M.V.P. - Minimum Viable Product or a Mediocre Value Proposition?

Another great article can be found here

It makes sense that everything about a lean startup is trimmed down as much as possible – including the product itself. This is not just a pure result of limited time, scarce resources, and the pressures of the rapidly changing market. The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is an important, central strategy. It is a not only the best option for smaller startups that by their nature need to scale up from a simple core, it is also a time-tested path to success. 

Markets, being unpredictable as they are, are not guaranteed to embrace a new product no matter how much polish, effort, planning, and research go into it. This being the case, it is best to play the odds, get a product out the door that meets the right functional standards for wider adoption, and fine-tune later if it happens to gain a foothold. The MVP is also considered to be the beginning of the “learning period” for the business; it adapts to the needs of sustaining itself on the market rather than trying to ensure it through an overbuilt planning phase. 

The online file sharing service Dropbox has been seen as one of the prime examples of a startup that took off by applying this principle. What is interesting is that in this case the MVP was not the service itself, but rather a video demonstration that not only showed the usefulness of the finished product but was also filled with in-jokes and references that made the content meaningful to the community of adopters that it targeted. The result was 10,000 “Diggs” in a 24 hour period, and an additional 70,000 people on the beta waiting list.

Of course, the MVP is by its nature meant to mitigate risk, which means it is no guarantee of success. In fact, this recent article from the Harvard Business Review argues that some careful precautions should be taken to ensure that it does not become a Mediocre Value Proposition instead, citing the recently defunct service Maghound as an example. The simple premise of applying the “Netflix” delivery model for magazine viewing did not pan out for the company, a fate that could have been avoided with the proper personnel, a more-fleshed out idea of the business model, and stronger adjustment to underperformance.

UFOstart is also taking the MVP approach and is improving its product according to the feedback from the community. If you want to contribute to the platform development, you can vote on features you would like to see added. Let us know if you have any feedback, we would love to hear from you!