Every MVP I launch is different.ย But the viability question hasn't changed: does this solve a problem people will pay to solve?
What's changed is what happens after you answer "yes."
Shipping a functional product isn't the moat it once was. The tools to build standard software are democratizing quickly. If your product works, a competitor can build something that works just as well by standing on your shoulders.
But there is a trap: accessibility doesn't mean cheap, not anymore. We are seeing companies back off because if you rely on AI to be your technical architect as you go, the token spend becomes a snowballing expense.
So what's left?
Unless you are sitting on a hoard of proprietary data, you only have three things: Brand, Experience, and a Point of View. The human elements that make someone chooseย youย over a functionally indistinct alternative.
And this is where most AI enhanced founders make a mistake. They turn to AI to solve differentiation the same way they used it to solve functionality.
But the trap of AI is that the homogenization is invisible. When the AI spits out a polished design or a slick feature set, you move forward thinking you just leaped ahead. What you don't realize is that because AI is built to average out its training data, it is actually pulling you and all of your competitors into similar orbital patterns. This then begs the question, why me?
If your product has found its market, your functional roadmap is just the baseline. It must be paired with a high-context POV based on your company's story. Why did you make this? Do you actually care about its success, or is it just a quick cash grab? Who are you, and what do you stand for?
In a weird way, AI is forcing a return toย Opinionated Brands.
When the internet is flooded with cheap, mass-produced experiences, people stop buying based on feature lists. They buy from you because of your reputation, what you stand for, and the specific worldview you project.
And yes, even utilities can have a point of view.
For example, if you just looked at energy company Vattenfall's ads, you'd think they were an eco non-profit. They don't talk about electricity. They talk entirely about mitigating waste and fossil-free living.
Furthermore, think about companies like Linear in tech, or Liquid Death in consumer goods. They sell highly commoditized products like project management and water. They are valued in the hundreds of millions not because they have the longest feature list (or sell "better" water). They compete on a unique, high-context Point of View, based on what they care about.
If you've found Product-Market Fit, you can no longer out-prompt your competitors, because you just launched a case study they can feed into their own AI. You need a Point of View that makes you "weird" (in a data sense).