What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?

An MVP product is a product with a sufficient set of features enough to attract early adopters and validate a product idea early in the product development cycle. After launching the MVP, iteration and improvement of the product are done based on the feedback of the product's initial users. An MVP version allows the team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort. An MVP has enough value that people are willing to use it or buy it initially.

A key premise behind the idea of MVP is that you produce an actual product that you can offer to customers and observe their actual behavior with the product or service. Seeing what people actually do with respect to a product is much more reliable than asking people what they would do.

What is the need for MVP?

An MVP is that version of a new product that allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least amount of effort. A company might choose to develop and release a minimum viable product because its product team wants to:

• Release a product to the market in the shortest time
• Reduce implementation costs
• Test the demand of product before committing a large budget to the product’s full development
• Learn what resonates with the company’s target market and what doesn’t

Benefits of MVP:

• Brings focus on the core value proposition
• It provides a feedback loop to guide future development
• It demonstrates enough future benefit to retain early adopters
• Builds relationships with customers
• Defines critical drawbacks
• Saves Money