* In the world of product development, a recent movement has been toward “lean start-up,” a key technique of which is the minimum viable product (also referred to as the minimum feature set). The minimum viable product approach espouses market testing with bare-bones prototypes that allows for maximum learning from test customer feedback with the least amount of product development. This enables cheaper and faster iterations in the product development cycle. It contrasts with the philosophy of presenting (relatively) feature-rich prototypes that will allow test customers to offer more complete reactions.

     The MVE is a different idea. It is not about learning or prototyping but rather about how to build collaboration and achieve scaled deployment. It is about looking at a value blueprint and identifying the leanest configuration of elements that can be brought together to create commercial value and serve as an ecosystem platform that can attract and accommodate, in stepwise fashion, the addition of later partners to build out the complete blueprint and fulfill the larger value proposition.