Lazy, Vain, and Selfish (LVS)

Design for users who are time-poor, habit-attached, and self-interested

Anuj Rathi
The full-stack PM | Anuj Rathi (Swiggy, Jupiter Money, Flipkart)

Lazy, Vain, and Selfish (LVS)

"Think about users on modern internet as having three attributes. They are lazy, they are vain, and they're selfish." - Anuj Rathi (via Scott Belsky)

What It Is

The LVS framework, originally from Scott Belsky of Adobe, provides a mental model for understanding how modern internet users actually behave versus how product teams wishfully assume they behave. Product managers tend to be deeply invested in their products, spending all day thinking about features and nuances. They unconsciously project this engagement onto users—but real users couldn't care less.

The framework forces you to design for users who:

  • Are Lazy: "I don't have time for this, so blow my mind away. Otherwise, I'm not going to pay attention."
  • Are Vain: "I have a habit. I'm solving this problem in a particular way. Do you really expect me to change my habit?"
  • Are Selfish: "Show me what's in it for me."

As Marc Andreessen puts it: "Your user's time is already allocated. They're not looking for more apps to download."

How It Works

Lazy: Time is the Scarcest Resource

Users won't invest time understanding your product. They need immediate clarity on what's happening and why they should care. If your product requires explanation, you've already lost most users.

Vain: Habits Are Sticky

Users already have a way of solving their problems. They're not sitting around waiting for your product. You're asking them to abandon working solutions for an unknown alternative—that's a huge ask.

Selfish: What's In It For Me?

Users don't care about your company, your mission, or your product roadmap. They care about their own problems. Every interaction must clearly communicate personal benefit.

How to Apply It

  1. Audit your onboarding through LVS lens

    • Would a lazy person complete this flow?
    • Are you asking vain users to abandon their habits without proving value first?
    • Is the personal benefit crystal clear at every step?

  2. Connect marketing to product experience

    • Whatever promise got users to download should continue through onboarding
    • Don't switch messaging or value props mid-journey
    • The lazy user clicked on a specific benefit—deliver on that exact promise immediately

  3. Design for the non-engaged user

    • Assume users have heard about you 20 times but never acted
    • Ask: "What exact situation finally triggered this download?"
    • Design your first screens for that specific trigger, not general use cases

  4. Apply to cross-sell and feature discovery

    • Users who found value in one feature aren't automatically interested in others
    • Use behavioral science to bridge from where they are to where you want them
    • Don't assume engagement in one area transfers to others

When to Use It

  • When designing new user onboarding
  • When improving activation rates
  • When planning cross-sell or upsell experiences
  • When your "obvious" features aren't being discovered
  • When marketing and product teams feel misaligned

Source

  • Guest: Anuj Rathi
  • Episode: "The full-stack PM | Anuj Rathi (Swiggy, Jupiter Money, Flipkart)"
  • Key Discussion: (00:14:24) - How to think about new users and onboarding
  • YouTube: Watch on YouTube

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