Minimum Marketable Product (MMP)

Biological Parallel

Juvenile salmon reach 'minimum marketable' size (smolt stage) when they're large enough to survive ocean predation—going to sea earlier means certain death; waiting longer wastes river resources. This size threshold balances development cost against market readiness. MMP mirrors this timing calculation: shipping too early (fry stage) guarantees failure from insufficient capability; delaying too long burns resources while competitors claim territory. The smolt transformation demonstrates why 'minimum marketable' differs from 'minimum viable'—viability is laboratory conditions; marketability is surviving real competitive predation.