StartUp Founders: Create Lovers Not Users. Even in V1.


Hey Reader,

Gone(ish) are the days of "launch fast, fix later" or bare-bones Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Users today have low tolerance for clunky interfaces, frustrating experiences, or lackluster support. Why can't we exceed expectations from the first interaction? This is the era of Minimum Delightful Product (MDP). (𝕏 Tweet)

TLDR; With coding democratized and specialized tools at your disposal, there's no excuse not to transform users into passionate advocates from day one.

Marketing Automation Platform for B2B SaaS

​Encharge lets you nurture, convert, and onboard customers with advanced behavior emails, company profiles, billing integrations, and CRM sync.
​
Drag & Drop workflow builder to send targeted emails when people do or don’t do something. Start using Encharge for free.
​Want to get in front of 120,000+ founders? Go here.

STARTUP FRAMEWORK DOWNLOADS:

1.2 Why Does My StartUp Exist: Problem Validation
​
1.3 Does The Market Care: Problem Impact Analysis
​
1.4 Investor Update Template: You Are Your First Investor
​
1.5 StartUp Value Chain: Where Do You Fit In
​
1.6 StartUp Founder Tribe: Cultivating Your Circle​
1.7 Solution First Glance: Product Reality Check

LETS GET INTO IT:

If you build it, they will not come. In a market saturated with options, your product needs to do more than just function; it must delight. The MDP isn't just about features; it's about creating an emotional response - the difference between a product that's used and one that's loved.

This focus on user delight is the foundation to achieving product-market fit (PMF), where your product truly resonates with your target audience, and facilitates product-led growth (PLG), where the product itself drives user acquisition and engagement.

Think of it like the Japanese concept of quality:

  • Atarimae hinshitsu: Things work as expected.
  • Miryokuteki hinshitsu: But they should also have an aesthetic quality, a delightful surprise.

This MDP workbook, introduces questions to help find the balance between "just enough" and "exceeding expectations" - marrying user needs and delight:

An MVP is the bare minimum needed to validate your solution's viability and gather initial user feedback. Maximum learning with minimal effort. The MDP takes it a step further by adding user engagement as a consideration alongside the feature testing. It's about engineering a product that doesn't disrupt user flow, it makes it better.

The "minimum" part is still crucial. You need a foundation to figure out if you're heading in the right general direction. The question is; Minimum to whom....

Ready to go from minimum viable to minimum delightful? As always, you are welcome to grab time with me.

Good luck.

-- James
​

​

Not A Subscriber?

Join 140k+ StartUp Founders reading my weekly newsletter offering tactical insights to start, scale, and fund their startup. Real advice from a 3x exited founder.

​

​


​

‪8424 Santa Monica Blvd, Suite A523, Los Angeles, CA 90069
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​

StartUp To ScaleUp

Where 140k+ founders read my weekly newsletter offering tactical insights to start, scale, and fund their startup. Real advice from a 3x exited founder.

Read more from StartUp To ScaleUp
The Moat

Hey Reader, What stops someone from stealing your idea? Not much. In most cases, I can find, hire, or outsource to a team that gets to basic parity with your tech. I’m not talking about stealing your vision, that’s what makes you unique. I’m talking about stealing your traction. Your customers. Your edge. That’s what a "moat" protects. Your competitive advantage, your defensible edge. And if you don’t have one yet, be very clear what’s holding your position... likely by a thread. In the early...

SCARF Empathy

Hey Reader, We need gamification!! We need a checklist at signup, because users don’t like leaving jobs unfinished. That’s certainty. They want a clear path, closure, and to know what's next. We need badges and progress markers, because users like feeling recognized. That’s status. They need to feel like they’re getting somewhere and that it matters. We need customizable flows and smart defaults, because users don’t like being forced into decisions. That’s autonomy. Give them agency, or...

Unreasonable

Hey Reader, Have you met the threshold for earned inevitability? As in, have you done such relentless, uncomfortable, comprehensive work that it would actually be unreasonable for this not to work?Only you know. There’s a difference between working hard and working so hard it breaks the logic of failure. Which is the goal. To manufacture the default outcome. ....And to do that, you have to find that level, that gear, that moment when your effort becomes so complete, so relentless, so...