The minimum viable product (MVP) is the minimum set of features needed to learn from early adopters and avoid building products that nobody wants. It maximizes learning per dollar spent and is probably much more minimum than you think. An MVP allows achieving a big vision in small increments through iteration without going in circles chasing what customers think they want. The unit of progress is validated learning about customers through techniques like smoke testing landing pages, in-product split testing, and customer discovery to minimize the total time in the build-measure-learn loop.

1. Minimum Viable Product#leanstartupEric Ries (@ericries)http://StartupLessonsLearned.blogspot.com

2. Why do we build products?Delight customersGet lots of them signed upMake a lot of moneyRealize a big vision; change the world

3. Possible Approaches“Maximize chances of success”build a great product with enough features that increase the odds that customers will want itProblem: no feedback until the end, might be too late to adjust “Release early, release often”Get as much feedback as possible, as soon as possibleProblem: run around in circles, chasing what customers think they want

4. Minimum Viable ProductThe minimum set of features needed to learn from earlyvangelists – visionary early adoptersAvoid building products that nobody wantsMaximize the learning per dollar spentProbably much more minimum than you think!

5. Minimum Viable ProductVisionary customers can “fill in the gaps” on missing features, if the product solves a real problemAllows us to achieve a big vision in small increments without going in circlesRequires a commitment to iteration

6. Minimize TOTAL time through the loopIDEASLEARNBUILDDATACODEMEASURE

7. ExamplesBuilding IMVU in six months2004 “Kerry vs. Bush avatar debate”Lean Startup workshopVIP link in the header

8. Product Development at Lean StartupUnit of Progress: Validated Learning About Customers ($$$)Customer DevelopmentHypotheses,Experiments,InsightsProblem: unknownData,Feedback,InsightsSolution: unknown

9. TechniquesSmoke testing with landing pages, AdWordsSEM on five dollars a dayIn-product split testingPaper prototypesCustomer discovery/validationRemoving features (“cut and paste”)

10. FearsFalse negative: “customers would have liked the full product, but the MVP sucks, so we abandoned the vision”Visionary complex: “but customers don’t know what they want!”Too busy to learn: “it would be faster to just build it right, all this measuring distracts from delighting customers”

11. Thanks!Startup Lessons Learned Blog