I hate MVPs. So do your customers. Make it SLC instead.

customers hate MVPs. Startups are encouraged by the great Reid Hoffman to “launch early enough that you’re embarrassed by your v1.0 release.” But no customer wants to use an unfinished product that the creators are embarrassed by. Customers want great products they can use now.

“MVPs are great” said only the peddler of the product, never its customer.

It might be great for the product team, but it’s bad for customers. And ultimately, what’s bad for customers is bad for the company.

Also this, 10000%:

The customer should have a genuine desire to use the product, as-is. Not because it’s version 0.1 of something complex, but because it’s version 1.0 of something simple.

Products that do less but are loved, are more successful than products which have more features, but that people dislike.

…There are many ways to generate love. “Minimum” and “viable” are definitely not two of those ways.

In contrast, there’s a SLC product:

A SLC product does not require ongoing development in order to add value. It’s possible that v1 should evolve for years into a v4, but you also have the option of not investing further in the product, yet it still adds value. An MVP that never gets additional investment is just a bad product. An SLC that never gets additional investment is a good, if modest product.