A Week of Planning Saves Months of Execution: Why Startups Can’t Afford to Skip Business Analysis | Interview with Kostya Khuta, CEO at Volpis

“Most startups are built on assumptions, mostly false. Not all of them. But enough to burn months of runway.”

Startups are fueled by ambition, but too often, they’re built on shaky foundations.

As Kostya Khuta, CEO at Volpis, explains, it’s not the lack of engineering talent that sinks early-stage products — it’s the lack of clarity.

After helping 50+ startups go from pitch decks to launched products, he’s seen how structured business analysis turns gut instinct into real-world execution — and helps founders avoid the silent killers of early-stage failure.

You’ve worked with over 50 startup founders. What are the biggest early-stage mistakes they make?

Kostya: The most common? They build on emotion instead of insight. Many founders skip market validation and jump straight to development. They’re driven by a powerful idea — but they don’t know what exact problem they’re solving, who truly experiences that problem, what’s already out there, and how their solution is better

This last one is often overlooked: competitive research. Some founders assume there’s nothing quite like their idea, but once we dig in, we often find three or four products already on the market. The key isn’t just knowing your competitors — it’s knowing how to be better, sharper, faster, or more focused.

Are you saying founders shouldn’t trust their instincts?

Kostya: Instinct is where great ideas start. But instinct without validation is just expensive guessing.

Henry Ford said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” But Ford still did the research — he studied market trends, manufacturing constraints, and pricing models. Good founders do both: trust their gut and verify with data.

That’s what business analysis brings to the table — it connects the “vision” with reality.

What exactly does a business analyst do for an early-stage startup?

Kostya: Business analysis turns unstructured ideas into buildable, testable, and fundable product plans. They help founders define the real users (not imagined ones), map out core workflows, flag regulatory, technical, or design constraints, prioritize the right features for MVP, and benchmark existing products and identify competitive advantages

In startups without a full product team, business analysts often play multiple roles — part strategist, part UX consultant, part researcher.

What happens when startups skip this step?

Kostya: They build too soon — and pivot too late. I’ve seen MVPs rebuilt entirely because no one validated the core idea. Or teams burned six figures chasing a roadmap that didn’t align with real user behavior.

Common consequences are feature bloat with no clear value, delays from missed technical dependencies, rejected funding due to unclear business logic, and compliance issues that derail releases

By the time founders realize the mistake, they’ve burned runway, morale, or investor trust.

Can business analysis actually save money?

Kostya: Yes — and not just by “cutting scope.” Business analysis reduces rework. And rework is the hidden killer in tech startups.

A week of structured discovery can prevent months of course correction. Instead of building “more,” you build what matters — faster.

What’s your process at Volpis?

Kostya: At Volpis, our process is lean but rigorous. We start by aligning business goals with product realities through stakeholder interviews, then talk to real users to understand their needs. We analyze competitors to find opportunities to stand out, map out user flows, and create prototypes to visualize the product early.

We also run feasibility checks to uncover any legal, technical, or scalability risks. And finally, we define a clear MVP that focuses on launching fast, learning quickly, and growing efficiently.

What red flags do you look for early?

Kostya: Here are three:

“Let’s build and see what happens.” — That’s not a product strategy, it’s a lottery ticket.

Feature lists instead of outcomes — If you can’t define what success looks like, you’re not ready to build.

No clear problem owner — If no one is responsible for defining what problem is being solved, your team is flying blind.

Planning Isn’t Bureaucracy — It’s Survival

Startups don’t fail because they move too slowly. They fail because they move fast in the wrong direction.

Business analysis isn’t just about specs — it’s about surfacing assumptions, grounding decisions in data, and building a product that actually stands a chance in the real world.

A week of planning saves months of execution.

In a startup, that week can be the difference between burning capital and building momentum.

Author Profile

Adam Regan: Deputy Editor

Features and account management. 3 years media experience. Previously covered features for online and print editions.

Email Adam@MarkMeets.com