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Creating a roadmap for launching an MVP

Hello 👋
I am working on an MVP launch roadmap checklist and would love to hear IH's thoughts on what I'm missing, and whether this is valuable. I have some additional content and thoughts here.

✅ Start with the problem you want to solve
It's easy to fall in love with an idea for a product, and work back from there to decide on the problem you want to solve with it. However, most great products solve a major problem. And there might be many ways to solve those problems. The solution you have in mind might not be the best, or the easiest, or cheapest, or most intuitive way of doing it that will resonate with the greatest number of people.

That's why it's a good idea to always start with the problem you want to solve, and then explore that problem in great detail before formulating what the solution will be.

Make sure you aren't building a faster elevator when you could be giving them a mirror to check themselves out in while they wait for the elevator.

✅ Identify your target audience
Who are the people who have this headache? Where are they the most underserved or have the biggest headache? Focus on them as much as possible, and try not to get distracted by adjacent target users or else you'll try to do too much right away.

✅ Conduct prospective user interviews
Focus on the problem, not the solution. Follow the Mom Test and Five Whys format to really dig deep and make sure you build the mirror before you build the faster elevator.

✅ Scope out the smallest thing you can build that solves the problem
Your MVP should be the quickest thing you can build and ship and get to your users to see if it solves a pain point for them. Strip it back as much as you can to optimize for speed of delivery so you can start getting feedback, iterating, improving and releasing the next version.

✅ Launch quickly, even if it's bad, and get feedback
Launch the smallest thing you can that solves the problem you are trying to solve and get feedback.

✅ Iterate
Once you launch the first thing, get feedback, retool, and fix the thing that isn't solving the problem you need it to solve yet, until it solves the problem.

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