Why founders with limited runway choose More Than Monkeys to test ideas, validate demand, and avoid expensive mistakes

By Gary Worthington, Founder & CTO at More Than Monkeys

If you’re an early-stage founder with a few thousand pounds to invest, you’re probably feeling the pressure.

• Build something impressive enough to show investors.
• Move fast before someone else launches.
• Prove there’s a market before your budget runs out.

The temptation? Hire a dev shop to build the first version of your product.

But here’s the brutal truth: most MVPs fail not because of bad code, but because they’re solving the wrong problem.

That’s why More Than Monkeys exists.

We help founders like you make sure you’re building the right thing, before you spend your entire budget on the wrong one.

Why Founders Come to Us

• You’ve got a clear idea and a bit of runway - maybe £2k to £10k.
• You’re not a technical founder, but you know what you want to test.
• You don’t want to waste months and money on a full build before knowing if it’s worth it.

You need answers, not features. And that’s exactly what we deliver.

What We Do, Instead of Just Building Stuff

We help you validate your startup idea quickly, cheaply, and with real-world feedback.

We do this by:

• Running lightweight validation sprints — 2 to 4 weeks, low cost, high learning
• Building disposable POCs, no and low-code tests, and prototypes that mimic the core value
• Designing experiments that prove demand before you invest in infrastructure
• Providing honest, experienced product feedback that stops you from over-engineering too early

We’re not the agency that says “sure, we’ll build that.”
We’re the one that says “let’s prove someone wants it first.”

Real Outcomes from Real Projects

Over the last few years, we’ve helped dozens of founders:

✅ Validate pricing with a fake checkout in under a week
✅ Get 100 waitlist signups using a landing page and Instagram ads
✅ Close pre-sales for a job app with a clickable prototype
✅ Prove their concierge MVP worked using Airtable, Calendly and WhatsApp

All without writing a single line of production code.

Then, once the concept was proven, we built the real thing.

Why This Approach Works

When you only have a few thousand pounds to spend, the worst thing you can do is treat that budget like a mini seed round.

Founders who engage us get:

• Clarity on what to build, and what not to
• Data they can show to investors, accelerators, and grant bodies
• Speed - tests run in days, not months
• Confidence that they’re solving a real problem people will pay for

And if the test fails? You’ve just saved yourself tens of thousands of pounds building the wrong thing.

That’s not failure. That’s progress.

What We Build (When It’s Time to Build)

We’re full-stack engineers. We’ve shipped:

• Cross-platform mobile apps in Flutter
• Django-based backends on AWS and GCP
• Integrated products with Stripe, Twilio, OpenAI and more

But here’s the catch:

We don’t build until it’s validated.

That way, your budget doesn’t go into writing code nobody uses. It goes into growing something people actually want.

A Smart Use of Your Startup Budget

If you’re sitting on £5k–£10k, your goal shouldn’t be to build a full product.

Your goal should be to:

• Validate the riskiest assumption
• Test your pricing model
• Prove people want your solution
• Get the data you need to raise more

More Than Monkeys helps you do that - affordably, efficiently, and with a clear focus on outcomes.

TL;DR - If You’ve Got a Small Budget, Spend It Smart

You want to…

• ✅ See if people will buy it
• ✅ Check if they’ll actually use it
• ✅ Prove your concept to investors
• ✅ Avoid wasting time and money on the wrong build

We’ll help you…

• 🧪 Run a lightweight validation test with Stripe, Gumroad or a waitlist
• 📱 Build a clickable prototype or run a concierge MVP using no/low-code tools
• 📊 Collect real customer signals you can show in a deck
• 🚫 Say no to unnecessary features, and yes to what actually matters

Ready to Talk?

You don’t need a £200k dev team to get started.
You need clarity, speed, and a way to test what matters.

If you’ve got a few thousand pounds and want to make it count, we’ll help you validate your idea before you build it.

🚀 Work with More Than Monkeys
💬 Or drop me a line on LinkedIn: Gary Worthington

Let’s make sure your startup budget buys you progress, not regret.