MVPs: A Refresher

Do you remember this quote? It’s from the Build, Measure, Learn section of your Product Management and Design course. In this section, we’ll refresh your understanding of minimum viable products (MVP). Let’s start with a definition:

A minimum viable product (MVP) is the simplest version of your solution that your target user can interact with. It’s the first thing you can give to your very first set of target users to see if your solution provides any value that addresses their needs.

📺 Watch the following video to gain a better understanding of MVPs.

How to Build an MVP

Michael Seibel from Y Combinator says that an MVP should be built fast, and it probably won’t work well. If it works well, it’s not an MVP.

📺 Watch this video to learn more of what Michael Seibel has to say about MVPs.

These resources are rich with insights, so let’s pull out some of the key takeaways.

Why You Should Build an MVP

In the video we watched, Michael Seibel says that your MVP won’t work well, so you’re probably wondering: “if my MVP might not work, what is the point of building one?”

Here are some of the reasons why you should build an MVP:

  • To quickly put something out publicly. It’s better to ship something quickly, even if it is bad than to build what you think is the perfect solution and no one uses it.
  • To have a clear sense of what you need to build to solve your customers' problems. This will bring your idea to life and give you a sense of the amount of resources needed to get it to a final state.
  • To get something into the hands of your customers as quickly as possible and see if they’ll use it.
  • To get feedback from your customers before you spend a lot of resources. It’s easier to learn from your customers if you put something in front of them.
  • To Iterate and improve your product.

How to Identify an MVP

When thinking about MVPs, different people have different interpretations. So, how can you be sure if something truly qualifies as an MVP? Here are three things that make an MVP:

  1. Speed. MVPs are about how quickly you can build and ship a solution. For the very first MVP you build, especially if it is a software solution, it should take no more than 2 weeks (this week, we’ll challenge you to build your MVP in 1 week).
  2. Limited functionality. An MVP deliberately keeps things simple. Unlike a fully built product, your MVP should have a few basic functions. Ideally, when your target user interacts with your MVP, they should only be able to do one thing. That could be requesting a service or placing an order.
  3. Appeals to a few people. Your MVP is not for everyone. It's designed for a specific group of users. By focusing on a target audience, you can tailor your MVP product to their unique needs.

Examples of MVPs in Practice

Take the Airbnb example Michael Seibel referenced, for instance.

Airbnb is an online marketplace and hospitality service that allows people to lease or rent short-term accommodation, including vacation rentals and apartment rentals. It is now valued at over $80 billion, but Airbnb did not start out as the product you see today. It started out as a simple landing page with a few pictures.

In August 2008, when Airbnb had just launched its first MVP, the founders, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, built a very simple website where people could book a space in their apartment. Their target users were attendees of the iDSA conference in San Francisco who needed a place to stay because hotels were fully booked.

This landing page took less than two weeks to put together. It had no payment page, map view, or profile page. If a guest booked a space, they could only sleep on an airbed!

Let's review whether what Airbnb built was an MVP an MVP when they just started:

  • Was it built fast? Yes. They built the landing page in less than 2 weeks
  • Did it have limited functionality? Yes. You could only book an airbed in one apartment (no payment, no maps, no profile pages).
  • Did it appeal to a few people? Yes. It was only available to conference guests coming for the iDSA conference in San Francisco.

This early version of Airbnb laid the foundation for what would later become a hugely successful online marketplace for lodging and travel experiences. Now, after 15 years, Airbnb is available on multiple platforms, and multiple locations. It also allows users to do cool things like offer experience or list entire houses.

Here’s a before and after of the Airbnb platform.

Airbnb Before (2008)

Image08

Airbnb Now (2024)

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More MVP Examples

📺 Watch the following video to see more examples of MVPs

❓ From the examples we have seen in this section, which of them is your favorite example of an MVP and why?

Final Note on MVPs

  • A cardinal rule of building an MVP, and entrepreneurship as a whole, is to hold the problem tightly, hold your users tightly, hold your solution loosely. Basically, love the problem, not your solution.
  • In this course, we expect that you will be working on a software product. However, it is worth noting that not all types of products can have an MVP that is overly simplified. Some exceptions include biotechnology, hard tech, and solutions with significant regulations (e.g., medication or vaccines).