C5: AI Integration + Dynamic Prompting + First Working Backend
Minimum Hook Product
How to tell if you're working on something worth building.
Santiago Sáenz Ariza
Slide 1 of 13: Minimum Hook Product
C5: AI Integration + Dynamic Prompting + First Working Backend
Minimum Hook Product
How to tell if you're working on something worth building.
Santiago Sáenz Ariza
About me
Santiago Sáenz Ariza
25 · Bogotá & Los Angeles
- Now
- Founder & Managing Partner @ Ferrix Ventures
- Also
- CRO @ NanoFreeze (bio-nanotech)
- Before
- Chief of Staff @ Share Ventures (LA)
- Founded
- Agua for Devs — 280+ users at Microsoft, MeLi, Asana
- Education
- Business Admin @ Universidad de los Andes
Your turn
Introduce yourself
- 01Who are you?
- 02What do you want to be in the future?
- 03What is a problem you’re trying to solve?
- 04What’s your initial idea on how to do it?
- 05Who are you working with?
Agenda
- 01Why build products & be an entrepreneur?
- 02Debunking the MVP
- 03Introducing the Minimum Hook Product
- 04What your first product needs
- 05The world of builder-users
- 06How to test & scale
01
Why build products & be an entrepreneur?
02
Debunking the MVP
The “Minimum Viable Product” taught us to ship fast.
But it never told us what makes people stay.
03
Minimum Hook Product
The smallest version of your product that solves a real problem so well that people stick with it — and can’t build a replacement themselves.
04
What your first product needs
- 01
It solves part of a real problem
You don’t need to solve everything. But the slice you tackle should be a genuine pain point that people feel.
- 02
You can iterate, edit & scale it
Your first product is a starting point, not the destination. Build something you can keep improving without starting over.
- 03
Your clients can wait for it
If people are willing to wait for your product to get better, you’re solving something worth solving.
05
The world of builder-users
There are so many tools to create software that power users have stopped consuming apps and started building their own.
Not only SaaS is tech anymore. Everyone is tech.
So focus on…
01
Solving a problem people actually have
Or at least starting to solve it. The problem has to be real and felt.
02
Making them stick with it
“Stick” means two things: they don’t try another alternative, and they don’t build one themselves.
06
How to test & scale
The stack that lets you move fast, iterate, and grow when ready.
Claude Code
Build and iterate on your product with AI
Supabase
Backend, auth & database — ship in hours
AWS
Scale when you need to, not before
Vercel / Netlify
Deploy instantly, test with real users
Focus on features, roadmap, and what makes your users stay — not infrastructure.
Products are only worth building if they solve a problem or desire of people.
Not because it’s cool. Not because you want to.
Because someone needs it.
The key is retention — a product good enough that people want to try it, and are willing to wait for it to get better.
C5: AI Integration + Dynamic Prompting + First Working Backend
Minimum Hook Product
How to tell if you're working on something worth building.
Santiago Sáenz Ariza
s.saenzariza@outlook.com
linkedin.com/in/santiagosaenzariza
+57 321 478 0777