Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
A minimum viable product (MVP) is the smallest version of a product that delivers real value to users and lets a team learn from actual use.
The point of an MVP is not to ship less for its own sake, but to reach real users sooner and learn faster. Done well, it cuts scope without cutting the quality of what remains — the corners that matter stay intact.
How it works
Building an MVP starts with the riskiest assumption: the thing that, if wrong, makes the product pointless. The team defines the smallest end-to-end experience that tests it with real users, cuts every feature that does not serve that test, and decides in advance what result would mean "keep going", "change course" or "stop".
Cutting scope is different from cutting quality. What does ship must work, be secure and treat users' data properly, or the test measures the wrong thing.
Example
A marketplace for event venues might launch with one city, venues listed by hand and bookings confirmed by email, instead of a self-serve listing tool and automated payments. If organisers book, the automation is worth building; if they do not, the team has learned that cheaply.
Common mistakes
- Shipping a buggy product and calling it an MVP, then blaming users for not returning.
- Adding features before the first version has told you anything.
- Not deciding up front what result would count as success.
