When we decided to build our Garage Management Software, we knew speed was critical. With limited funds and a small team working out of a garage, we gave ourselves an aggressive 90-day deadline to launch a minimum viable product (MVP). Here's how we did it—and the hard lessons we learned along the way.
The 90-Day Sprint Plan
Week 1-2: Defining Core Features
We resisted feature creep by focusing only on what garages needed most:
Job tracking & work orders
Basic customer management
Simple invoicing
Inventory tracking (barebones version)
We used our experience with existing Garage Management Systems to identify these essentials.
Week 3-6: Rapid Prototyping
Our development approach:
Morning standups (even with just 3 people)
3-day sprint cycles
Friday demos with local garage owners
Used Trello for task management (free plan)
Week 7-10: Building the Core
Key components we prioritized:
Database Schema - Designed for future expansion
User Roles - Basic admin/mechanic permissions
Reporting - Just daily job summaries initially
Week 11-12: Testing & Refinement
We recruited 5 local garages to test our Garage Software. Their feedback led to:
Simplified job creation flow
Added quick search for customers
Improved mobile responsiveness
The Launch (Day 90)
We shipped with:
✓ Core features working
✓ Basic documentation
✓ Free 30-day trial offer
✓ Simple landing page
5 Hard-Won Lessons
80/20 Rule is Real - 20% of features delivered 80% of value
User Testing is Crucial - Our 5 test garages found issues we never considered
Technical Debt is Inevitable - We accepted some shortcuts to hit deadline
Marketing Starts Day 1 - Wish we'd built an email list sooner
Energy Management > Time Management - Burnt-out developers write bad code
Where We Are Now
That scrappy MVP evolved into a full Workshop Management Software used by over 200 garages. But it all started with those frantic 90 days in the garage.
