Mental Model for Minimal Viable Products

I wrote this post on a sleepless plane ride so it might be a little abstract and out there, but wanted to get my thoughts just out there on MVP's

one question on mvp's though: is an mvp the smallest item that allows you to judge traction, or the smallest product that solves the hair-on-fire problem?

Asked in a different way: is an mvp a bucket of water or a survey that asks 'sign up to our mailing list if you'd like us to build a bucket of water?' I'm not being facetious I'm actually confused on this point…

I found your definition of Traction to be a really useful one... at the very least, it is easy to tell whether the results make you excited or not. We all have internal barometers and expectations, and if the results of an MVP are surprisingly good, then that indicates you're on to something. One thing that I think we can say about all successful startups is that they had a serious growth phase...

I'm working on an MVP right now, but I'm probably not doing it right- it is taking too long (about 2 months to complete) and it isn't actually viable (we're doing stuff by hand that in the real product will be done by software.) But, it is a much better approach than before I started trying the Lean Startup methodology.

Thanks for the article!