MVP = Minimum Viable Payment
jasonleow • 18 Mar 2025 •
The “minimum” in MVP is the minimum it takes to get a stranger to open their wallet, not the minimum it takes for the product to work.
Many folks say “The minimum in MVP should be enough for people to give feedback.”
I don’t think feedback is a reliable signal for product-market fit. It’s important for iteration, yes, but not enough.
Because feedback is too easy to give. One can give it without having skin in the product as a customer. It’s just… words. Talk (feedback) is cheap.
Very often someone will say, nice, great stuff, but if you ask them to pay, they hesitate. Opening the wallet, that’s when it gets real.
And even amongst payments, not all are equal. Family and friends don’t count. Definitely not your mom. Only payments from strangers. Because if someone who doesn’t know you is willing to give you money, that means you got something good going.
MVP should really be defined as Minimum Viable Payment!
Comments
Yeah exactly! A small nuance, but so important to creating a successful business!
Nice! I like the reframing. As much as the lean startup methodology tries to emphasize the importance of continuous learning and validation, what we’re ultimately after is validation of the willingness to pay. It’s not learning for learning’s sake. We want to drill down to a sale.