Entrepreneurs — especially, those in the tech space — talk about the MVP, an acronym for “minimal viable product.” It’s an evil-sounding concept, when you first learn of it. For those of a certain age, it’s reminiscent of an era when we learned that companies were designing products for “built in obsolescence.” (Let’s go with BIO, though, nobody called it that, back then).

In fact, in that mani-faceted universe that is business, you could think of MVP and BIO as different sides of the same coin. Where as the MVP is the barest product configuration that allows the entrepreneur to test if there is a market, the BIO is the configuration engineered to last just long enough, once it’s in the hands of the consumer. By way of analogy (or is it metaphor?), if you view the marketplace as a “conversation,” of sorts, between sellers and buyers, the MVP is like the small talk that proceeds the real discussion. BIO, on the other hand, is like setting up your phone to ring 10 minutes into that discussion so that you’ll have an excuse to break it off.

So what does all of this have to do with this episode of Undercover IP? Not much. Well, ok, a little…. We’re (that’s the royal We, by the way) just testing some features. Have a listen and get us your feedback. (Oops… no feedback button? Our bad).