"MVP" has become shorthand for "we don't want to think this through." We hear the same three sentences every week. Here's what they actually mean.
"We just want an MVP to test"
The real question behind it: "is there demand for what we're imagining?"
A technical MVP doesn't answer that question. A landing page with a form and a targeted ad campaign does — in two weeks, for 5% of the budget.
"We'll iterate based on user feedback"
The real question: "who are our users and how do we reach them?"
If you can't answer that now, the shipped MVP will have no one to test it. We see this constantly.
"The sooner we launch, the better"
The real question: "what must be true for this to work?"
Launching a product that doesn't work operationally (because support isn't in place, billing breaks at 100 customers, the business team can't answer the phone) burns trust faster than any launch delay.
The alternative
A clear operational threshold. "We need 200 people using this per week, processing 5M FCFA, and support holding up." From there, you design the minimum needed to test that threshold. That's a real MVP.