Lean Coffee: Minimum Desirable Product

Today's Lean Coffee TO discussed the concept of a "Minimum Desirable Product" in relation to the more well-known MVP.

An interesting way to visualize this concept, from @andrewchen's presentation is as follows:

I also took some notes from the discussion:

• Twitter, Facebook, Google all started as MDPs (without a viable business model)
• Viability is measurable, whereas desirability is more difficult to measure
• Desirability is about demand -- does it exist at any price (including free)
• Are you viable initially, or only after X number of users?
• MDPs can give awareness, publicity, etc. to a company to help them launch 2nd, 3rd products
• MySpace -- Still viable, but not as desirable anymore?
• Just starting out: Tradeoffs between desirability and viability
• Desirability is a _component_ of viability
• MVP when spoken about, often really refers to MDP
• Can viability kill desirability? (ie. Facebook early stages)
• With a desirable product, your viability may be tied to different users than you think
• Like "Ladies Night" -- free customers and paying customers
• What should you focus on at what time? Feasibility vs. Desirability vs. Viability
• Feasibility is a lot easier for most type of applications now
• Viability is easier too since costs have gone down
• So the most difficult part now might be Desirability

Thanks to Andrew and Satish at Jet Cooper for hosting this morning's session!