What Is a Minimum Viable Product?

Key takeaways

A minimum viable product (MVP) is a key component of Agile, allowing you to test a product so you can bring it to market faster. 

• A minimum viable product lets you eliminate waste by seeing whether the product resonates with early users before pouring resources into it. 

• The MVP process begins by researching your target audience, determining their pain points, and making a needs list that solves their problems with the most basic solution. 

• You can start creating an MVP by following four core characteristics: product value, usability, feasibility, and user feedback implementation. 

Explore more about minimum viable product, some real-world examples, how it fits into the Agile process, and its core characteristics. If you're ready to keep building your project management skills, try the Google Project Management Professional Certificate. You'll have the opportunity to build Agile project management foundations and the skills needed for an entry-level role. 

Minimum viable product definition

A minimum viable product (MVP) is a version of your product that may not be fully complete, but it is functional enough for users to test and provide feedback. Its purpose is to determine if a market exists for your idea and if it effectively solves a problem for your customers. An MVP serves as a crucial starting point for Agile projects, which emphasize continuous feedback and iterative improvement by adding new features and refining existing ones to the current product. 

Developing an MVP helps you bring something to market faster, reach out to early adopters for feedback, and design your product around the needs of the target market. This can, in turn, help eliminate waste by leaning into ideas that resonate with early users and abandoning ideas that won’t work. 

One example of a minimum viable product is the origin story of the retail giant Amazon, which Jeff Bezos founded in 1994 out of his rented garage. Bezos created a beta version of the website, which sold only books, and asked 300 friends and colleagues to test the site. After receiving positive feedback, he launched the site in the US and 45 other countries with minimal spend on marketing. Over time, he used the profit that he earned to expand his operations to sell multiple products and services, growing into a multi-billion-dollar company. 

Read more: What Is Product Management Certification?

What is an MVP example?

Amazon is only one big-name example of a minimal viable product. Airbnb’s founders, Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky, confirmed that their concept of a peer-based short-term rental system was a good idea using their personal apartment. The duo put air mattresses in their available space and offered free breakfast and internet access as they put their theory that people would pay to stay there to the test. 

How to build a minimum viable product: Examining the MVP development process

1. Research your customer: Create personas for your target audience. This will help you focus on what problems one person might have to gain insight into potential solutions.

2. Think about how your product solves their problems: Using your customer personas, think about their specific pain points and determine how your product can meet their needs. 

3. Make a needs list and a wish list: When determining the most basic solution, you may have ideas for extra features. Take note of them, but remember to include only the features customers need in the MVP. 

4. Map task flow: Create a visual list of steps the customer will need to take to use your product. This will help you ensure that you include every required task and account for every piece. 

5. Release and gather feedback: Release your product to early adopters. This is not the same thing as launching your product. This is an experiment to see how people react to your MVP. 

6. Repeat: In an Agile framework, you repeat the cycle by improving on your MVP based on user feedback and continuing through the steps. 

MVP meaning: 4 core characteristics of a good minimum viable product

1. Value: Does it solve a real problem for your target users? An MVP should deliver enough benefit to convince users it's worth their time and attention. This means focusing on the core functionality that addresses a user's pain points.

2. Usability: Is it easy for users to understand and use? Your MVP should be intuitive and user-friendly. People shouldn't get lost or frustrated trying to figure out how it works.

3. Feasibility: Can you build it with your available resources? An MVP should be achievable within a reasonable timeframe and budget. It's not necessary to build every feature perfectly; focus on getting something out there quickly to gather feedback.

4. Feedback: Implement ways to gather user feedback effectively, such as surveys, analytics, or direct user testing. Use the feedback to make informed decisions about improvements and additional features, allowing for a user-driven development process.

Related terms

• Agile

• Continuous improvement

• Product management

• Scope creep

Prepare to build your next MVP application

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