MVPs are crap

Escape intellectual laziness

Let’s get the MVP out ASAP

Move fast and break things

Ideas are cheap, execution is everything

Get something out quickly and then iterate based on customer feedback

How many versions of this advice have we all heard? Probably too many.

Most product advice centers on shipping fast, yet I can’t name a single product that won just because they shipped fast.

Products don’t win because they ship fast, they win because they break through.

Products win by solving a problem customers didn’t know they had, and doing it so well, so memorably, that after trying it, they can’t live without it.

MVPs made sense a decade ago when shipping was hard. It helped separate talkers from builders.

Now, shipping is easy. Differentiation isn’t.

Why?

Because today, there’s just too much noise.

If you take any idea, there are usually a dozen products already doing the same thing or something close.

Customers will naturally wonder, “Isn’t this just like X? How is it different from Y?” if they notice you at all.

Plenty of PMs still fall for the flawed MVP trap for their 0-1 product. They cut scope, ship the bare minimum, tick another box on the roadmap, drop a Slack announcement, and bask in the emoji parade like they’ve just changed the world.

Then come the poor referrals and retention, but no worries, it’s just a “marketing problem,” right?

Next step? Team up with sales and marketing to throw some paid traffic at the problem, hoping for a miracle.

I know this because I have done this too many times than I’d like to admit.

What they often miss is that it’s almost always a product problem, not a distribution one.

All distribution does for a bad product is speed up the disappointment.

With so many options out there, most products don’t get a real second chance to make an impression.

Customers don’t have to forgive you, they’ll just forget you.

To win today, you need more than a Minimum Viable Product.

You need a Minimum Memorable Product.

Products that break out don’t ship faster, they ship differentiated.

They nail 1-2 features that make the value unmistakable.

They make it blindingly obvious from day one why they’re better, cheaper, faster or simply more delightful.

They obsess over copy, design and experience to make sure customers get it, and more importantly, talk about it.

The best products create word of mouth before they create marketing budgets.

They generate so much word of mouth that growth feels organic, delaying the need for performance marketing or formal GTM plans until much later.

Not differentiating early on is almost always a sign of intellectual laziness and lack of clear thinking.

So why is clear thinking so rare? Because it is hard and uncomfortable!

It’s much easier to blame distribution than to admit you don’t really understand your customer.

Clear thinking also isn’t always actionable, and in a culture obsessed with motion, that feels wrong.

PMs feel the need to look busy. So they flood Slack, fill Jira, and bombard designers with Figma comments.

They confuse activity for momentum.

It’s easier to spend 3 hours on Slack debating a feature than to sit quietly and ask yourself the hard questions:

What’s the real jobs to be done here?

How can my product solve it it a unique way?

Why would a customer even care?

What barriers stop them from using it?

What doubts or biases do they have about my product?

What will trigger them to try this?

What would make it unforgettable?

What don’t I understand about my customer?

In big companies, it gets worse, PMs feel they must always look like they know, so they hide behind a facade of confidence instead of admitting I don’t know, fearing it might look like weakness.

Instead, they hide behind GTM plans and cross-functional alignment, quietly burning budget on a product no one actually loves.

Spending time on differentiation early will save you enormous pain, time, and money later.

If you don’t want to be just another me-too product lost in the noise, you don’t need an MVP.

You need something unforgettable, from day one.