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"registration, payment and a nice domain". A minimum, VIABLE product? Does it do anything? Does it do anything that others can't easily replicate? Explain t

by bborud 10y ago

"registration, payment and a nice domain". A minimum, VIABLE product? Does it do anything? Does it do anything that others can't easily replicate? Explain the "viable" to me.

heeton 10y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_product https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_product "is a product with just enough features to gather validated learning about the product and its continued development" If people are willing to pay for something, even before it has any features, that seems like a pretty good MVP to me. Assuming that people are paying for it that is...
- bborud 10y ago
  Thanks, I know what it is and I am up to my arse in people who believe this has value despite having actual _validated learning_ that overwhelmingly points to the opposite. It turns out that when you fuck around with your customers and tell them that you have a product, only to have them find out that you have fuck-all and you are cobbling it together as they wait, your customers lose faith in you and think you are a douchebag. And rightly so. Because pretending isn't doing. Eric Ries has done untold damage to the tech and the business world. He is successful at one thing and one thing only: writing and marketing a book. Generous people call his book a post-fact rationalization of success, but that would be overstating it grossly. Because he didn't have any success to rationalize post-fact. It makes me angry that people think this horseshit has anything to do with creating value. Doing stuff and knowing how to do stuff has value. Yanking people around with smoke and mirrors does not. It mostly ends up wasting time and time is the one resource you can't get back.
  - Clubber 10y ago
    Yes, maybe I'm missing something but from what I'm reading, he has a marketing website and a payment system to take payments for ?? what? Is there a product? I've always understood a MVP to be a product to have just enough features to add core value immediately. Bells and whistles to add more value are not included, but core value is. For example, if you are writing scheduling software, MVP would be able to schedule better than, say on pen and paper, or whatever is standard functionality in the current market space. Future value would be adding features to "cast a wider net," so to speak. Do people seriously consider MVP a way to pay for vaporware? Am I misunderstanding the situation?
konschubert 10y ago
> A minimum, VIABLE product? Does it do anything? The MVP is basically just a custom storefront for the service that is being sold and which provides the actual value. > Does it do anything that others can't easily replicate? No. But is is new and unique.
- bborud 10y ago
  If it is just an idea at this stage it may feel like it has value, but believe me, it does not. In order for an idea to have value you actually have to build something. If you can't be bothered to build something, it probably isn't a very exciting idea. So what you are trying to sell is an idea that you, by your own admission, don't think is very exciting. And what you have is essentially something you could put together in an afternoon. The maximum I have ever paid for an idea is lunch. If I have reason to believe that someone will be able to interest me long enough that I'll make it through lunch, heck, I'll buy them lunch If you want to transform it into value, you need to do a bit more. If the idea is really so boring that you won't, you could pay someone to work on the idea or you could partner up with someone. Freeing you up to have other ideas or whatever you are doing that is more fun than acting on the idea you are trying to sell. Now here is a free tip: if you take an idea to a bigger audience, you may find other people that are interested in it. People who might want to do it. People that might have other ideas because of it. And yes, people who will tell you that your idea is rubbish. If your idea is good, someone might want to do it on their own. But this is less likely than you think. Because other people also have ideas. But in any case, if you tell more people about your idea you stand a bigger chance of getting help. Start with people you know who have built stuff.

by bborud 10y ago

"registration, payment and a nice domain". A minimum, VIABLE product? Does it do anything? Does it do anything that others can't easily replicate? Explain the "viable" to me.

heeton 10y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_product https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_product "is a product with just enough features to gather validated learning about the product and its continued development" If people are willing to pay for something, even before it has any features, that seems like a pretty good MVP to me. Assuming that people are paying for it that is...

bborud 10y ago
Thanks, I know what it is and I am up to my arse in people who believe this has value despite having actual _validated learning_ that overwhelmingly points to the opposite. It turns out that when you fuck around with your customers and tell them that you have a product, only to have them find out that you have fuck-all and you are cobbling it together as they wait, your customers lose faith in you and think you are a douchebag. And rightly so. Because pretending isn't doing. Eric Ries has done untold damage to the tech and the business world. He is successful at one thing and one thing only: writing and marketing a book. Generous people call his book a post-fact rationalization of success, but that would be overstating it grossly. Because he didn't have any success to rationalize post-fact. It makes me angry that people think this horseshit has anything to do with creating value. Doing stuff and knowing how to do stuff has value. Yanking people around with smoke and mirrors does not. It mostly ends up wasting time and time is the one resource you can't get back.
- Clubber 10y ago
  Yes, maybe I'm missing something but from what I'm reading, he has a marketing website and a payment system to take payments for ?? what? Is there a product? I've always understood a MVP to be a product to have just enough features to add core value immediately. Bells and whistles to add more value are not included, but core value is. For example, if you are writing scheduling software, MVP would be able to schedule better than, say on pen and paper, or whatever is standard functionality in the current market space. Future value would be adding features to "cast a wider net," so to speak. Do people seriously consider MVP a way to pay for vaporware? Am I misunderstanding the situation?

konschubert 10y ago

> A minimum, VIABLE product? Does it do anything? The MVP is basically just a custom storefront for the service that is being sold and which provides the actual value. > Does it do anything that others can't easily replicate? No. But is is new and unique.

bborud 10y ago
If it is just an idea at this stage it may feel like it has value, but believe me, it does not. In order for an idea to have value you actually have to build something. If you can't be bothered to build something, it probably isn't a very exciting idea. So what you are trying to sell is an idea that you, by your own admission, don't think is very exciting. And what you have is essentially something you could put together in an afternoon. The maximum I have ever paid for an idea is lunch. If I have reason to believe that someone will be able to interest me long enough that I'll make it through lunch, heck, I'll buy them lunch If you want to transform it into value, you need to do a bit more. If the idea is really so boring that you won't, you could pay someone to work on the idea or you could partner up with someone. Freeing you up to have other ideas or whatever you are doing that is more fun than acting on the idea you are trying to sell. Now here is a free tip: if you take an idea to a bigger audience, you may find other people that are interested in it. People who might want to do it. People that might have other ideas because of it. And yes, people who will tell you that your idea is rubbish. If your idea is good, someone might want to do it on their own. But this is less likely than you think. Because other people also have ideas. But in any case, if you tell more people about your idea you stand a bigger chance of getting help. Start with people you know who have built stuff.