What is it?
Minimum viable product is a request for reciprocity. It is its author’s request for an audience with someone the author thinks may have a problem that newborn software can address. The competency of the minimum viable product drives the willingness of the audience to see if the author really can understand the person on the other side of the problem. It is a medium through which human relationships may or may not manifest.
Vendors to the digital oilfield are not unlike many of us when we were young...we talked more and listened less. We interpreted modest signs of engagement as real connection only to arrive home and find our answering machines empty. Age has a way of forcing natural laws upon us...”we should listen more.”
There is in this niche of digital oilfield a high volume of competent minimum viable product. However there is a dearth of companies who understand that MVP is less something to sell and more a chance to get someone talking. My suggestion to those who are winning but not sure exactly why is to beware false gods (I am speaking from experience) and pay up for talented sales people (first find out how to find them). Highly experienced sales personnel are a cross between psychologists, Oprah, and social scientists. Everyone feels good when the show is over and knows exactly what happened.