When was the last time your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) truly delivered groundbreaking insights or propelled your team toward meaningful innovation? If you’re like most product teams, the answer is probably: “Not often enough.” While the MVP approach has become a cornerstone of modern product management, it’s time we challenged its foundational assumptions. In many cases, the MVP isn’t the innovation booster it’s made out to be. In fact, it’s often a silent killer of creativity and ambition.
Here’s why your MVP may be holding you back—and what to do about it.
The Problem with “Viable”
The MVP, as traditionally defined, is a version of your product with just enough functionality to gather validated learning about customers. This sounds efficient, but the obsession with viability often leads teams to prioritize safety over boldness.
By aiming for the “minimum,” you risk delivering a product so watered down that it fails to inspire meaningful customer engagement. Worse, it can attract feedback from the wrong kinds of users: passive, indifferent customers who will never care deeply about your product’s success.
In short, your MVP may succeed in gathering feedback, but it’s often the wrong feedback.
Why the MVP Fails Ambitious Products
It Optimizes for the Average Customer The MVP is often designed to appeal to the widest possible audience. But groundbreaking innovation rarely comes from pleasing the masses. Instead, it’s driven by the demands of highly engaged, forward-thinking users—what we call Catalytic Customers. These customers don’t want a basic product; they want something transformative.
It Ignores Critical Edge Cases Edge cases are often dismissed as “niche” or “unscalable” during MVP development. Yet these edge cases are where Catalytic Customers live. Ignoring them means missing the opportunity to uncover insights that could propel your product beyond incremental improvements.
It Stifles Creativity The MVP’s focus on minimizing risk and maximizing viability creates a culture of cautiousness. Teams prioritize features they know they can deliver rather than exploring bold, experimental ideas. The result? A product that’s predictable but uninspiring.
A Better Way: Start with Catalytic Customers
Instead of designing an MVP to appeal to the widest audience, focus on creating a product that resonates deeply with your most engaged, knowledgeable, and demanding customers. These Catalytic Customers aren’t looking for a stripped-down product; they want something that challenges the status quo and meets their high standards.
How to Do It:
Identify Your Catalytic Customers Look for users who are deeply invested in your category. These are the customers who already have strong opinions, demand more from existing solutions, and aren’t afraid to voice their critiques. They’re not necessarily early adopters; they’re experienced and forward-looking.
Build for Maximum Engagement, Not Minimum Viability Instead of asking, “What’s the least we can build?” ask, “What would make our Catalytic Customers sit up and take notice?” Focus on solving a challenging, high-impact problem for them, even if it means narrowing your initial audience.
Co-Create with Your Catalytic Customers Don’t just gather feedback after launch. Involve your Catalytic Customers in the development process. Use their input to validate bold ideas, stress-test features, and refine your vision.
Measure Depth, Not Breadth Traditional MVP metrics like adoption rates and basic satisfaction scores can be misleading. Instead, track how deeply your product resonates with your Catalytic Customers. Are they using it frequently? Are they advocating for it? Are they providing insightful feedback?
The Risk of Playing It Safe
The MVP’s appeal lies in its promise of efficiency and risk mitigation. But when you optimize for “minimum viability,” you risk building a product that’s mediocre at best and irrelevant at worst. True innovation comes from taking calculated risks, and those risks are best informed by the insights of Catalytic Customers who demand better.
Your MVP isn’t just a product; it’s a statement of your vision. Make it bold. Make it ambitious. And most importantly, make it resonate with the customers who matter most.
Conclusion
The MVP approach isn’t inherently flawed, but its traditional application often prioritizes safety over innovation. By rethinking the MVP through the lens of Catalytic Customers, you can create products that inspire loyalty, drive engagement, and spark transformative change.
So, the next time you start a new product, don’t ask, “What’s the minimum we can build?” Instead, ask, “What will make our Catalytic Customers fall in love?”
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