The past few weeks I advised several entrepreneurs who are trying to bring a product or service to market. Each is struggling with whether the minimum viable product (MVP) they’re launching is too minimum and would therefore be nonviable. The notion of the MVP has always had its pros and cons, but the often-bitter cocktail of time pressure, competition, and agile software development made the MVP the ongoing easy choice.

I introduced my concept of the initial viable product (IVP) to these founders, as I have with many others, and it seems to have resonated with most. The IVP isn’t just a hyper-iterated MVP. It’s the first truly viable product you choose to launch. You’re going to be judged on the first thing you launch—everyone is. Incessant explaining that it’s just your MVP and it’s not really ready yet is sometimes fine, but I’ve seen many other times where that’s the dealbreaker in itself. Why? Because your idea of minimal is far more minimal than that of the person you’re showing it to. Minimal is a sliding scale that will always slide onto you.

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