Idea · carried by 1 source
Polished MVP Over Scrappy MVP
Revolut's contrarian approach to minimum viable products: narrow the *functionality* to the most critical features, but never compromise on quality, UX, and aesthetics. The first version must be “wow” even if it does less. This eliminates the uncertainty of whether a failed launch is due to a bad idea or a bad product.
Where it comes from
Dmitry Zlokazov on Lenny's Podcast (highlights/zlokazov-revolut-pms): “When you launch a scrappy version and it's not getting traction, how do you know is it because the underlying idea is wrong or maybe your product just sucks?” [~47:45-48:24]
How it works
- Cut functionality to just the most critical features — keep it narrow
- Never compromise on quality — UX, aesthetics, polish, smoothness
- “No one is excluded from this requirement of building a super polished product”
- When a scrappy MVP fails, you can't tell if the idea is bad or the execution is bad
- By building a wow product from the start, you cut out the uncertainty — if it doesn't work, the idea is probably wrong
- It takes longer to build, but “it pays off”
A polished MVP is a better signal generator than a scrappy one. If a beautiful, well-crafted product fails, you know the idea is wrong. If a crappy product fails, you don't know anything.