The era of mindless MVPs is over. Build with intent or don’t bother.
“Fail fast, fail often.” It was the mantra of Silicon Valley for years. You could find it plastered on accelerator walls, echoed in founder interviews, and repeated endlessly in pitch competitions.
And at one point, it made sense. Shipping quickly, learning fast, and pivoting early was a practical antidote to perfectionism and paralysis. It encouraged founders to get out of their heads and into the market.
But in 2025, the landscape has changed. Cheap AI tools, no-code platforms, and a surplus of capital have flattened the barrier to entry. Building something, anything, has never been easier. The bottleneck is no longer execution. It is clarity.
“Fail fast” is no longer a competitive strategy. It is just noise.
The idea of failing fast came from a well-intentioned place. Popularized by the Lean Startup movement and thinkers like Eric Ries and Steve Blank, the concept was rooted in the scientific method: test assumptions early and often so you can course-correct before it is too late.
It was a rejection of bloated product cycles, over-engineering, and the belief that you needed a perfect product before talking to…
