🚀 The MVP Playbook: How to Launch Fast & Build What People Actually Want

You’re overthinking it.

You want your startup to be perfect before launch. You’ve read all the books, done market research, and spent months refining your product roadmap.

But let’s be real— most successful startups didn’t start that way.

Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, has a phrase: "Launch fast and iterate."

Michael Seibel, co-founder of Twitch and YC partner, goes further: "Most founders fail because they don’t launch. They tinker forever."

Today, we’re breaking down how to build an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) the right way—quickly, efficiently, and with real user feedback.

📌 What is an MVP & Why Does It Matter?

An MVP is not a half-baked version of your final product. It’s the simplest possible solution to test your idea and get real feedback.

💡 The goal: ✅ Launch as fast as possible (think weeks, not months).
✅ Get real user feedback—not just hypotheticals.
✅ Improve through iterations instead of assumptions.

💥 Biggest mistake? Thinking your MVP must be perfect. It won’t be. And that’s okay.

❌ The Wrong Approach to MVPs

Here’s how most founders fail:

🚫 Endless research without a product.
Spending months doing user interviews, analyzing competitors, and writing detailed business plans—without ever launching.

🚫 Trying to build a “perfect” product.
You don’t need all the bells and whistles. In fact, the more complex your MVP, the harder it is to get feedback.

🚫 Fear of launching.
"What if people don’t like it?" That’s the point. Your first users will help you improve—if you let them.

⚡ The Right Way: Build, Ship, Iterate

Michael Seibel breaks it down simply:

1️⃣ Launch something basic. 2️⃣ Find a small group of real users. 3️⃣ Learn what actually matters to them. 4️⃣ Iterate based on real feedback.

🔍 Midwit Meme:
Seibel often refers to the "Midwit meme"—where beginners and experts agree on simple solutions, but "smart" people overcomplicate things.

• Beginner: "Just launch an MVP."

• Overthinker: "We need a detailed product roadmap and market research."

• Expert: "Just launch an MVP."

Moral of the story? Launch first. Think later.

🔥 MVPs That Started Simple (and Became Giants)

🏡 Airbnb’s MVP:

• No online payments.

• No maps.

• You could only rent an air mattress in someone’s apartment.

🎮 Twitch’s MVP:

• Originally "Justin.tv."

• One streamer, one page, no games.

• Weak infrastructure, bad video quality.

💳 Stripe’s MVP:

• No integrations, no automation.

• Payments were manually processed over the phone.

Lesson: They launched quickly, got feedback, and iterated to greatness.

🛠️ How to Build a Great MVP (Step by Step)

✅ Step 1: Define the Core Feature
Write down every feature you think your product needs. Now remove 80% of them.

✅ Step 2: Find Your First Users
Your MVP isn’t for "everyone." Find people with an urgent problem—people who will use your product even if it’s rough.

💡 "Find users with their hair on fire."

✅ Step 3: Set a Hard Deadline
Give yourself 4 weeks or less. No excuses.

✅ Step 4: Launch & Collect Feedback
Your first users will tell you what’s actually important. Listen, iterate, repeat.

🚀 Key Takeaway: Your goal isn’t to build the perfect product. It’s to find 100 users who LOVE it—not 100,000 who just like it.

See you in your inbox,
— The WanderYak Team 🐂💨