When Building A Startup, MVP ≠ LCD

Kimberly Mercer

Oh, those heady startup days of optimism and creation, when 18-hour days fly by in an endless stream of innovation, hustle and caffeine. Sprinting towards that MVP feels part revolutionary, part Sisyphean task and part active labour. It’s exhilarating, exhausting, more painful than anyone told you it would be and more rewarding than you ever imagined it could be. That moment when you first lay eyes for the thousandth time on your product. Your minimum viable product. Your MVP. Congratulations! This little guy will meet the world in his most vulnerable state, but if you’ve done your job, he can offer value to people right away and, if you’ve done your job well, that value will be returned to you in some form, monetary or otherwise.

The MVP is sometimes mistaken for a slapdash attempt at publicity. A kind of shock and awe money-raising tactic, when really, it’s become an integral part of the product management process. Your MVP deserves the benefit of every resource at your disposal. It is a piece of you that is heading out into the world armed only with what you give it. Make it efficient, make it simple, but make it great, too. Give it an edge, an advantage. Minimum viability for return does not mean limited value for return. Whether your MVP is a landing page, a PDF, an application or an extension, optimize even the smallest things, because when you’re a cappella, it’s your only your voice that people can hear, no bells and whistles. Your MVP is the smallest thing you can build that captures attention and promotes a reciprocal relationship with your customers. You deliver value and they offer feedback, ambassadorship, loyalty or—if you’re lucky—money. It’s your voice. Will they listen? Your voice— your brand—flows through every piece of content, from a single tweet to the cheeky About Us page on your website. You spent a lot of time and effort developing your voice, tuning the tone and finding the perfect UVP. (If you didn’t, then why not?) 

We hit a block when we were re-writing a job posting. Fun startup-y bullets crept in to the requirements section. Someone mentioned Jedi mind tricks, Bruce Lee references were tossed around— it was great! And then, we got some feedback that our witty allusions were skewing, um, to a more mature audience. Should we change tact and drop a Bieber? Wait, what’s cool today? Right now?! Or, at (or around) 40, are we just so out of it that any attempt at pop culture coolness is going to seem sad and try-hard? I think yes. And more importantly, I think it’s a disservice to both the brand and our audience to pander and pretend.

If no part of you feels challenged and motivated when faced with something you don’t get, then for sure this isn’t the place for you. We’re looking for people who are smart enough to know when they don’t know the answer and curious enough to go find it. We’re not targeting the lowest common denominator here, someone who just checks the boxes, changes to the names on their cover letter and hits send. We’re looking for someone with depth, edge and a sense of humour. If you also happen to like Justin Bieber, then we’ll deal with it. With laughter. Lots of laughter.

So, whether you’re defining your go-to-market offering or the summary section on your LinkedIn profile, don’ dumb it down. To quote my favourite General Agitator, Scott Stratten: “You’re not the jackass whisperer.” Don’t dumb it down. Don’t oversimplify. You’re a superhero, a Jedi, a freakin’ Kung Fu master. Own it.

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