Launch your damn MVP

I wrote this to explain why people recommend MVPs and "launch and iterate."

Companies with a decade of user research still can't predict the effects of their changes. This is why A/B testing is so popular. It allows them to get rapid feedback.

The value of your product is uncertain before you get feedback - it could be positive or negative. But it's probably close to zero. When you see user behavior, it allows you to revert your bad changes and keep your good changes.

Once you get regular feedback, then you can delete your bad changes and keep your good changes. The difference compounds over time, since you're building success on success.

Accordingly, you should keep your MVP as small as possible. The larger it gets without getting feedback, the longer the bad changes are canceling out the good changes. Launch and iterate. Learn which changes were misguided and remove them.

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I wrote this to explain why people recommend MVPs and "launch and iterate."

Companies with a decade of user research still can't predict the effects of their changes. This is why A/B testing is so popular. It allows them to get rapid feedback.

The value of your product is uncertain before you get feedback - it could be positive or negative. But it's probably close to zero. When you see user behavior, it allows you to revert your bad changes and keep your good changes.

Once you get regular feedback, then you can delete your bad changes and keep your good changes. The difference compounds over time, since you're building success on success.

Accordingly, you should keep your MVP as small as possible. The larger it gets without getting feedback, the longer the bad changes are canceling out the good changes. Launch and iterate. Learn which changes were misguided and remove them.

Jacob Voytko

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6 years ago
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