MVP Is Dead. Long Live the MLP (Minimum Lovable Product)

I've built two apps before, and neither yielded the results I envisioned. The goal with both was initially modest: generate $1. This 2026, I'm constructing my third app at a swifter pace using Shipaton. The iOS version is already available, and I'm awaiting the 14-day closed testing period on Google Play. This post aims to serve as a postmortem of my previous apps' failures and the reasons for my shift in approach.

First, the two apps that preceded this one:

1. A Chrome extension aimed at managing draft real estate listing templates. It was a minimal viable product (MVP) with no payment functionality, merely a "Buy Me a Coffee" link. The product's simplicity left little room for competition against a random notes app. It functioned adequately, but its impact was minimal.

2. A clothing size tracking app, designed to help users keep track of clothing sizes across various brands and products. The challenge lay in defining the target user effectively, resulting in a product that felt like a blend of multiple categories. Users could input brand, model, and size as free text, but the lack of a comprehensive sizing system led to a fragmented approach.

Despite translating the app into multiple languages, creating separate App Store pages, and conducting ASO experiments, the app garnered only 22 downloads in 2024. The primary issue wasn't just marketing; the product itself lacked meaningful value for users.

For this iteration of Shipaton, I recognized two primary challenges: attracting traffic to the App Store page through ASO, marketing, or other channels, and ensuring that the downloaded user is the right fit and understands the product's value immediately. Solving one issue doesn't suffice if the other remains unaddressed. This time, I aimed to build an MLP: Minimum Lovable Product, rather than a traditional MVP.

The MLP focuses on creating the smallest version of the product that can still evoke the thought, "Oh, this is actually nice."

In selecting the idea for my new app, I analyzed winning projects from previous Shipaton and Shipyard competitions. One standout was Preplo, the Shipyard winner, whose polished execution and attention to small details impressed me. It wasn't a groundbreaking feature that set it apart; rather, it was the thoughtfulness behind the user experience. This realization led me to prioritize the MLP approach, emphasizing the importance of creating a product that is not only functional but also lovable and marketable.