Time-to-MVP: what's actually realistic in 2026
Honest timelines by app type, with the assumptions and the most common reasons builds slip.
50% on kickoff, 50% on delivery · 30 days of free revisions · you own the code
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Why we wrote this. We ship work like this ourselves — not as a reseller or a marketplace. The timelines, deliverables, and price bands below come from real engagements we've run end-to-end at Smartly Built Ventures Limited (trading as Vibed Ventures).
Who this is for
- Founders pitching a board on a timeline
- Operators planning a quarter-end launch
- Anyone tired of '6-week' projects that became 6 months
What you get
- Landing page: 3–7 days
- Single-flow MVP: 1–2 weeks
- Full SaaS v1: 3–6 weeks
- Marketplace v1: 4–6 weeks
- The five things that slip every build (and how to defuse them)
- How to read a quote's timeline honestly
Dig deeper
Frequently asked
Why do most builds slip?
Scope creep, missing assets, late stakeholder feedback. We pre-empt all three with a Day 0 checklist.
What happens next
- Step 1Tell us the problem60 seconds in the /solve box. You don't need a brief.
- Step 2Get a tailored reportROI, build plan and a rough price band — emailed to you.
- Step 3Book a 25-min callWe talk it through honestly. If it's not for us, we'll say so.
Related in guides
- How much does it cost to build an app in 2026?Real numbers from real builds. No 'it depends' filler.
- The 2-week MVP checklistEverything you need decided before kickoff so the build actually fits in 14 days.
- What is AI SEO — and does it actually work?What 'AI SEO' actually means, what it can't do, and what we've seen across real client builds.
- How to hire a vibe-coder without getting burnedThe questions to ask, the red flags to spot, and the contract clauses that matter.