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Subtract to Ship: Build

Book Two of Four

Subtract to Ship: Build

How to build your first product, find your first customers, and earn your first revenue, before it's perfect.

Your first version is supposed to be bad. Not mediocre. Not "could use polish." Bad. Rough. Embarrassing. This book is the discipline of shipping it anyway.

Preorder · September 2026

What you'll take away

  • 01 The Minimum Viable Experience. Not a feature list, the core emotional or functional experience your customer needs. Build that. Ship it. Fix it live.
  • 02 First ten paying customers who are not your friends or family, and the pricing structure that pays you what you are worth, not what you are comfortable asking for.
  • 03 Five standard operating procedures, a sales page in your customers' own words, and the legal foundations you actually need, no more, no less.

You finished Book 1. That means you have something most people never get: a validated idea. Not a fantasy. Not a shower thought. An idea that real people said they would pay real money for.

Now comes the hard part. Not hard the way you think. Not hard because you need to learn to code, or raise money, or build a team. Hard because you are about to fight the most seductive enemy in business: the urge to make it perfect.

In the Startup Burgenland accelerator, the founders who obsessed over polish, the perfect logo, the perfect website, the perfect pitch deck, took an average of 5.3 months to earn their first euro. The ones who shipped something rough and put it in front of a customer took twenty-three days. The correlation between product polish at launch and eventual revenue was 0.07. The correlation between speed to first customer and eventual revenue was 0.67. The data is brutal and clear. Perfection does not predict success. Speed does.

What this book delivers

By the end of Book 2 you will have:

  • A product or service that exists in the world, not in your head, not in a business plan, not in a prototype gathering dust.
  • Your first ten paying customers who are not your friends or family.
  • A pricing structure that pays you what you are worth, not what you are comfortable asking for.
  • A sales page that converts browsers into buyers using your customers’ own words.
  • A basic financial system that makes sure you do not go broke while building.
  • Five standard operating procedures that let you take a day off without the business collapsing.
  • The legal foundations you actually need, no more, no less, handled correctly for the DACH region and beyond.

That is the promise. Not inspiration. Not theory. Tangible outcomes you can point to.

Who it is for

Founders coming out of validation with a Start-Now Statement, an MVE definition, pre-sales or strong interest, and a 90-Day Plan. Operators ready to ship the first version that works, not the version that impresses.

Series context

Build is the second of a four-volume set: Validate · Build · Grow · Scale. Read it after Validate if you already have a validated idea. Read it on its own if you are mid-construction and need the stop-line argument.

Endorsements

  • Felix brings focus, energy, and a real knack for creating structure in innovation environments. He was one of the few who could connect visionary product ideas with concrete next steps. Felix knows how to translate abstract opportunities into executable plans — and rally teams to act with clarity and purpose. He's not just a consultant or strategist — he's a true partner in building what's next.

    Alexander Platzer

    VP / Head of Global Engineering & Simulation · RHI Magnesita

  • Felix was a crucial part of VitaBlick's early growth story. He helped us navigate everything from our go-to-market and sales strategy to the legal structure of our partner agreements. He challenged us to validate B2B vs. B2C early on, helped prepare and successfully close our investment round, and guided our market expansion. Felix combines strategic thinking with hands-on execution — and always brings clarity to the next step.

    Amadeus Linzer

    Geschäftsführer · VitaBlick GmbH

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