Strategy & Portfolio
Last updated
Quick Answer
Minimum Viable Product — the simplest version of a product that allows a team to collect validated learning about customers with the least effort.
Eric Ries defined MVP as the version of a new product that allows the team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning with the minimum amount of effort. The MVP is not the worst possible product — it's the fastest path to real customer insight.
MVPs are often misunderstood as 'build it cheap and fast' exercises. The real goal is to test a specific hypothesis about customer behavior with minimum investment. A Wizard of Oz MVP (human-powered backend) or a Concierge MVP (fully manual service delivery) can be valid approaches that don't involve shipping software at all.
In Practice
Dropbox's original MVP was a demo video — not working software. Drew Houston posted a video showing what Dropbox would do, driving 75,000 email signups overnight. This validated demand before writing a line of production code. The video was the MVP.
Why It Matters
The MVP concept is misapplied constantly. Many founders ship broken, embarrassing products and call them MVPs, damaging early customer relationships. The point is minimum effort to learn, not minimum quality to ship. Speed of learning matters more than speed of shipping.
VC Beast Take
The MVP has been so thoroughly misunderstood and abused that some founders now use terms like 'version one' or 'early access' instead. If your MVP teaches you nothing useful about customers, it wasn't a real MVP.
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Eric Ries defined MVP as the version of a new product that allows the team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning with the minimum amount of effort. The MVP is not the worst possible product — it's the fastest path to real customer insight.
Understanding MVP is critical for founders navigating the fundraising process. It directly impacts deal terms, valuation, and the relationship between founders and investors.
MVP falls under the strategy category in venture capital. This area covers concepts related to the strategic approaches to portfolio construction and management.
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