Eszett's Q1 Roadmap: From POC through MVP to Version 1.0

or, "why MVPs needs a definition of 'done'"

First, a mini-rant

One of the most misused terms in modern business is "MVP" - Minimum Viable Product. While it's become a buzzword thrown around in every startup pitch and product meeting, many miss its true meaning and purpose.

Any time someone newly mentions “MVP” in a meeting, I ask: Have you read the Lean Startup book?

More often than not, the answer is “no.”

Defining Phases

At Eszett, we're intentionally defining our MVP phase as a specific stepping stone between our Proof of Concept (POC) and our Version 1.0 (v1) release. Each represent a fundamentally different stages of product maturity and market validation.

Our December 2024 Proof-of-Concept (POC) “HOLIDAY24” campaign in our eszettSHOP live ecommerce lab was just that: proving to ourselves that our core technical integration works. Can we successfully connect several low/no-code platforms to handle ecommerce, on-demand production and fulfillment, and money movement? Will orders flow through correctly? What products do people like?

The POC wasn’t about scale or polish - it was about fundamental technical feasibility. In fact, we’ve pretty much committed to a DIY ‘zine-inspired ethos to the store.

When will the MVP be “done”?

Now we are in our Minimal Viable Product (MVP) phase, which builds on this foundation by testing our core business hypothesis with real artists and their patrons.