Does your MVP actually solve the problem that you want to solve?

In the process of building MVP, things go weird and squirrelly. You had this problem, then you started building it, then you talk to other users, then before long you’re launching something, and then you realize it doesn’t actually do the thing that you promised and even the thing you want to do.

1. The number one problem with this question is that it hurts. The answer hurts. You’re going to find that a lot in startups where the answer hurts you. A lot of the answers inside of startups are feeling that way.

2. It’s really helpful to build your MVP quickly. Typically the longer it takes, the more you will have MVP and problem drift or customer drift. If you decide only to build your MVP in 2 weeks, it’s a lot easier to stay on task and make sure that you actually solve that problem for that customer.

3. The way you test this is you give your product to customers. You have to do that. That’s a required step.

4. Many founders want to be artists. They think of their product like a painting, as something that could be appreciated as a piece of art, as something special even if one person appreciates it. That’s not what you’re making, and products are not paintings. They’re not art. The startup world is very unforgiving to artists.

5. If users don’t find products useful, then the products are by definition not useful. It’s a waste of your time to build.

Source: https://youtu.be/C27RVio2rOs?t=1119

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