MVP vs MVP
Creating a product or service can be done in a lot of different kind of ways, with a lot of different kind of methods and has a lot of different kind of results. According to Forbes 9 out of 10 start-ups fail. This is because businesses are creating companies that no one wants, that doesn’t fit the market and the companies were ignoring things that were boring and key aspects of making a business (like that there is an overlap in the organic structure of the company).
One of the methods the lean start-up method and scrum is the way of creating and using a minimum viable product (a MVP). A MVP is a product/service/concept/company that contains just enough features to position it within the market and to gather validated feedback from the users in order to determine how the product is processing and developing. The MVP can be seen as the test if the product contains added value to the market with the minimal amount resources, money, time and effort (although, the effort is always more than you expected).
So what is the other MVP? The other MVP is derived from the NBA (National Basketball Association) in the United States where once a year, the most valuable player (MVP) is chosen by a panel of 125 sport journalists. So, what has the most valuable player has to do with the minimum viable product? The most valuable player is that part of your business model, from the lean canvas model that will make your opportunity or problem stand out. The most valuable player is the individual who has added the most value to their team and to the performance. Within the lean startup method, in my opinion, the unique value proposition and the unfair advantage or the most valuable ‘players’ in your concept. Why is your concept unique, why does it differentiate from others and why is it worth to buy/use/share the concept with other people in your social or business environment. And what makes this product so unique, compelling and simple that it cannot be copied by others easily and why it will take a long journey before it will be mainstream and ordinary.
The comparison is about the importance of uniqueness, performance and results a player wants to have and which a business or concept needs to have. As a player you need to stand out in order to beat the mainstream and in order to get higher and higher in the rankings. In the competitive, hard knock, business world, standing above the noise is the one factor that needs to be changed if you want your business to grow.
Always differentiate and always adapt to what new developments will be and try to be the unique one. The unique one is not the only one, because I believe that there are always touch points between business and competitors.
