Ussain Bolt: Be a sprinter
Noreddine morsli: Be enduring
Me: Be a cheapskate !
After the boring studies and researches that we have done in blogs 1, 2 and 3, about the market, and after the unusual discussions we’ve had between different Mahdi’s in my head with Newton, Madonna and La Callas, it is high time to stop this crazy stuff and move to ACTION in a more professional and practical blog…. THEY SAID ! Of course I won’t ! Life is too short to be serious, and business is so fun to make it boring !
So after the intellectual stuff, and the pop culture references, let’s move this time into the sports and athletic world to picture the subject of this blog: The Minimum Viable Product.
Ussain Bolt: You are too slow, you spent too much time thinking of your product !
Noureddine Morceli: I don’t think so, I think he is too fast. Is he really willing to invest all his money already knowing that no customer has tried or tested his product ? He should go slower so he can endure through the long Entrepreneur Journey in order to overcome all potential obstacles.
Me: I’m not a Spender person to be as fast or as slow that you would like me to be. I’M A CHEAPSKATE.
Indeed, it has nothing to do with the amount of money that you have nor how much you’re willing to invest. When you start your business (and even before) you should think CHEAP and BE CHEAP!
Not only because deep inside we are all cheap (Yes, even you behind your screen, YOU ARE CHEAP, admit it, no one’s around), but because the first products you will be selling are the best source for customers behaviour data and the best way to have a great feedback on your product.
You’re done with the market studies ? Of course not, you will be done with it (approximately) once you have collected the feedback from your first users, or what the academic Mahdi would call the “EARLY ADOPTERS”.
This first product you will be selling is called the MVP, the Minimum Viable Product.
Ussain: what a waste of time!
Not at all, it’s a gain of time, In industries such as software, the MVP can help the product team receive user feedback as quickly as possible to iterate and improve the product.
Nourddine: Please go slowly, what is an MVP?
Academical Mahdi (He’s back): A minimum viable product, or MVP, is a product with enough features to attract early-adopter customers and validate a product idea early in the product development cycle, all of this while minimizing the amount of effort; the MVP will then play a central role in agile development.
Noureddine: Yes, I like how you go slowly, this way your company will be able to endure.
Me: mmmm… the aim of the MVP is to release a product as quick as possible into the market and not lose time !
Ussain: I told you Noureddine, you need to go fast.
Me: mmmm …The aim of quickly releasing an MVP into the market is to learn quickly on what resonates with our target market and what doesn’t, in order to be able to go back again, redefining our product if needed, and be enduring. somehow it’s being slow.
To summarize, you need to be quick and fast…….then slow ….. then endurant…. in order to get back fast because WE ARE CHEAP ! The real aim of the MVP is to Test an idea with real users before committing a large budget to the product’s full development.
One of the best examples of the MVP is Airbnb. The founders used their own apartments and created a minimalistic website, to validate their idea.
The MVP will minimize the time and resources you might otherwise commit to building a product that won’t succeed.
But what kind of resources are we talking about ? and what are the different types of support to get these resources ?
The next blog will be a kind of glossary where terms such as Equity, Venture, Grant, Fund or Series A, B, C,…. will have no more secret for you.
On your mark, get set, go!
