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Further, they actively stifle competition on their app store. Want to launch an MVP? It's "too similar to other apps in this market."

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While I doubt they're going to be good judges of similarity, in the cases where they are correct that it is too similar, you don't have the "V" part of "Viable".

> “All happy companies are diferent: each one earns a monopoly by solving a unique problem. All failed companies are the same: they failed to escape competition”

— I may be creeped out by the guy himself, but I think Peter Thiel is right about that.

Everyone starts in the womb, but very few of us tread the same paths.

I think the human analogy of an MVP is around when they can stand upright and talk, perhaps even a bit later than that. Before birth we're definitely a pre-release; but we won't reach product-market fit until whatever our culture counts as a coming-of-age ceremony.

Isn't this just picking winners with more steps?

Quite possibly, which is related to my doubt of their skill at judging similarity.

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