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I assume the pitch wasn't "we're going to make a sandwich-making machine," but rather "we're going to automate food production and revolutionize the world econo
by ForrestN 11y ago
I assume the pitch wasn't "we're going to make a sandwich-making machine," but rather "we're going to automate food production and revolutionize the world economy." If I understand correctly, the intended path of many of these companies is to use some narrow case as proof-of-concept. Start with helping conference attendees share air mattresses, then build towards replacing the hospitality industry. You can't judge these companies by the scope of the MVPs.
- analog31 11y agoThat's fair. But surely, somebody had to have judged those companies by something, where somebody is presumably a venture capitalist. Another thought: It could be the beginning of a self driving food truck.
- panic 11y agoIf the MVP isn't compelling, why even spend time and money developing it? Why not spend those resources building something closer to the "real" product?
- dang 11y agoThere's a long history of big things starting as small things. http://www.paulgraham.com/altair.html http://www.paulgraham.com/altair.html
- panic 11y agoPeople actually wanted to use those things, though, even though they sounded silly and small. That's why they were able to grow into something larger. Microsoft's customers weren't thinking, "well, Altair Basic isn't that useful, but you can't judge them by the scope of their MVP -- Microsoft told their investors they'll build a whole OS someday."
- dang 11y agoThat sounds tautological to me, but maybe I'm not following your argument. I do sense a bit of hindsight in it, though. The initial market for Altair BASIC was as small as it gets.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]