THE SHORT ANSWER
A minimum viable product is the smallest usable version or delivery method that can test an important value or business assumption with relevant customers. It may be software, a manual service or a narrow workflow. Its scope should follow the uncertainty being tested rather than a reduced feature wishlist.
Choose the artefact for the question
| Form | Primary question | Customer use |
|---|---|---|
| Prototype | Can people understand or navigate the concept? | Usually simulated |
| Proof of concept | Can a risky technical element work? | May have no customer use |
| Pilot | Can the solution work in a bounded real setting? | Real but limited |
| MVP | Can a minimal solution create value and produce learning? | Real use |
| Beta | How does a substantially built product behave with selected users? | Real use before wider release |
Start from the riskiest assumption
If demand is uncertain, more engineering may not help. If the workflow is uncertain, a concierge service may reveal it. If technical feasibility is uncertain, a proof of concept may be appropriate before a customer-facing MVP.
List desirability, feasibility, viability and adoption assumptions. Test the one whose failure would most change the plan.
Evidence & context: Strategyzer
Minimum does not mean careless
A narrow product can still protect customer data, communicate limits and complete its core promise reliably. Avoid hiding unfinished behaviour that could create safety, financial or trust consequences.
Define the learning before building
- Which assumption will this MVP test?
- Who will use it and in what context?
- What useful outcome must it deliver?
- Which behaviour will count as evidence?
- What support is founder-supplied?
- What result triggers revision, expansion or stopping?
Connect what customers do to a possible business model, not only to feature feedback.
Sources & further reading
- Designing strong experiments
Strategyzer. Practitioner guidance on explicit hypotheses, relevant participants and well-designed artefacts. Experiment quality and interpretation still depend on context.
- Business testing: is your hypothesis really validated?
Strategyzer. Practitioner guidance distinguishing directional discovery evidence from stronger evidence of real-world behaviour. Its evidence scale is a method, not a guarantee.
Examples and exercises are illustrative unless attributed to a source. No independent expert review is claimed.
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