MVP Playbook for Founders – Feedback Wanted

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8150744

by jobmatchbox • 12 years ago

1 2 12 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

This is a link to a post I wrote a few days ago. Let me know what you think!

http://socialmatchbox.com/wp/2014/08/05/how-much-will-it-cost-to-build-my-startup-mvp-part-1-what-is-an-mvp/

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'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.

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.

luketucker• 12 years ago

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• 12 years ago

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