What Is an MVP?
Short answer
An MVP, or minimum viable product, is the version of a new product that lets a team learn the most about its customers for the least effort. It's something real customers can use or buy, sometimes as small as a landing page, and its job is to show whether people want the product before the full build.
Where the term comes from
Frank Robinson first used the term in 2001, and Steve Blank credits him with coining it. Blank and Eric Ries made it widely known, and the MVP is a concept from the Lean Startup method. Ries's 2009 definition describes it as the version of a new product that gathers the most validated learning about customers for the least effort.
Ries also warns that the name misleads people. An MVP exists to learn something, and deciding how much product that takes needs judgment in each case. He describes one MVP that took six months to reach the market, and another situation where two weeks spent on a feature nobody wanted was far too long.
What an MVP can look like
An MVP has to be something customers can use or buy, so the team can watch what they do. Seeing what people do with a product is much more reliable than asking what they would do. The product can be as small as a landing page, or a service that looks automated to the customer and is run by hand behind the scenes.
Early adopters are the usual first audience. They're more forgiving of a rough first version and more likely to give feedback. The product still needs enough quality to give a fair test, because a version too buggy to use can't show whether customers want it.
MVP vs prototype vs proof of concept
All three test an idea early, and each one answers a different question.
Proof of concept | Prototype | MVP | |
|---|---|---|---|
Question it answers | Can this work? | Is this the right design? | Do people want this product? |
Audience | Internal team, investors | Users, stakeholders, designers | Early adopters and paying customers |
Functionality | Minimal or none | Simulated, not production code | A real product or service customers can use |
Typical timeline | Days to weeks | Days to weeks | Weeks to months |
Outcome | A go or no-go decision | Design insights and changes | Usage data and revenue signals |
Where MVPs go wrong
Teams use the term loosely, and a few misreadings are common.
Treating the MVP as the smallest amount of functionality the team can ship, with no plan for what it should teach.
Confusing it with a minimum marketable product, whose focus is earning revenue from the first release.
Stressing minimum over viable, so the product isn't good enough to show whether customers would use it.
Shipping it and then leaving it unchanged, whatever customers say.
What happens after launch
An MVP is one experiment in a series. The team starts from a hypothesis that customers have a need the product meets, puts the product in front of them and watches what happens. Based on what it learns, it continues the work, changes it or cancels it. A team using the MVP well may change the product dramatically or drop it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a prototype and an MVP?
A prototype simulates a product so a team can test design decisions, and it usually isn't production code. An MVP is a working product with a minimal set of features that real customers use, built to test whether they want it.
Can a prototype turn into an MVP?
It can lead to one. Prototypes are learning tools that usually get reworked or thrown away, and an MVP is built for real users. Teams often move from proof of concept to prototype to MVP as each question gets answered.
How long does it take to build an MVP?
Scope sets the timeline. An MVP that needs working code and infrastructure tends to take weeks to months, longer than a proof of concept or a prototype. Some MVPs are only a landing page.
Do you always need a proof of concept first?
No. A proof of concept is most useful when the technology itself is uncertain. If the technology is proven, it can be skipped, and a team improving an existing product may only need prototypes.
Is an MVP the same as a minimum marketable product?
No. An MVP is about learning whether customers want the product. A minimum marketable product, or minimum marketable feature, is about earning from it.