Essay · ~15 min read

Minimum Viable Product: a guide

Eric Ries · Startup Lessons Learned (Eric Ries) Free Intermediate

The free, original essay that defined the MVP before the book existed, written plainly by the person who coined the term. It clears up the most common mistake founders make, which is thinking an MVP has to be a working product when a landing page or a video often teaches you more, faster. Useful as a quick primer you can send someone in one link.

  • An MVP is the smallest thing that produces validated learning, not the smallest product
  • A page or a video can be a legitimate MVP if it tests real demand
  • Aim for maximum learning per unit of effort, not feature completeness
Open on startuplessonslearned.com ↗

It answers 5 questions

  1. When is my product 'ready' to launch?
  2. Isn't doing things that don't scale a waste of time, shouldn't I automate from day one?
  3. What's the difference between an MVP and just a cheap, half-finished product?
  4. How do I run a landing-page / 'fake-door' test?
  5. Should we ship an ugly, half-working version now or wait until it feels good enough to be proud of?

Read with it

  1. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham
  2. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  3. The origin text for the modern MVP and validated-learning vocabulary every founder now uses. Read it for the mental model that... theleanstartup.com Book · ~330 pages The Lean Startup Eric Ries
  4. Long-form, candid interviews with Indian founders and investors on how they actually grew, distributed and built brand, one of... The Neon Show / Neon Fund Podcast · 200+ episodes The Neon Show (100x Entrepreneur Podcast) Siddhartha Ahluwalia
  5. Michael Seibel, who ran YC, makes the blunt case for shipping something almost embarrassingly simple and learning from real... Y Combinator Startup Library Video · ~10 min video How to Build an MVP Michael Seibel
  6. Turns the vague feeling of product-market fit into a number you can move. Ask users how they would feel if they could no longer... First Round Review Article · ~20 min read How Superhuman Built an Engine to Find Product/Market Fit Rahul Vohra
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