Why MVP is good in theory but hard in practice

Why MVP is good in theory but hard in practice

Leo Polovets wrote a blog post titled, “Minimum Viable Everything.” There, he argues that people should take an MVP approach to everything, but notes that while “most [founders] believe in the usefulness of MVPs, many of them view the ‘minimum viable’ concept as something that only applies to their initial product release.”

I explain why MVP is good in theory but hard in practice. Often times, excitement consumes (and dooms) the “doer” entrepreneur. This excitement can overcome evidence that an opportunity or decision is risky and deserves an MVP approach. Let’s consider my hypothesis against Leo’s list.

Finding a co-founder. Ah, the honeymoon phase! It feels incredible to work on something that you both love. The excitement masks almost all ugliness in a founding team, and so you dive in head first, rather than taking an MVP approach (e.g., doing a Startup Weekend together).

Marketing. You start with the MVP approach, spending just $100 a day on various networks. Even as you get unconvincing results, the excitement and possibility of a scaleable marketing channel is too great. You spend another $100. Then another. And another. “Success is just beyond the next ad experiment!” you tell yourself. Looking back on 30 days, you realize that you spent thousands of dollars without stopping to understand which ad networks were the best.

Hiring. Like finding a co-founder, the prospect of a new hire can be very exciting. “Imagine how much more we could do!” you think to yourself. That feeling combined with the fact that you really want to get back to work, makes an MVP approach good in theory, but hard in practice.

Funding. What can be more exciting than raising $1M – rather then the $200k you actually need. Secretly or perhaps unconsciously, you would consider a larger raise as validation of your time and efforts. “Hooray!” you exclaim inside.  

New features. For product teams, there’s a certain buzz once you start envisioning a new feature. Once code hits the text editor, the excitement and momentum is practically unstoppable. This energy is enough to overcome most customer conversations indicating that there’s no need for the new feature.  

I co-founded FeatureKicker to address this last issue in particular. We help product teams adopt a “minimum viable feature” approach by testing user demand before building a feature. In short, we let you Build With Confidence.