he doesn't sound like he would given a damn about PageRank
He wouldn't have. If probably wouldn't have -- if they pitched the idea but the site wasn't working. But the first time I used Google I said, "Wow! This is vastly superior to anything else."
If I understand him correctly, he's not saying, "Don't launch until it's perfect." He's saying, "Differentiate yourself." He can't see that if your site doesn't work or it's just Existing Site X with a couple more features. An MVP works. An MVP shows how it is Significantly Different. In fact, that's exactly the purpose of an MVP -- not to show that you could build and publish.
But the first time I used Google I said, "Wow! This is vastly superior to anything else."
That was exactly my experience. I first became curious about Google because it was spidering my personal website, well before when Google became the name of the project. By tracing back where the Web spider came from, I tried out searches, and by the time Google was Google, I was recommending it to all my friends as much superior to AltaVista (the king of the hill in search in those days), and all the more superior to the also-rans in search. Being substantially better at something is what every startup needs to achieve.
He wouldn't have. If probably wouldn't have -- if they pitched the idea but the site wasn't working. But the first time I used Google I said, "Wow! This is vastly superior to anything else."
If I understand him correctly, he's not saying, "Don't launch until it's perfect." He's saying, "Differentiate yourself." He can't see that if your site doesn't work or it's just Existing Site X with a couple more features. An MVP works. An MVP shows how it is Significantly Different. In fact, that's exactly the purpose of an MVP -- not to show that you could build and publish.