Found this blog article that does a great job of explaining the build/measure/learn loop and why the minimum viable product (“MVP”) is so important. It goes into a good amount of detail concerning why it is so important to have an MVP, “If your MVP fails to resonate with [your customers], they don’t turn into testers and patiently deliver you feedback on how to improve your product…they simply leave- a lot like your low retention users. You are then left guessing why things aren’t working which kicks off the search for the mythical killer feature- the one that always feels like it’s just around the corner.” The article went on to describe how to develop the MVP in the first place, which, as we talked about in class, begins by focusing on issues in society, before thinking about solutions. In sum, reading this was a nice way to recap the concepts that we learned about in the beginning of the course.
I liked the analogy to a “mafia offer”, the one the customer can’t refuse. except here, its not because of fear, but because of necessity. The MVP is so tailored to the customer’s needs that they simply can’t refuse it.
A lot of startup incubators follow this model and call it “customer validation”, where you are getting validation from your customer base that your idea is actually solving their problems, and not just a problem that you think is out there.
This is interesting. I remember Katelyn posted about the failure of green ketchup and the upcoming release of the mayo/ketchup product. It makes me wonder if larger corporations even utilize this practice or if they are willing to take the loss if the public doesn’t respond to it like they expect.