What to include in an MVP: sign up, get value, pay

Alex Tutor

Launch is on 3 March, with the five shops that prepaid. Nina, what's on your list?

Nina

Sign-up with email confirmation, password reset, a dashboard with charts, booking, repair history, a billing page with plan changes. And the reminders.

You

That's a lot for four weeks.

Alex Tutor

It's a list for a year. An MVP needs three things: the customer can get in, gets the result they paid for, and pays. Everything else waits.

"Minimum" means you can't cut more without losing the result. "Viable" means the result is real: a car owner actually gets the reminder and comes back.

Alex Tutor

Question 1

Which items belong in GarageDesk's first version for the five shops? Choose all that apply.

Choose all that applyEntering a car and its mileage at hand-overReminders by date and mileage under the shop's nameA way to payOnline bookingA dashboard with chartsRepair history per car

You

But the shops still have to sign up somehow. And their client lists have to get in.

Alex Tutor

Not necessarily through code. There are five shops. Nina can create their accounts by hand and send each owner a link.

Nina

And the lists? Dennis's niece has a notebook with hundreds of regulars.

Alex Tutor

Type them in yourself. It's slow, but you'll see every odd phone number and every car with no mileage. That's a concierge MVP: the shop sees a working service, and part of the work behind it is yours.

Oscar

The shops will ask what happens to those lists. In January one owner said no for exactly that reason.

Alex Tutor

Then answer in writing before launch: the client list stays the shop's. Only the shop sees it, its car owners get nothing but that shop's reminders under its name, and the shop can download or delete the list at any time.

Oscar

Payment works the same way: an invoice or a payment link from a ready-made provider. The five have paid for three or twelve months anyway.

Alex Tutor

Question 2

Match each part of GarageDesk with how it works on launch day.

Pick an answer for each row. Choosing an answer that is already used moves it to this row.

Shop accounts
Choose an answer
Existing client lists
Choose an answer
Reminders
Choose an answer
Payment
Choose an answer

You

Then why not send the reminders by hand too? Nina could write them in the evenings.

Alex Tutor

Because that's the promise itself. A reminder that arrives late, or not at all, breaks the result the shops paid for. Keep the edges manual, automate the core.

Nina

And if I send them by hand, I learn nothing about whether the automatic version works.

Alex Tutor

Right. Manual work is fine while it teaches you something and fits into your week. When it stops doing either, it goes to the top of the list for automation.

Alex Tutor

Question 3

Why do the reminders have to be automatic from day one, while accounts and client lists can be manual?

Choose one answerBecause automatic features look more impressive to early usersBecause the reminder is the result the shops paid for, and it has to arrive on time every timeBecause accounts and lists will never need automationBecause manual work is not allowed in an MVP

Nina

Typing in one shop's list takes me about three hours. For the first five, that's 15 hours. Fine.

Alex Tutor

Now count April. Oscar, how many new shops do you expect?

Oscar

About nine, if the shops that are asking around actually sign. That would take us from 5 to 14.

Alex Tutor

Then set the rule in advance: when a manual task takes more than half a day a week, about four hours, it's next in line to automate.

Alex Tutor

Question 4

Typing in one shop's client list takes Nina about 3 hours. If 9 new shops join in April, how many hours will she spend typing in lists that month?

Your answer

Units: hours

You

And booking? Eleven of fourteen shops complained about phone chaos.

Alex Tutor

Booking solves a different problem. Starting two at once doubles the work and halves the attention. The five paid for reminders.

Nina

So booking, repair history, charts, plan changes and my old idea of an app for car owners all go on a "later" list.

Alex Tutor

Keep that list, and note who asked for each item and how often. Early users ask for lots of things; the list shows which requests repeat.

Oscar

And the five know it's rough. They're early adopters: they forgive gaps as long as they see quick progress.

Alex Tutor

Question 5

True or false: booking should go into the first version, because 11 of the 14 shops Nina and Oscar checked in December mentioned phone chaos.

TrueFalse

Alex Tutor

3 March. Five shops, accounts made by hand, lists typed in by Nina, reminders going out on their own.

Nina

Honestly, it's a bit embarrassing. No charts, no settings page.

Alex Tutor

Embarrassing is fine. The only question that matters this month: does a car come back?

Oscar

Two days later Dennis calls me: a regular replied to the reminder, "Thanks, I'll come on Friday." His niece booked him in.

You

And Dennis wants more already?

Oscar

Of course. He wants a report: how many cars came back this month thanks to GarageDesk.

Alex Tutor

Question 6Short answer · AI-checked task

Dennis asks for a monthly report of how many cars came back thanks to the reminders. The report isn't in the first version. In 3–5 sentences, write Nina's reply: keep the MVP scope, but don't lose Dennis.

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Alex Tutor

Next time: SMS, payments, sign-in, hosting. Which parts should a two-person team rent instead of writing themselves?

Alex Tutor

That’s the lesson. You answered every task — nicely done.

Next lesson: Ready-made instead of your own