Minimum Viable Product: A Guide

The viability of the MVP approach would seem to depend very much on things like the potential market size, required customer investment, and competitive landscape.

I can see how this works well for Web 2.0 software-as-a-service start-ups: new customers sign up for a free trial account, and either stick around or don't. Either way, they provide feedback through web analytics and comment pages. If you piss of your early adopters, there are always more around the corner.

Do this for a piece of hardware, and you're likely screwed -- the investment on both sides of the equation is just too high, and it's not feasible to replace your product with the latest-and-greatest, once customers have bought it and taken it home.

my word, if you're going to record a 41 minute video please use a tripod