How Much Does It Cost To Build An MVP?

I'd argue that it's the point of the process to "control costs, avoid spending millions of $ ..."

The MVP is just a tool, a step along that path. Its "point" if there is one - is to test your product hypothesis and evaluate product/market fit at a point in time.

The first step in avoiding spending that much money, is to be able to quantify the costs of building an MVP.

You can't do that, as you know neither the definition of "minimum" nor the definition of "viable" when you first start. That's the whole point of the iterative process. You start building to the Founders' vision, and then go out and try to find customers for that. It's only when you think that you have a testable product hypothesis that you can even speculate about what an "MVP" would look like.

I think part of the problem with these discussions though, is that "MVP" has become part buzzword and part synonym for "prototype" or "alpha" or "first version". It's not necessarily the same as those things though.

Besides, a stealth fighter jet cannot be a MVP. Maybe you have better maneuvering technology, or targeting technology, or maybe you have teleportation technology. That would be the basis of your MVP.

Right, that's why I said "an idea for a new stealth fighter jet". I certainly am not proposing to build a complete jet as an MVP... I can't imagine many - if any - scenarios where that makes sense. But building an MVP of the "magic sauce" that allows you to demonstrate to the DoD that your new stealth fighter jet will be better, is probably still going to be a lot more expensive than the "cat photo sharing site" thing. All I'm really saying is that there's a broad range in how much a MVP might cost, depending on the domain and the problems you're trying to solve.

At my university, several times a week you get people saying, "I have my MBA and I just need 3 developers who are really solid to build the idea. I don't have cash, but I'm determined and will give you equity for your time."

Developers are far too often under appreciated, and most entrepreneurs don't want to shell out a few thousand on an MVP. Sometimes, they don't pay when they're not happy with the result, despite you following every suggestion and even giving plenty of free hours to make the product better.

Lastly, those who are willing to shell out a little cash will often find the cheapest talent they can, which is great, until they start to grow and they realize they've hit a wall because it's nearly impossible to add features and improbable to redo the whole product.

But when the startup has some money, and they know what they want, and they listen to your tech advice, there's no better feeling than crafting a new company or product from a qwerty keyboard and a text editor.