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MVP (minimum viable product)

Also called: minimum viable product

The smallest product that solves the core problem well enough that early customers will pay for it. For a subscription app that usually means: sign up, get the main job done, and pay; everything else waits.

An MVP (minimum viable product) is the smallest version of a product that solves the customer's main problem well enough that early customers use it for real and pay for it. "Minimum" means everything that isn't needed for that one job waits; "viable" means what remains must actually work, every day, in the customer's real routine.

For a subscription product a useful test is three steps: can a customer get in, get the main result, and pay? Features that don't serve one of those steps go on a "later" list, with a note of who asked for them. Much of the MVP can be manual behind the scenes: accounts created by hand, data typed in by the founders, invoices sent by email. Customers care about the result, not about how much of it is automated yet.

An MVP is not a prototype and not a demo. A prototype tests whether an idea is understood; an MVP tests whether people keep using it and paying once the novelty is gone. It is also not a lower-quality product: the scope is small, but the part that exists should be reliable, because an early customer who loses trust rarely gives a second chance.

Example

Nina's wish list for GarageDesk includes sign-up with email confirmation, password reset, charts, online booking, repair history and plan changes. The MVP keeps three things: enter a car at hand-over (under ten seconds on a phone), automatic reminders by date and mileage, and payment by invoice or a payment link. Accounts are created by hand and Nina types in the first shops' client lists herself.

GarageDesk launches on 3 March with the 5 shops that prepaid. By the end of April 14 shops are paying, and the "later" list records who asked for booking, charts and the rest.

Common mistakes

  • "Minimum" as an excuse for broken. A small scope must still work reliably every day.
  • Automating everything before anyone pays. Do by hand what you can until the manual work becomes the bottleneck.
  • No payment in the MVP. Without it you learn whether people like the product, not whether they'll pay for it.
  • Building for every request. Write requests down with names; build what many paying customers need.