What It Actually Takes to Build a Tech Product in 2026

Our CEO Will recently sat down with Anthony Rose, founder of SeedLegals, to talk about what's changed in building tech products, where founders are getting stuck, and why the gap between a prototype and a scalable product is wider than most people think.

It's a conversation we find ourselves having every week. So we thought it was worth unpacking.

The bar has moved

Here's something that came up in the interview that's worth paying attention to if you're raising investment: investors now expect you to show up with something already built.

Not long ago, a strong pitch deck and a compelling story could get you through the door. That's no longer enough. AI tools have made it possible to build a working prototype quickly, and investors know that. If you haven't got something to show, the question becomes: why not?

That shift changes the timeline for founders. It means you're building earlier, often before you've raised a penny. Which sounds like progress, and in many ways it is. But it also introduces a new set of problems.

Vibe coding: brilliant for speed, limited by design

Let's talk about vibe coding, because everyone else is.

Tools like Lovable and similar AI-assisted platforms have made it possible for non-technical founders to get something on screen fast. Will put it well in the conversation: vibe coding is brilliant for prototypes, for validating ideas, for showing investors what something could look like. There's a real place for it, and we use it ourselves in early-stage prototyping.

But there's a ceiling. When you need real authentication, payment integration, flexibility to pivot your tech stack, or simply a codebase that won't buckle under the weight of actual users, you're going to hit the limits of what these tools can do today.

Speed to prototype is not the same as speed to scale. And confusing the two is one of the most expensive mistakes we see founders make.

The founder bias problem

Anthony raised something in the interview that we think every founder needs to hear. He talked about reviewing pitch decks and realising that the product being described doesn't actually solve the problem the way the founder thinks it does.

Will called it "founder bias," and it's something we come across constantly. You've been living with your idea for months, maybe years. You know exactly what it does and why it matters. But that closeness to the idea can blind you to the gaps. The user journey that makes sense to you might not make sense to anyone else. The feature you're most excited about might not be the one your users actually need.

This is why we run a structured discovery process before a single line of production code is written. It's designed to pressure-test your assumptions, not to slow you down, but to make sure you're building the right thing. That means market research, user research, prototyping, and putting your concept in front of real potential customers to see how they respond.

It's not the exciting part. But it's the part that stops you spending six months and a significant chunk of your budget building something nobody wants.

Foundations matter more than features

There's a pattern we see with founders who come to us after their first build. They've got a product that works. Maybe they've even got users. But they're stuck.

They can't pivot because the tech stack wasn't chosen with flexibility in mind. They can't scale because the architecture wasn't designed for growth. They've built something that does what it needs to do today, but it can't adapt to what the business needs tomorrow.

Will used the three little pigs analogy in the interview (he's been reading it to his son), and it holds up surprisingly well. You wouldn't build your house on a foundation of sand. You shouldn't build your product on one either.

Choosing the right tech stack isn't just about what's cheapest or what your favourite AI assistant recommends. It's about understanding how your technical decisions impact your operational business. Can you hire developers who know this stack? Can you switch providers without rebuilding from scratch? Will this architecture still work when you've got ten times the users?

These are the questions that don't feel urgent when you're in the excitement of building. But they're the ones that determine whether your product survives contact with reality.

You don't have to do it all yourself

One of the things Anthony highlighted in the conversation is the value of finding a team that doesn't just build, but helps you think through what you're building and how you're going to take it to market.

That's what we've spent eight years putting together at Untapped. Not just developers, but brand strategists, designers, UX researchers, marketers, and project managers. The kind of team that can take a founder's vision and pressure-test it, shape it, and then build it in a way that's genuinely scalable.

We work with companies at every stage. Early-stage founders who need a discovery sprint and a clear direction. Series A companies scaling alongside their internal teams. Enterprise organisations outsourcing specific projects. The common thread is that they all need their product to work, not just on screen, but as a business.

And because our entire team is UK-based, if you're looking at Innovate UK grants or R&D tax relief, that's a box already ticked.

Where to start

If you're a founder sitting on a prototype and wondering what comes next, here's what we'd suggest: don't rush into a full build. Take the time to validate your idea, stress-test your assumptions, and make sure your technical foundations are solid. It's less exciting than shipping features, but it's the work that makes everything else possible.

We've put together a range of packages with SeedLegals to make that first step easier. Discovery sprints starting from under £5,000, plus 15% off our development, design, brand, and discovery services for SeedLegals members through the perks marketplace.

Watch the full conversation between Will and Anthony to hear more about what it takes to build a product that lasts.