What is a minimum viable product (MVP)?

A minimum viable product (MVP) is an early, usable version of a product built to test whether a specific solution meets a real customer need. It focuses on the smallest useful experience that can produce meaningful feedback.

What should an MVP include?

Choose one customer, one problem, and one outcome. Include the capabilities needed to deliver that outcome reliably. Features that do not help test your central assumption can wait.

A rough prototype can help you discuss an idea. An MVP goes further: people can use it to accomplish the core task, giving you evidence beyond opinions.

A startup example

Imagine a startup helping property managers triage maintenance requests. Its first product might accept a request, route it to a person, and show its status. Advanced scheduling, vendor bidding, and portfolio dashboards could come later.

The team could measure whether managers keep using it and whether requests reach the right person. Those observations would help decide what to improve next.

A useful question to ask

Before adding a feature, ask: does this help us test the problem or deliver the core result? An MVP is a learning tool, not permission to ignore security, reliability, or basic usability.

Explore more in the Startup Dictionary.