🚀 "Stop calling everything MVP?"


🚀 "Stop calling everything MVP?"

In an era when businesses run at 5G speeds, but capital and resources also run 3G speeds, the most dangerous thing is not competition, but "creating features that no one wants" and the "wrong stage decision" of the word Minimal, which is quietly destroying product teams around the world.

One of the root causes of the problem is the misuse of the word MVP (Minimum Viable Product), which makes it a "pretext for unfinished work" rather than Eric Ries' Lean Startup strategic learning tool that was first mentioned in 2011.

So today we have to come back to the four levels of Minimal Models through a business perspective, with examples of real companies that use this approach.

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💥 1) MVP - Minimal Viable Product = Create to Learn, Not to Get Rich

MVP is the "smallest version" that allows us to learn the fastest with the least resources, not the "insulting" or "unfinished" version, as many people misunderstand.

✔ MVP's only purpose is Validate Learning.

* Do customers really want this?

* Does behavior match our assumptions?

* The problem we think he has... Is he real?

📌 Study Dropbox (2007)

Before developing the real software, Drew Houston did just a "3-minute demo video," explained the idea of sync files, and then released it to see the market reaction.

* Results: Tens of thousands of people flocked to apply on the Waiting List.

* Lesson: MVP doesn't need to code, it needs to prove customer behavior.

✔ the right Mindset.

"MVP is not built to sell, but built to understand."

Reference: YC Library, TechCrunch, Harvard Business Review (Dropbox Case)

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🛍️ 2) MMP - Minimal Marketable Product = Created for sale, not for testing

Once the MVP confirms the hypothesis, the next stage is MMP, a "practical" version that highlights a few key features, but it has to do well without excuse.

📌 Case Study of LINE (2011)

* LINE launched after the Japanese earthquake. The only feature is Chat, stable and fast delivery. There is no Timeline, no Sticker Shop, no AI, but the answer to Pain Point clearly is "definitely want to keep in touch with the emergency."

* Today, LINE has over 200 million users worldwide, but the starting point is only one feature MMP.

✔ The goal of MMP is Time-to-Market.

"Get in faster, not perfect, but practical and solve obvious problems."

Reference: LINE Corp Press, Nikkei Asia

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❤️ 3) MLP - Minimum Lovable Product = Created to make customers love, not just functional

In a world where competitors are increasing every day, "just sell" is no longer enough. Customers have to feel bound and want to repeat. This is the border of the MLP.

✔ The focus of the MLP is the Emotional Experience.

* Fluid UX

* Nice design to use

* Small details that make customers feel "This brand cares about me."

📌 Airbnb case study

Airbnb discovered that making customers feel "like a host" and "uniquely experienced" makes Retention much higher than conventional hotels.

* Warm review

* Local advice

* A friendly conversation between the tenant and the landlord.

This made Airbnb a very powerful MLP to grow into a company worth tens of billions of dollars.

Reference: Airbnb Design Blog, Fast Company

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💰 4) MSP - Minimum Sellable Product = Created to make the business "survive and actually grow."

Many startups do good MVP, can do MMP, have MLP until customers love... but die at MSP because "not worth selling" or "business model is not sustainable."

✔ MSP aimed at answering one question: Does business survive?

* CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) is the "cost of finding one customer," such as advertising, promotion, commission. If CAC is too high, it means that we have to pay more expensive to get a customer, which results in a difficult business expansion.

* LTV (Lifetime Value) is "the total revenue that one customer will generate for the business for the rest of his life." If LTV is too low, the customer does not repurchase or buy less, not worth the cost.

* Unit Economics is "profit per unit customer." If this number is not strong, the bigger the business, for example, the more customers get, the higher the total cost, so that the business falls instead of growth.

When these three are unbalanced, even if the product is good, has many users, or loves the brand, it cannot become a sustainable business.

📌 WeWork case study (negative example)

* Despite WeWork having many users and a beloved brand, the high cost + revenue model is not consistent, causing the company to fail economically.

* This is the lesson of the MSP "Productions that someone uses,

Reference: Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, WeWork S1 Filing

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🧭 So... the four Minimal types are not interchangeable, and the wrong Stage = business is ruined.

Building a production is not a marathon, but a 4-wood relay.

1.MVP → Prove that this problem exists

2.MMP → Prove that the customer is willing to gouge the purchase money

3.MLP → Prove that customers love and come back

4.MSP → Prove that business is sustainable and profitable

✔ Gold Question for CEO and Product Leader

"Today we want to learn, sell, give customers love, or make a profit?"

If you're not clear, the team will make a mistake on Stage and the money will disappear faster than the deployment code.

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Minimal doesn't mean small, but it means "ultra."

A good Minimal is not a reduction in quality, but a reduction in unnecessary things to focus on what "creates real value" to businesses and customers.

When we look at Minimal through the strategic lens, we find that...

* MVP Educate

* MMP provides income.

* MLP Give Love

* MSPs provide sustainability.

And when they are all connected correctly, businesses walk many times further than accelerating directionless features.

"A good product is not a product that has everything, but a product that always has the most important thing first."

# Two stories a day

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# MinimalModels

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# DesignThinking

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