The Lean Startup - Eric Ries [44]
As you consider building your own minimum viable product, let this simple rule suffice: remove any feature, process, or effort that does not contribute directly to the learning you seek.
SPEED BUMPS IN BUILDING AN MVP
Building an MVP is not without risks, both real and imagined. Both can derail a startup effort unless they are understood ahead of time. The most common speed bumps are legal issues, fears about competitors, branding risks, and the impact on morale.
For startups that rely on patent protection, there are special challenges with releasing an early product. In some jurisdictions, the window for filing a patent begins when the product is released to the general public, and depending on the way the MVP is structured, releasing it may start this clock. Even if your startup is not in one of those jurisdictions, you may want international patent protection and may wind up having to abide by these more stringent requirements. (In my opinion, issues like this are one of the many ways in which current patent law inhibits innovation and should be remedied as a matter of public policy.)
In many industries, patents are used primarily for defensive purposes, as a deterrent to hold competitors at bay. In such cases, the patent risks of an MVP are minor compared with the learning benefits. However, in industries in which a new scientific breakthrough is at the heart of a company’s competitive advantage, these risks need to be balanced more carefully. In all cases, entrepreneurs should seek legal counsel to ensure that they understand the risks fully.
Legal risks may be daunting, but you may be surprised to learn that the most common objection I have heard over the years to building an MVP is fear of competitors—especially large established companies—stealing a startup’s ideas. If only it were so easy to have a good idea stolen! Part of the special challenge of being a startup is the near impossibility of having your idea, company, or product be noticed by anyone, let alone a competitor. In fact, I have often given entrepreneurs fearful of this issue the following assignment: take one of your ideas (one of your lesser insights, perhaps), find the name of the relevant product manager at an established company who has responsibility for that area, and try to get that company to steal your idea. Call them up, write them a memo, send them a press release—go ahead, try it. The truth is that most managers in most companies are already overwhelmed with good ideas. Their challenge lies in prioritization and execution, and it is those challenges that give a startup hope of surviving.10
If a competitor can outexecute a startup once the idea is known, the startup is doomed anyway. The reason to build a new team to pursue an idea is that you believe you can accelerate through the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop faster than anyone else can. If that’s true, it makes no difference what the competition knows. If it’s not true, a startup has much bigger problems, and secrecy won’t fix them. Sooner or later, a successful startup will face competition from fast followers. A head start is rarely large enough to matter, and time spent in stealth mode—away from customers—is unlikely to provide a head start. The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else.
Many startups plan to invest in building a great