Why would you NOT do MVP VALIDATION before product Development?

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#1

I can see a few:

1. It takes calendar time to get some traction.

This is very fuzzy and hard to measure but it happened to is in 1995. Took us several years to get to a nice income. That may be related to the next point.

2. You may need to try lots of different marketing channels to determine what works.

(I’m planning to read Traction, which is supposed to cover lots of different channels. You evaluate each one.

3. you may need to have a product to evaluate whether ppl will buy.

*Corollary to 2 above: *
Need ACTUAL product to ready each channel (I.e, you need to SELL to truly evaluate each channel.)

4.Don’t know how to reach potential customers to validate the idea.

5. If you build it, they will come.
Once a user tries it, they’ll LOVE it. And there is no way to explain it without building it.

-Clay

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#2

I would never again start a business without some form of validation… been there, done that… made good money but in the end crashed and burned… why?

The product was fantastic… people loved it… but could not buy from such a small company (was in the GIS space for electric utilities…). Now how could have I validated that? Today it would be pretty simple to figure out…

I agree with you that is is more work up front, but I think it’s nothing compared to what it saves you down the line…

I think you have to get some customers excited enough to help you build it…

#3

I agree 100%. And yet experienced folks I know do not believe in MVP validation. I’m curious about the reasons why they do not. Hypothesis is : (Some of them are valid obstacles (which can often be overcome) but many are, IMHO, mental roadblocks, such as the desire to do what you are good at (coding) instead of marketing, or just the enjoyment of working on an idea you’re excited about ( I’d call that programmatic masturbation).

BUT that’s a hypothesis. One I want to test.

#4

When your prospects are bugging you “is it ready yet…is it ready yet?”

I didn’t write a line of code for tvCAD.tv until I had a few clients bugging me for a release date. I did a lot of hard yards talking to these clients one-on-one,clarifying their workflows and pain points and their needs before I committed to build it. During these conversations most of them committed to buy it when released - most of them probably will. I didn’t have an MVP but I did have the outcomes clarified enough for them to have a good idea of what it is I am making. It’s in beta now so that’s an MVP, I guess.

This was just an alternative approach to the questions an MVP answers - problem - solution, market fit and demand, basically WHY they would pay your for it and why they might not. So, this doesn’t answer your question but rather disagrees with it.

If your thing is quick to build then it may be worth going in blindly but I wouldn’t do that.

YMMV

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#5

I clicked over to see it. I realize ur in beta so the landing page may not be a priority now. Let me know if you want feedback.

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