Essay · 6 min read

Minimum Viable Product

Marty Cagan · Silicon Valley Product Group Free Intermediate

Cagan draws a sharp line that saves founders real pain: the thing you use to test a hypothesis is an experiment, not a product you ship to everyone. He argues for calling it an MVP test so you do not confuse a throwaway prototype with something customers must be able to rely on. This keeps you from over-building a 'real' product when a rough test is all you need.

  • Separate the MVP test (an experiment) from a product you would ship broadly
  • A prototype that proves usable is not proof people will choose to use it
  • Keep experiments cheap and disposable, do not gold plate them
Open on svpg.com ↗

It answers 3 questions

  1. What actually counts as an MVP, and what's the smallest one I can get away with?
  2. How do I decide which features to cut from v1?
  3. What's the difference between an MVP and just a cheap, half-finished product?

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