

MVP Playbook for Founders – Feedback Wanted - jobmatchbox

This is a link to a post I wrote a few days ago.  Let me know what you think!<p>http:&#x2F;&#x2F;socialmatchbox.com&#x2F;wp&#x2F;2014&#x2F;08&#x2F;05&#x2F;how-much-will-it-cost-to-build-my-startup-mvp-part-1-what-is-an-mvp&#x2F;<p>So you know where I am coming from on this:
I have co-founded 4 startups (2 profitable), spent the last 4 years building and launching my latest.  I have directly advised, mentored or otherwise helped several dozen startups (Consumer, B2B, Mobile) go from the idea stage through early product design and development to fundraising and on from there.  6 had successful exits in the last couple of years including ($57M, $117M, IPO, ...).  For the  6 exits, I played a key role in building their teams at all levels from college hires to CxO&#x27;s.  I also hosted the largest software product startup launch event on the East Coast for five years (I had lots of help).  I wish I had knew then what I know now.<p>When someone tells me they have an idea I would like to share some of what I know and have learned with them so I try to blog about my experiences.
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luketucker
Hey Bob,

Read the post. Thanks for sharing! Just a few quick thoughts / feedback:

1\. I really appreciated that you define your terms. I think it’s very
important to know and set that baseline for your reader.

2\. I also like that you provide a lot of outbound links. Others may not like
this but I always find it helpful.

Here's Some critiques… 3\. Not sure you answered the question in your title:
“How much will it cost build my startup MVP?” By the title I was looking for a
breakdown by product type / business model. Assuming your giving feedback on
building a software based product you can eliminate hardware plays, etc. But
there’s a big MVP buildout cost difference from a photo sharing service, to a
SaaS business, to a mobile messaging app. If you answer this in your second
post, awesome! The only suggestion I would provide would be to put a good
teaser at the end of this first post for the “stay tuned” and provide a little
content hook for the reader.

4\. To some extent, feel like you copied and pasted too much from the sources
you referenced. Based on your impressive bio I would be stoked to hear about
your experiences (the struggles, the triumphs). That’s what would really draw
me in. I’ve read all those books and it’s always a good refresher for sure,
but your own anecdotes and info would be gold to me! Show your personality and
flair.

5\. The structure of the post was hard to read. I would focus on a hierarchy
of the content (lists are always great!). A few thoughts: inset quotes, pics,
graphs, tables, indent the bolded sections).

All around, thanks for posting and look forward to following your story.
Cheers!

~~~
jobmatchbox
Luke,

Thanks for the feedback! I will take some time and make some formatting
enhancements as well as add some visuals. I plan to really dig into the "cost"
as soon as I have some time to get back to writing. I decided to focus on the
cost of building an MVP for this series rather than a product. For this first
post in the series the focus is on defining an MVP. Since there are so many
similar, yet distinct ideas about what an MVP actually is I want to get this
right before I tackle actual costs. A lot of founders get lost chasing a huge
product rather than an MVP, but they think they are going after an MVP. This
is especially true for first time founders. This is ultimately an
experiment/research effort in search of a scalable business not a product
(i.e. photo sharing service, SaaS product, mobile messaging app). The business
may reject the initial hypothetical business or product and re-focus or even
change focus.

Bob

