An MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is the simplest version of a product that can be released to real users in order to test a hypothesis or validate a core idea. It includes just enough features to be usable — nothing extra. The goal is to learn whether the product concept has value before investing heavily in building it out.
The term was popularised by Eric Ries in The Lean Startup.
You’ll hear this when…
“Let’s build an MVP” means the team wants to ship something quickly to gather feedback. “Is this MVP scope?” means someone is asking whether a feature is essential for the initial release or can wait.
MVPs are central to startup culture, but the concept applies broadly. Product teams at large companies build MVPs for new features. Internal tools teams build MVPs before committing to full-scale development. The principle is the same: validate before you invest.
Common misunderstandings
An MVP is not a broken product or a demo. “Minimum” refers to features, not quality. Users need to be able to actually use it, and it needs to work reliably — it just doesn’t need to do everything.
The biggest risk with MVPs is scope creep. “We need just one more feature” repeated five times turns an MVP into a full product launch without the learning that the MVP was supposed to provide. The discipline is shipping something genuinely minimal and seeing what happens.
Source: Eric Ries, The Lean Startup (2011)