Your "MVP" isn't minimal - it's just broken
Launched our "MVP" with 15 features because "users might need them."
Result? Nobody used ANY of them properly.
Turns out, MVP doesn't mean "slightly worse version of your dream product."
It means: What's the SMALLEST thing that proves people will pay for this?
Most "MVPs" I see:
❌ 12 different user types and workflows
❌ Advanced settings nobody asked for
❌ "Nice to have" features from day one
❌ Months of development before first user
Real MVPs that worked:
✅ Dropbox: Just a video showing files syncing
✅ Zapier: Manually connecting APIs behind the scenes
✅ Buffer: Scheduling tweets with zero automation
✅ Airbnb: Renting air mattresses in an apartment
The uncomfortable truth? Your MVP should be embarrassingly simple.
If you're not slightly ashamed to show it, it's not minimal enough.
What's the most "embarrassing" MVP that actually worked for you?
Replies
AdBacklog
Totally agree with this, @juan_bautista_beck — especially the part about MVPs being overloaded with features.
Too many founders confuse MVP with “just a lighter version of the final product,” but as you said, that’s not the point.
> An MVP is the most efficient way to test a specific assumption. Sometimes it’s a prototype. Sometimes, it’s a conversation. It’s never about features — it’s about learning.
Our first MVP for AdBacklog wasn’t a product at all — it was a drawn prototype and a few honest interviews with frustrated marketers. The goal wasn’t to build fast — it was to learn fast.
It’s easy to build too much too early. The hard part is staying disciplined enough to ship something that feels embarrassingly small — but is laser-focused on one assumption.
Thanks for the reminder. Loved this post.
Bugster
@floris_meulensteen Love that. “It wasn’t to build fast — it was to learn fast” really hits.
Our early version felt more like a pitch deck with buttons than a real product. But it forced us to talk to users instead of hiding behind code.
Most of the time, the insight comes before the product. Just need to give it space to show up.
Thanks for sharing your story!
Crowd
The "feature creep MVP" trap is so real
The hardest part isn't building less features. It's convincing yourself (and your team) that people will actually pay for something that feels incomplete.
Like, how do you pitch investors or early users on something that's deliberately limited? There's this voice in your head saying "but what if they need feature Y?"
I think the real skill is figuring out what that ONE thing is that people will pay for, even if everything else is manual or missing. But man, it's scary to bet everything on something so simple.
Bugster
@joseph_burutu Yeah 100% agree. Saying no is way harder than shipping more stuff.
For us, the shift came when we stopped thinking of the MVP as a "product" and started treating it like a question:
Will anyone pay for just this?
It still feels risky, especially when your gut says “but what if they also need X?”
But betting small and learning fast is better than building blind
Not gonna lie, I do this way too often. Maybe it's because I have a dev team and feel like I need to "use" them fully, but I consistently overbuild.
It's also hard for me to wrap my head around an MVP that technically does almost nothing. My developer brain wants to solve ALL the edge cases and build "properly" from day one.
But you're absolutely right - this approach is so much more powerful and wastes way less time. At least I'm getting better at it... I only spent 3 months on my last MVP instead of 12 months like the one before it. Progress, right? 😅
I'll eventually get to that "embarrassingly simple" level, but thanks for the reality check. It's a good reminder that validation trumps perfection every single time.
The Zapier example really hits home - manually connecting APIs behind the scenes is genius. Sometimes the "magic" can literally be you doing things by hand until you prove people actually want it.
Bugster
@rohulp Totally get that. When you can build properly, it’s hard to stop yourself from doing it—even when it’s not the smartest move yet.
3 months instead of 12 is a win in my book. That’s momentum.
The Zapier story still blows my mind too—pure hustle disguised as product.