The "Minimum Viable Product" (MVP) was the gold standard. It was all about getting a basic, functional product to market as fast as possible to test an idea. The core concept, popularized by Eric Ries in "The Lean Startup," was a game-changer. It taught to validate assumptions without sinking years and millions into a product no one wanted. The goal was simple: build a web form, a simple landing page, or a basic feature set, get it in front of early adopters, and learn from their feedback.
That approach was revolutionary. It saved countless startups from building products in a vacuum. It was the lean, smart way to do things, and it worked.
But that was a long time ago.
Today's users are a different breed. More sophisticated and more educated. They’re digital natives with high expectations shaped by solid experiences from the tech giants with infinite money. Today, a clunky web form or a bare-bones prototype that looks like it was built in a weekend (because it was) cannot engage the user.
After a decade of building and watching software projects, I've seen a clear pattern emerge: the most successful products aren't the ones that simply go to market first. It's the ones that dig deeper. They move past the "minimum" and find what we call "depth" in the user's problem.
Finding this depth isn't about adding every feature under the sun. It's about an iterative process of truly understanding the user’s world. It’s about building a solution so on point and so well-thought-out that it just connects with the user.
These kinds of comprehensive solutions aren't born from a single MVP. They are the result of multiple, rapid iterations. It starts with something small, but each subsequent version is an evolution, not just an addition. Each iteration gets closer to the core of the problem, revealing nuances that were impossible to see at the start. It’s a journey that builds a robust, insightful solution that wouldn't be apparent otherwise.
In a market saturated with countless products, the ones that win are the ones that go beyond the obvious. They don't just solve a surface-level problem; they provide an in-depth, successful solution that feels both magical and indispensable. That’s the new standard, and it's what truly sets a product apart.