We've heard from companies scaling up to meet customer demand, about the flaws and set-backs of producing a Minimal Viable Product (MVP).


Mainly, that the MVP was never fit for purpose. It seems unable to stand the stresses of onboarding more, doing more, or simply biting off more than it can chew.


But that's precisely it.


An MVP was only ever meant to meet the 'minimum' paying criteria of your customers to get the ball rolling.


Moving onward to an actual product release takes a lot more planning, and may even require starting another build from scratch.


Building upon your MVP without incorporating for future design and functionality, will have you building upon flimsy fundamentals that could bite you down the road, in the form of technical debt.


But you had to build and ship your MVP to customers because "time was of the essence"! 


And we totally get that.


If we had to pick however, we'd choose to build and ship the MVP with some reasonable forecasting, but prioritising your customer segment's immediate needs.


And then come back to the drawing board when the pressures of scaling up begin to mount.


Cross the bridge when it comes, as they say.


That's when you'll have to make important decisions on how to proceed with your product development road map. 


So when the time actually comes for a full product release, don't be afraid to take a long hard look at the road that lies ahead, and making some difficult decisions now, rather than later.
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