If an MVP launches with 0 users, was it an MVP?
An MVP is meant to test assumptions - not confirm them. This piece asks what happens when we launch to no one, and call it success.
“If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
The product version of this riddle is far less poetic, and usually involves a spreadsheet, three stakeholders, and a 9 AM sync.
The Moment of Inspiration
This one began during a call that should’ve been a milestone celebration.
We were preparing to “launch” a new product. The team had already shifted the conversation to Day 2 features, the improvements we’d pick up immediately.
There was just one catch: the product hadn’t launched yet.
There were no users. Worse, none were even interested.
When someone gently asked whether we might wait to hear from actual customers before planning post-launch enhancements, the response came without hesitation:
“It’s already validated, we discussed these ideas with 8 users for six months last year.”
In that moment, I realized I wasn’t witnessing a strategy discussion.
I was watching a philosophy of product faith in action, belief that validation equals adoption, that conversation equals usage, that planning equals learning.
The Paradox
An MVP is supposed to be a question: “What happens when real people meet our idea?”
But too often, we treat it like an answer, a declaration that our assumptions are already correct.
We launch not to learn, but to confirm.
We measure success by the slide deck, not the sign-ups.
And in the absence of real users, we invent ghosts to applaud us.
The Reflection
An MVP without users is a performance of certainty.
It’s the illusion of progress in a culture allergic to waiting.
Sometimes, the bravest product decision isn’t to launch faster, it’s to pause, listen, and admit we might be wrong.