teams can rapidly update the prototype, often in hours rather than what used to be weeks, making changes to the flow, visuals, or feature set. This fast feedback loop allows product managers to refine the solution, confirm alignment with customer needs, and de-risk development before committing resources. Over multiple iterations, this process builds confidence that the final product will be both usable and valuable.
Minimum Viable Product
A Minimum Viable Product isn’t a stripped-down final product, it’s the smallest version that is functional, reliable, and usable enough to validate your value proposition. The goal is to build just enough to test with real customers, gather feedback, and then iterate
