The Minimum viable product | MVP is a scary proposition owing to the fact that it leaves one feeling that the vision might be deemed wrong without having been given a real chance to prove itself.
The Minimum viable product | MVP is anything fro a simple smoke test (little more than an advertisement) to actual early prototypes complete with problems and missing features.
The Minimum viable product | MVP is, for example, a video, a simple three-minute demonstration of the technology as it is meant to work, targeted at a community of technology early adopters.
The Minimum viable product | MVP is created for the sole purpose of experimentation. Any additional work beyond what is required to start learning is waste, no matter how important it might seem at the time.
The Minimum viable product | MVP is, despite one's fears, very unlikely to be stolen. Most managers in most companies are already overwhelmed with good ideas.
The Minimum viable product | MVP is, for example. a 'concierge' model where individual customers are treated to the service on an individual basis, manually, to test if the service is wanted.
The Minimum viable product | MVP is full of missing features and precisely for this reason, complaints about this or that serve as early evidence as to what customers want.
The Minimum viable product | MVP is, for example, a 'wizard of oz' test where before expending resources to build the product, customers are made to believe they are interacting with the actual product, but behind the scenes human beings are doing the work.