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Ben Katz

What's more valuable in the very early days: building an audience or building an MVP?

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I've heard varying opinions on this and have my own thoughts but I'd love to hear multiple sides of the argument from the community! While you're here, you can find me on twitter here: https://twitter.com/benlkatz
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Nadim
Sometime for new ideas having an MVP first would be beneficial to showcase what you have in mind.
Ben Katz
@nadimb Thanks Nadim!
Danylo Pashuk
Personally I think that MVP is more important, but before building it you have to find a problem your future audience have.
Ben Katz
@danya_pashuk Great insight, Danylo. It's an interesting problem. MVP is more important for making progress on your business but audience gives you distribution which is a cheat code to growth
Richard Gao
You can do both at the same time
Ben Katz
@richard_gao2 That is definitely the goal, but I'm still curious about your opinion if you had to pick just one
Richard Gao
@benjamin_katz2 Building an MVP Can't have an audience without a product
Ben Katz
@richard_gao2 is that true?
πŸ”¨ Travis Page πŸ”¨
@richard_gao2 Whenever someone makes a claim like this, I always check. Looks like you ARE doing both at the same time. Look at that traffic spike (mostly from organic and referral)! Good work 🦾. Proof >> https://capture.dropbox.com/mSML...
Richard Gao
@travis_page Yep. Been promoting this before I launched. But if you HAVE to choose one, then building is better. Also, what app did you use to get those stats for my website? Would love to check it out
Rian Robertson
Chicken and egg...but if I had to pick one, I'd say MVP. However, building an "idea audience" of people who will be excited to try out your product should probably be happening at the same time to determine product market fit asap πŸ€·β€β™‚οΈ
Ben Katz
@rianbrob Totally agree with you per usual, Rian. Distribution is a huge advantage and helps in velocity of improving your MVP
joukhar
both
Ben Katz
@builtbybuilder what if you had to pick just one?
joukhar
@benjamin_katz2 imagine you have a product but you don't have an audience then the audience is more important
Ben Katz
@builtbybuilder distribution wins
Luis Gustavo
Uff, difficult question. There are so many example in both cases... I think depends on the profile of the founder. If it's related with marketing, he/she could take advantage of the Audience, nevertheless, a product founder will take more advantage of the MVP. Good question by the way πŸ™‚
Ben Katz
@luisgustavo appreciate the feedback and the twitter follow, Luis!
Luis Gustavo
@benjamin_katz2 for sure!
Melinda Kramer
Vote for MVP.
πŸ”¨ Travis Page πŸ”¨
The more reliable strategy: audience. If you've got insight on a rare problem that HAS to be solved: MVP
Ben Katz
@travis_page appreciate the insight here, Travis! Agree with you. Having solid distribution is a huge advantage.
πŸ”¨ Travis Page πŸ”¨
@benjamin_katz2 Been thinking about this more. I guess it really depends how you define what a "Product" is. You can use a newsletter to build a killer audience. You can use a Discord to build a killer audience. You can use these community tools to provide value to a group of people with the intention of figuring out what common painpoints they have and eventually BUILD a product....... But at that specific point in time, is the value from the newsletter/discord/facebook group the product?
Ryan T
Definitely focus on building an audience. Start by reaching out to close friends who might benefit from your idea. To give a professional touch, you can create a landing page with a sign-up form for early access and include a section for potential customers to ask questions.
Ben Katz
@distartin im a big fan of the early access strategy
Moon
Well, it's a tough one! πŸ€” Building an audience can bring much needed validation and feedback for your product, but an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) can help you test and refine your ideas to make sure they're on the right track. 🧐 Personally, I think it's a balance of both! πŸ”₯ Start building your audience and gather valuable insights, but don't forget to work on that MVP so you can bring your product to life. It's all about finding that sweet spot where you can build and validate at the same time!
Ben Katz
@moon10 Good advice, thanks Moon!
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