What is MVP?

The Dropbox MVP was just a video.

Before building any file-syncing technology, Dropbox founder Drew Houston made a 3-minute video showing how the product would work. He posted it online and collected email addresses from interested people.

70,000 people signed up overnight, before a single line of code was written for the actual product.

Other famous MVPs:

• Airbnb started with the founders renting out air mattresses in their apartment
• Zappos tested demand by posting shoe photos online and buying them from stores when orders came in
• Buffer was just a landing page explaining the idea, with a pricing page, before any software existed

The key insight: test demand before investing heavily in building.

The Philosophy Behind MVP

The MVP approach comes from the Lean Startup methodology. The core idea: don't spend months building something nobody wants.

Instead:

1. Identify your core hypothesis (e.g., "People will pay for X")
2. Build the minimum needed to test that hypothesis
3. Launch quickly and measure real behavior
4. Learn and iterate based on actual data

What "Minimum" Really Means

Minimum doesn't mean low quality or broken. It means:

• Core value only - Just the one thing that matters most
• No nice-to-haves - Features that aren't essential wait
• Good enough to use - It should actually work and provide value

What "Viable" Really Means

Viable means someone would actually use it (and ideally pay for it). A half-working prototype isn't viable. An MVP should:

• Solve a real problem
• Be usable without extensive help
• Provide enough value that people will engage with it

Common MVP Types

1. Landing page MVP - Describe the product, collect signups
2. Wizard of Oz MVP - Looks automated, but humans do the work behind the scenes
3. Concierge MVP - Manually deliver the service before automating
4. Single-feature MVP - One feature, done well