Modern startup frameworks like MVP, A/B testing, and the lean startup methodology are great; they’re proven to work.
But they can’t solve everything.
Take, for instance, finding life’s mission and calling. You can’t really discover those through MVP.
The Wright brothers didn’t build airplanes after A/B testing a variety of consumer products (“We’ll build car engines or airplanes or power tools – whichever has the best initial consumer tractions.”) They were obsessed with flying and airplanes, probably from day one.
J.K. Rowling didn’t publish a bunch of short stories as “MVPs” before landing on the Harry Potter series. She already had the entire story in her head; all she did was put pen to paper to bring the story, which had already existed, to life.
For most truly groundbreaking products and inventions in human history, there were founders who were abnormally obsessed with something for reasons even they couldn’t fully explain — so much so that, to most people, they seemed irrational or borderline insane. And they didn’t reach that obsession through MVPs or A/B testing.
MVPs and A/B testing work great, but only after the founder knows what to build. Discovering what to build — finding that initial passion and purpose — isn’t entirely data-driven. A lot of it is, for lack of a better term, magic. That’s why entrepreneurship is both mysterious and beautiful.