Anthony Panozzo argues that most of what entrepreneurs calls "an MVP" is really a "version 1". Instead, an MVP is a tool to test assumptions. If you're not testing specific hypotheses, you're not doing an MVP.
So here are my new question for MVPs. If someone says they intend to "build an MVP" (the build part itself might be a tell), I am going to ask:
- What are you trying to learn with this particular MVP?
- What data are you collecting about your experiment?
- What determines the success or failure of the experiment?
It's worth reading the article if you're unclear on this point.