A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is the smallest version of a product that delivers real value and lets you learn whether you're on the right track. The goal isn't to ship something cheap — it's to test the riskiest assumption with the least effort before investing further.
The key idea
MVP = MINIMUM (smallest build) + VIABLE (actually usable, delivers value)
NOT minimum + broken
NOT every feature, half-finished
BUT a real, focused slice that solves one problem well
A concrete example
You want to build a meal-kit delivery app. A full app with menus, payments, and logistics is months of work. An MVP might be a simple landing page plus a manual process: customers order by form, and you arrange deliveries by hand. If nobody orders, you've saved months. If they do, you've validated demand before building.
