MVP
MVP
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
An MVP is the simplest version of your product that actually works well enough for real users to use and for you to learn from. Not a broken prototype, but a purposely tiny product. Build the skateboard, not a broken car. Ship, learn, improve.
Real Talk
A Minimum Viable Product is a version of a product with enough features to be usable by early adopters who can provide feedback for future development. The goal is to validate assumptions with minimal investment and reduce the risk of building the wrong thing.
When You'll Hear This
"Ship the MVP, get user feedback, then iterate." / "Is this feature in the MVP or is it a nice-to-have?"
Related Terms
Backlog
The backlog is the master to-do list for a product — every feature, bug, and idea that hasn't been built yet, prioritised by importance.
POC (POC)
A POC is a quick experiment to prove an idea can work before you spend months building it properly. It's the 'will this even work?' test.
Scope Creep
Scope creep is when a simple feature request slowly grows into rebuilding the entire application.
Ship
Shipping means getting your feature or fix out to users — it's the end goal of all the coding.
Sprint
A sprint is a fixed time-box — usually 1-2 weeks — where a team commits to completing a specific set of tasks.
User Story
A user story is a tiny description of a feature from the user's perspective, written in plain English: 'As a user, I want to reset my password, so that I c...