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How is a mockup a viable product?

The hypothetical idea behind these "new" MVPs is that you should do the least work possible to start getting clients. If that means it's a phone call, then that's an MVP.

Very bizarre twist of words, but that's what it is.

But that isn't what the term means. If your product isn't yet viable, you don't have an MVP. Being able to silver-tongue your way to clients doesn't change that.

That's business. Of course it can be done in an underhanded way, but with transparency, respect and for the right reasons, it can be valuable input what to build initially. Wether you call it "MVP" or not is purely semantic. thus irrelevant to the context.

> can be valuable input what to build initially

Sure. Just don't pretend it's something that it isn't.

> Wether you call it "MVP" or not is purely semantic

Well, no. It's not the correct use of the term. Let's be dramatic and look at the worst case: deliberately misusing a term-of-art like 'MVP' may be tantamount to misleading investors and clients.

I like to think of these as P=Proposition ... useful to evaluate if it makes sense to pursue the idea as a P=Product.

If your target audience is investors, instead of end users.

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