Entrepreneur 101: What To Know About MVPs
Entrepreneur 101: What To Know About MVPs
A Web designer creates a MVP for a mobile application project.GETTY
Although “MVP” used to be only a sports term (most valuable player), it’s taken on new life as part of the lexicon of entrepreneurs getting something new off the ground. But what exactly is an MVP (minimally viable product)?
It’s a very early-stage version of a product or concept that gives startup entrepreneurs crucial feedback that they can use to further develop and improve their brainchild. Entrepreneur, author and Stanford University adjunct professor in the department of management science and engineering Steve Blank was one of the first to make use of the term. Another early adopter of the phrase was Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup. Both he and Blank agree that a company should view an MVP as an experiment, one that assesses how customers will receive an idea.
“It lets you know whether you’re making progress and to decide whether you need to pivot,” Ries adds.
And it can take a variety of forms—from “a product or service to developing your company’s policy on volunteering or even setting up a new federal government agency,” explains Ries.
Blank points to a moment when a group of his Stanford students were building a drone meant to fly over farm fields to measure water and fertilizer use. The students, who later went on to develop the product beyond the classroom, were surprised to find out that Blank’s suggestion for an MVP was as simple as a spreadsheet showing farmers, their target market, the data generated from the drone research. They could use this spreadsheet, Blank explained, to gauge whether or not the product would be of interest to these potential customers.
“If you’re thinking about just building the product as envisioned, you get stuck thinking that an MVP is a prototype of the product,” says Blank.
