Twelve weeks is enough to put a product in front of real users. It is not enough to build the version you will be embarrassed to throw away later if the first month is spent negotiating the backlog.
Week 0 is a decision, not a workshop
Before the first sprint, name the user, the job the product does for them, and the one path that must work on launch day. Everything else is a later release. A distributed team cannot invent that focus in Slack. Write it, and assign one person on your side who can answer a product question the same day.
Make the overlap real
Standups belong in your morning, not in a slot that only works for the vendor. Demos are recorded so anyone who misses the call can still see the software. The repository, the board, and the staging environment are yours. A team that cannot show the build at the end of week two is not behind on features. It is behind on access.
Cut scope in public
Every week, remove something. The useful MVP is the smallest slice that a stranger can complete without a founder on the call. Integrations, admin polish, and edge-case roles wait until the core path has been used. Shipping in twelve weeks is mostly the discipline of not starting the thirteenth-week work in week three.
