What is the purpose of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?

The purpose of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is to test real customer behavior with the simplest version of a product. An MVP is designed to introduce a product to the market that encompasses the core functionalities necessary to fulfill its main purpose. By focusing on essential features, businesses can quickly gather feedback from early users, enabling them to understand customer needs, validate their business hypotheses, and iterate on the product based on actual usage rather than assumptions.

This approach minimizes development time and costs while maximizing learning opportunities. It allows entrepreneurs to assess the viability of their product concept, make necessary adjustments, and ultimately refine the offering based on user feedback, ensuring a more targeted and successful product launch.

Creating a polished version or offering all features at once does not align with the MVP methodology, as these approaches could delay market entry and increase the risk of developing a product that does not meet customer needs adequately. Similarly, while validating long-term funding is an important aspect of a startup's growth, it is not the primary purpose of an MVP.