Minimum Viable Product - Wikipedia

Prototype safe for public use This article is about the product development strategy. For the television pilot episode, see "Minimum Viable Product" (Silicon Valley).

A minimum viable product (MVP) is a version of a product with just enough features to be usable by early customers who can then provide feedback for future product development.[1][2]

A focus on releasing an MVP means that developers potentially avoid lengthy and (possibly) unnecessary work. Instead, they iterate on working versions and respond to feedback, challenging and validating assumptions about a product's requirements.[3] The term was coined and defined in 2001 by Frank Robinson[4] and then popularized by Steve Blank and Eric Ries.[5][6][7][8] It may also involve carrying out market analysis beforehand. The MVP is also a tool for reducing uncertainty in product development by enabling teams to test hypotheses about user behavior and market demand in real-world conditions. This approach emphasizes the importance of learning from early adopters and using their feedback to refine both the product and the underlying business model. By focusing on measurable outcomes, the MVP helps to identify which features or strategies are most likely to succeed, ensuring that resources are allocated effectively.[9] The concept can be used to validate a market need for a product and for incremental developments of an existing product.[10] As it tests a potential business model to customers to see how the market would react, it is especially useful for new/startup companies who are more concerned with finding out where potential business opportunities exist rather than executing a prefabricated, isolated business model.

Description

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A minimum viable product has just enough core features to effectively deploy the product, and no more. Developers typically deploy the product to a subset of possible customers, such as early adopters who are thought to be more forgiving, more likely to give feedback, and able to grasp a product vision from an early prototype or marketing information. This strategy aims to avoid building products that customers do not want and seeks to maximize information about the customer with the least money spent. The technique falls under the Lean Startup methodology as MVPs aim to test business hypotheses and validated learning is one of the five principles of the Lean Startup method.[11] It contrasts strongly with the traditional "stealth mode" method of product development where businesses make detailed business plans spanning a considerable time horizon. Steve Blank posited that the main principle of the Lean Startup approach rests in the validation of the hypotheses underlying the product by asking customers if they want the product or if the product meets their needs, and pivoting to another approach if the hypothesis turns out to be false.[12] This approach to validating business ideas cheaply before substantial investment saves costs and limits risk as businesses that upon experimentation turn out to be commercially unfeasible can easily be terminated. It is especially important as the main cause of startup failure is the lack of market need;[13] that is, many startups fail because their product isn't needed by many people, and so they cannot generate enough revenue to recoup the initial investment. Thus it can be said that utilizing an MVP would illuminate a prospective entrepreneur on the market demand for their products.

There are several types of MVPs that businesses use to validate their ideas and test market demand. A Landing Page MVP is a simple web page that introduces the product idea, gathers early followers, and collects feedback. This approach is cost-effective and quick to implement but may have low conversion rates.[14] Another common type is the Wizard of Oz MVP, where the product appears fully functional to users, but the processes are manually executed in the background. This allows for rapid prototyping and market testing without significant development costs.[15] The Concierge MVP takes a highly manual approach, where the service is delivered directly to customers, allowing for personalized feedback and insights into user needs.[14] Finally, the Single-Feature MVP focuses on delivering one core feature exceptionally well, enabling quick market entry and later expansion.[14] These MVP types help businesses minimize risk and optimize resources by focusing on essential features and gathering valuable customer feedback early in the development process. Additionally, the concept of Minimum Viable Data (MVD) has emerged, particularly in AI-related projects, to identify the minimal amount of data required to train machine learning models effectively. This approach reduces costs and accelerates development timelines.[15]

The MVP method is particularly useful in testing both technical and business hypotheses. While technical hypotheses focus on whether a product or technology can function as intended, business hypotheses aim to determine whether the product is viable in a real-world market. For example, in 2015, specialists from the University of Sydney devised the Rippa robot to automate farm and weed management.[16] Before it was released, the technical hypothesis – that the robot can distinguish weeds from farm plants – had already been proven. But the business hypothesis – that it would be a viable tool on a working farm – still needed to be proved.[17] The application of the MVP method here is that the business hypothesis is tested, and only if it proves successful will further development be invested.

"The minimum viable product is that version of a new product a team uses to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort."[2] The definition's use of the words maximum and minimum means it is not formulaic. It requires judgment to figure out, for any given context, what MVP makes sense. Due to this vagueness, the term MVP is commonly used, either deliberately or unwittingly, to refer to a much broader notion ranging from a rather prototype-like product to a fully-fledged and marketable product.[18]

An MVP can be part of a strategy and process directed toward making and selling a product to customers.[19] It is a core artifact in an iterative process of idea generation, prototyping, presentation, data collection, analysis and learning. One seeks to minimize the total time spent on an iteration. The process is iterated until a desirable product/market fit is obtained, or until the product is deemed non-viable.

Steve Blank typically refers to minimum viable product as minimum feature set.[20]

Typical MVP Development Timeline

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The development of a minimum viable product (MVP) typically takes three to five months, provided that the project scope is clearly defined from the outset. Longer development timelines are often associated with changes to requirements during the implementation phase. Incremental additions made after development has begun may increase overall complexity and extend delivery time, affecting both project cost and development progress.[21]

Testing

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Testing is the essence of minimum viable products. As described above, an MVP seeks to test out whether an idea works in market environments while using the least possible expenditure. This would be beneficial as it reduces the risk of innovating (so that enormous amounts of capital would not have to be sacrificed before proving that the concept does not actually work), and allowing for gradual, market-tested expansion models such as the real options model.[22] A simple method of testing the financial viability of an idea would be discovery-driven planning,[23][24] which first tests the financial viability of new ventures by carefully examining the assumptions behind the idea by a reverse income statement (first, begin with the income you want to obtain, then the costs the new invention would take, and see if the required amount of revenue that must be gained for the project to work). Results from a minimum viable product test aim to indicate if the product should be built, to begin with. Testing evaluates if the initial problem or goal is solved in a manner that makes it reasonable to move forward.

Marketing

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Releasing and assessing the impact of a minimum viable product is a market testing strategy that is used to screen product ideas soon after their generation. In software development, the release is facilitated by rapid application development tools and languages common to web application development.

The MVP differs from the conventional market testing strategy of investing time and money early to implement a product before testing it in the market. It is intended to ensure that the market wants the product before large time and monetary investments are made. The MVP differs from the open-source software methodology of release early, release often that listens to users, letting them define the features and future of the product. Instead, the MVP starts with a product vision, which is maintained throughout the product life cycle, although it is adapted based on the explicit and implicit (indirect measures) feedback from potential future customers of the product.[2]

The MVP is a strategy that may be used as a part of Blank's customer development[broken anchor] methodology that focuses on continual product iteration and refinement based on customer feedback. Additionally, the presentation of non-existing products and features may be refined using web-based statistical hypothesis testing, such as A/B testing.

Business Model Canvas

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The Business Model Canvas is used to map in the major components and activities for a company starting out. The minimum viable product can be designed by using selected components of the Business Model Canvas.

Emerging applications

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Concepts from minimum viable products are applied in other aspects of startups and organizations.

Minimum viable brand (MVB)

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Using a minimum viable brand (MVB) concept can ensure brand hypotheses are grounded in strategic intent and market insights.

Criticism

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Some research has shown that early release of an MVP may hurt a company more than help when companies risk imitation by a competitor and have not established other barriers to imitation.[25] It has also indicated that negative feedback on an MVP can negatively affect a company's reputation.[25] Many developers of mobile and digital products are now criticizing the MVP because customers can easily switch between competing products through platforms (e.g. app stores).[26] Also, products that do not offer the expected minimum standard of quality are inferior to competitors that enter the market with a higher standard.

A notable limitation of the MVP is rooted in its approach that seeks out to test its ideas to the market. Since the business's new product ideas can be inferred from their testing, the method may be unsuited to environments where the protection of the intellectual property is limited (and where products are easily imitated).[27]

The criticism of the MVP approach has led to several new approaches, e.g. the Minimum Viable Experiment MVE,[28] the Minimum Awesome Product MAP,[29] or the Simple, Lovable, Complete.[30]

See also

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• Lean startup
• Minimum marketable feature
• Mockup
• Pilot experiment
• Proof of concept
• Startup company
• The Cathedral and the Bazaar

References

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1. ^ "What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)? – Definition from Techopedia".
2. ^ a b c Ries, Eric (August 3, 2009). "Minimum Viable Product: a guide".
3. ^ Vartan, Arbi; Brinkerhoff, Jeff. "MVP: A maximally misunderstood idea". Slalom. Archived from the original on 2019-03-28. Retrieved 2019-12-04.
4. ^ "SyncDev methodology". SyncDev. Archived from the original on May 25, 2016. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
5. ^ W. S. Junk, "The Dynamic Balance Between Cost, Schedule, Features, and Quality in Software Development Projects", Computer Science Dept., University of Idaho, SEPM-001, April 2000.
6. ^ Eric Ries, March 23, 2009, Venture Hacks interview: "What is the minimum viable product?", Lessons Learned
7. ^ "Steve Blank Perfection By Subtraction – The Minimum Feature Set". Steve Blank. March 4, 2010.
8. ^ Holiday, Ryan The single worst marketing decision you can make The Next Web. 1 April 2015
9. ^ "Unpacking the minimum viable product (MVP): a framework for use, goals and essential elements". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
10. ^ "The Scientific Method for Startups: Building Product, Experimentation, KPI". YC Startup Library. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
11. ^ "Eric Ries on 'The Lean Startup'". Knowledge @ Wharton.
12. ^ Blank, Steve (2013-05-01). "Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything". Harvard Business Review. No. May 2013. ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
13. ^ "Why Startups Fail: Top 20 Reasons l CB Insights". CB Insights Research. 2019-11-06. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
14. ^ a b c RabIT Solutions, "Examples of MVP: Wizard of Oz MVP, Concierge MVP & More", https://www.rabitsolutions.com/blog/examples-of-mvp/, 2026. február 3.
15. ^ a b Philip van Allen, "Prototyping ways of prototyping AI", ACM Digital Library, https://dl.acm.org/doi/fullHtml/10.1145/3274566, 2018.
16. ^ "Rippa robot takes farms forward to the future". The University of Sydney. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
17. ^ admin (2018-07-26). "RIPPA The Farm Robot Exterminates Pests And Weeds". agronomybots. Archived from the original on 2020-10-19. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
18. ^ Ambler, Scott (2017-12-27). "Defining MVP, MMF, MMP, and MMR". The Disciplined Agile (DA) Blog. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
19. ^ Radoff, Jon (May 4, 2010). "Minimum Viable Product rant". Jon Radoff's Internet Wonderland. Archived from the original on March 23, 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
20. ^ Blank, Steve (March 4, 2010). "Perfection By Subtraction – The Minimum Feature Set".
21. ^ "How to Build an MVP for Non-Tech Founders". ProductCrafters. ProductCrafters. Retrieved February 5, 2026.
22. ^ Putten, Alexander B. van; MacMillan, Ian (2004-12-01). "Making Real Options Really Work". Harvard Business Review. No. December 2004. ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 2020-10-31.
23. ^ McGrath, Rita Gunther; MacMillan, Ian (1995-07-01). "Discovery-Driven Planning". Harvard Business Review. No. July–August 1995. ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 2020-10-31.
24. ^ Gallo, Amy (2017-02-13). "A Refresher on Discovery-Driven Planning". Harvard Business Review. ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 2020-10-31.
25. ^ a b "The Limitations of Lean Startup Principles". knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu. Knowledge@Wharton, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. 28 September 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
26. ^ Beneyto, Carlos (February 5, 2018). "The MVP is dead, long life to the MAP. (Minimum Awesome Product)".
27. ^ Contigiani, Andrea. "The Downside of Applying Lean Startup Principles". Knowledge @ Wharton.
28. ^ "Death to the Minimum Viable Product! | Lean User Testing". January 11, 2019. Archived from the original on September 29, 2018. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
29. ^ fluidmobile GmbH (January 22, 2019). "Minimum Awesome Product in der App-Entwicklung". Archived from the original on January 9, 2019. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
30. ^ Cohen, Jason (22 Aug 2017). "I hate MVPs. So do your customers. Make it SLC instead".

External links

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