
Details Matter. Or: Even MVPs need to "get it right" - FluidDjango
http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/04/details-matter/
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ed209
I think MVP use is getting skewed these days.

Lots of people seem to launch their product under the MVP banner as an excuse
for features that are broken or sites that look terrible. However, they're
actually launching that MVP to large audiences like "Show HN". It's almost as
though they are using MVP as a promotional tool rather than a feedback tool.

Yes, MVP is great, but don't give your MVP to Robert Scoble or HN for that
matter. MVP is good for 100 people, not 1000.

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aaronblohowiak
i do not think that HN is a "large audience" if you are trying to build a "web
scale" business.

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dave_sullivan
It is if you consider their influence.

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swombat
Wow, way to fail to understand the point of the Lean Startup methodology. This
is a hugely misinformed article.

Applying "fit and finish" before the _launch_ makes sense (if you have a
launch at all). But this article seems to suggest that you should do this
before you even have a product worth launching. The mindset that generates
this article is exactly the kind of misconception that leads to completely
useless products that don't serve anyone's purposes (but look very nice and
scale great), which is exactly what Eric Ries is arguing against.

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iusable
well put!

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dave_sullivan
There is no magic bullet, it's about finding balance.

Yes, MVP is useful to show people what you're talking about. Also, it helps
clarify what you're going for, helps eliminate the unnecessary.

But MVP or not, nobody likes using a product that doesn't work. And you only
have one chance to make a first impression (so they say).

Don't release a crappy product to a large audience, but make sure not to spend
tons of time on an aspect of a product without having some verification that
it's something your market is interested in paying for. Both are true taken
together, but it doesn't work if you get too far to one side or the other.

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the_bear
Regardless of whether it's true that MVPs need more polish, it's just not true
that it's difficult for a product to stay under the radar. The reason
Instagram and Path make good examples of companies gaining publicity right at
launch is because they happen to be the companies that gained publicity right
at launch. You can't really make a counter-example because by definition we
haven't heard of the thousands of companies that are still under the radar.

I'm sure there are plenty of people on Hacker News (including myself) that
would love to have the "problem" of too many people discussing our product on
Twitter.

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shareme
No offense but name one HN'er that would ever let Scoble or MA or Tc writers
run a startup..

crickets..crickets..

Its not the buzz, its deep knowledge, something this article lacks.

