I came up with a system that I like to use to test ideas. It's similar to MVP but a bit more practical IMO.<p>After I come up with a product idea, I work on the brochure that I'll actually send to potential customers. This gets me to list the main selling points early. But being a sales document, it typically puffs up the product and lists everything that is cool and that I think will add value, so its a more a VP than a MVP.<p>To make this system work I have to decide what features need to be built BEFORE I feel comfortable sending out the brochure. This forces me to decide what needs to be done before I can approach the customer. Say for example I'm creating a service which helps companies attract interns by listing their profile on an online directory of companies who offer internships. My brochure might mention that they will get a detailed profile page with their logo and a contact form. I can easily send the brochure on the basis that the website is launching in two months time. So the website at this point is not a MVP. However, if I list as a selling point that I have a readership of 20'000 readers per month, and if I consider this selling point to be so important that I don't think it's worth sending the brochure until I have this, then I a have the first element of the MVP - to get a readership of 20'000.<p>This means that I probably do need the website as an MVP so that I can get the readers, but it gives me a bit of a purpose now when launching the website. I'm not launching it to impress companies yet, I simply want the readers. Then I can send out the brochure even if the important features are not built yet.<p>So the creation of the brochure forces me to decide what elements are crucial right now, and which elements are crucial for phase 2. It gets me in front of customers testing my concept in the shortest possible time.