The Trap of Building the Wrong MVP
A Cautionary Tale
Building out a project typically starts with establishing the MVP - the minimum viable product. This is the base threshold that a project needs to meet before showing it to others, soliciting feedback, and shaping the future of the idea - which doesn’t really offer a concrete description of what to build as the MVP. This isn’t a deep dive into all the nuances of determining priority when starting a new project - rather, it’s a cautionary tale about the trap of building the wrong MVP (and how to fix it).
The Wrong MVP
When building out an MVP, a simple approach is to think about the features you want the full product to have, and then to scale that down to a more basic level of functionality in all of those areas. For example, if you’re building a communication tool similar to Discord, you might emphasize having basic audio/video calls, channels for discussions, and the ability to interact with others - all of which are core components of making this kind of app.
Here’s the problem - at this point, all you’ve done is build something like Discord…except it has way fewer features, it has no user-base, and it looks a bit rough around the edges. So - why is anyone going to start using your app, instead of just continuing to use what’s already available?
What’s missing is differentiators.
Differentiators
Differentiators are the things that stand out compared to the status quo. They’re the really hard/important problems you’ve managed to solve that make a user say, “Wow, I really need that feature, even if this tool doesn’t do some things as well as what’s currently on the market.”
Going back to our prior example, envision an immersive VR experience that allows for a new way of talking to your friends that’s unlike anything that people have ever tried. Sure, the app might be lacking some other useful features, but it has that one killer feature that makes it worth using.
Differentiators give people something to be excited about - a reason to be bought into the future of your product, instead of it being “just another xyz.” Other apps might try to copy what you’ve done, but you have a head start - which, depending on how you’re able to leverage it, allows you to establish a user-base and refine the rest of the product.
A common trap is to compare what you’re building with what’s currently on the market (i.e. aiming to achieve parity with existing tools). But this overlooks one of the biggest challenges with launching a new product, which is customer acquisition.
The Trouble With Customer Acquisition
If what you build has parity with another tool, someone new in the space may choose to use your platform…but it doesn’t create an incentive for existing users to switch away from a competitor. You’re not just competing with matching the functionality of the other players in your domain - you also have to account for:
People have established networks, shortcuts, workflows, etc. with their current tool.
People are lazy - installing a new tool, getting it set up, and learning how to use it takes work.
People are wary of change - we get used to the status quo, and are prone to being immediately critical of things that stray too far from the standard.
Your differentiators are what get you over those hurdles - you’ve built a tool that does something so novel that people are willing to take a leap and try it out and leave their old tool behind, despite all of the above factors working against you. If your MVP just focuses on doing all of the basic core things, users have no motivation to switch - some really exciting features might come eventually, but in the meantime, why would I do my video calls on this new app…instead of the current one that works just fine?
In Summary
Focus first on what will make your tool different, and special - people will be willing to overlook that you haven’t built out certain parts of the app. As long as your users have reason to believe that you’ll get there eventually and the app won’t be in a half-built state forever, they’ll be excited to try out your new thing. And if they’re not, then you’ve learned a lot about your potential product market fit, and gathered some valuable data to help you decided whether you should stay the course, pivot, or scrap the project altogether.