Minimum Viable Product

⏱ 5 min  ·  📅 2026

The minimum viable product (MVP) is the version of a new product that allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least possible effort. Its purpose is not to produce a small final product, but to create the most efficient vehicle for validating hypotheses about the market before committing resources to full development.

The concept was introduced by Frank Robinson (2001) and popularized by Eric Ries in The Lean Startup (2011) as part of the Build-Measure-Learn loop.

What an MVP Is Not

A common misconception is that an MVP is simply a product with few features. The key lies in its purpose: an MVP is for learning, not for delivering. An MVP that does not generate validated learning is not an MVP: it is an unfinished product.

Types of MVP

There are multiple strategies for building an MVP, depending on the type of hypothesis to be validated:

• Concierge MVP: instead of automating the service, it is provided manually. This makes it possible to validate the value proposition before building any technology.
• Wizard of Oz MVP: the system appears automated but actually operates manually behind the scenes. The user does not know that there is no real technology.
• Paper or low-fidelity prototype MVP: mockups or sketches that simulate the product to obtain feedback on the interface and flow without developing anything.
• Landing page MVP: a landing page that describes the product and measures interest (clicks, sign-ups) before it exists.
• Explainer video MVP: describes how the product will work in order to measure interest without building it.
• Single-feature MVP: a single feature of the complete product, released to measure usage and perceived value.

MVP and Generative AI

Generative AI tools have drastically reduced the cost of building certain types of MVPs:

• Functional software prototypes can be built in hours rather than weeks with coding assistants.
• Content MVPs (newsletters, courses, reports) can be produced with AI support at a fraction of the previous cost.
• However, the reduced cost of building does not eliminate the need for validation with real users: an MVP built quickly with AI but launched without feedback is still a failed MVP if the hypotheses are not validated.

Common mistake

Building an MVP that is too big. The MVP is not the first version of the product; it is the smallest possible experiment to learn something specific. If the team takes more than a few weeks to launch its MVP, it has probably built too much. The right question to ask before building any feature is: "What specific hypothesis are we validating with this?"

Resources

🏦 Skill Agile InceptionState of the art and development guide · Skill Arena

📄 Product Owner v.2.0 [in Spanish]Free download · Scrum Manager

📄 Mínimo Producto Viable (MVP): qué es y para qué sirve [Minimum Viable Product (MVP): What It Is and What It Is For, in Spanish]Scrum Manager Blog · May 2023

References

• Ries, Eric. (2011). The Lean Startup. Crown Business.

See also

Minimum marketable feature Lean inception Design sprint Product vision Increment Product Owner

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