Why We Stopped Building "MVPs" (And What We Build Instead)
In the startup ecosystem, the term MVP (Minimum Viable Product) has been weaponized. It has become an excuse for “Minimum Viable Quality.” Founders are told to ship broken code, ignore design, and fix it later.
At App Studio, we reject this definition.
“Later” is a dangerous place. “Later” is where technical debt accumulates until it bankrupts your velocity. “Later” is why you have to rewrite your entire codebase just as you find product-market fit.
The SLC Model: Simple, Lovable, Complete.
Instead of an MVP, we advocate for the SLC model.
- Simple: It does one thing.
- Lovable: It does that one thing beautifully, with great UX.
- Complete: It is not broken. It is not half-finished.
When we build for our clients, we don’t build “prototypes” meant to be thrown away. We build the “Steel Thread”—a thin, unbreakable line of functionality that runs through your entire system.
We focus on the infrastructure first. We set up the logging, the authentication, the deployment pipelines, and the database schemas before we write a single UI component.
Why? Because when your user base jumps from 10 to 10,000 overnight, you won’t care about the color of the button. You will care about whether your server crashes.
We build for the 10,000th user on day one.