This is really helpful. I wonder if the journey to MVP is actually a series of RATs?

I say this because our latest MVP at Debtor Daddy (called RADAR) developed over 4 months with numerous small iterations and tests to learn what it needed to look like in order to generate referrals for our core product.

One advantage of RAT that I see is that it feels less product focused. Some of our iterations with RADAR were purely in how we pitched the product to prospects. A good MVP marketed wrong can still fail. And it kinda sucks if you dismiss your MVP as a failure just cos you pitched it poorly. We came close to doing that! Then I discovered how to pitch it (through iteration) and the MVP is now much closer to doing its job — generating referrals.

We iterated and experimented both on product and marketing messaging simultaneously because in my experience the two work in tandem to get to validation.

Whether it’s MVP or RAT or both for us it’s more about finding which method of working gets us to product/market fit fastest with the least cash burn. In this light RAT is a great way to think about what to focus on next as we build MVPs.

Great read. Appreciate your work in this space and look forward to reading more.