Minimum Viable Product

A minimum viable product (MVP) is the smallest version of a product that still delivers its core value, built to test a business assumption with real users at low cost. The point is learning rather than completeness. The team identifies its riskiest assumption, ships the least amount of work that can validate it, and decides from observed behavior whether to continue, adjust, or stop. Retention and repeat use matter more than signup counts, because they indicate whether the value is real. An MVP does not have to be working software. Dropbox tested demand with a demonstration video before its sync engine existed, and many teams start with a manual back end where staff do by hand what software will later automate. AI tooling has compressed the build step, so scaffolding a working prototype now takes days, which shifts the bottleneck from writing code to choosing what to test. The frequent mistake is reading minimum as low quality. An MVP that is confusing or broken produces a false negative, since users reject the execution rather than the idea. The opposite risk is scope creep, where polishing delays launch until the assumption goes untested. MVPs lead into the search for product-market fit.