Day 12: Define the MVP

[Day 12/30: Product Manager to CEO 30 Day Challenge] The MVP, or minimum viable product, is a term that comes up a lot in the startup world. People struggle to define the MVP because they try to do it in terms of features.

When you're defining your MVP, you want to think about what the bare minimum is that you need to get people using your product. You want to make sure that, at a minimum, users can do something with it and get value out of it.

For example, let's say you're building a food delivery app. The first thing you want to do is ask yourself: "What is the absolute minimum I need for my app to be useful?" You might realize that all you need is a way for someone to order food from their favorite restaurant and have it delivered straight to them.

This is where the concept of Lean Startup comes in: instead of building a whole product and then trying to sell it, Lean Startup encourages prototyping and experimentation with potential customers before spending time and money on building out a full-scale version.

Don't be fooled by the name—an MVP is not necessarily the most basic version of whatever you're making. Instead, it's the version that allows you to test market viability without spending too much time or money on features that may or may not work out for you. The goal of any MVP is to save as much money as possible while still getting a sense of how customers will react to what you're selling them.

That said, there are two main ways to define your MVP:

1. Timeframe: How quickly can I get my product out there? This is a good approach if you're working with limited resources because it forces you to focus on what's most important in terms of functionality and user experience.

2. Functionality: What do I absolutely need before releasing this product into the wild? This option works best when funds aren't an issue and there's time available for additional development work.