The Minimum Viable Product (MVP): Theory and Practice

Building and deploying a minimum viable product (MVP) is often considered a necessary step in the venture development process. Although MVPs are ubiquitous in practice, foundational scholarly work on MVPs is virtually nonexistent. We leverage and build upon the lean start-up literature and the scientific approach to entrepreneurship to develop theory related to the dimensionality, forms, risks, and trade-offs of MVPs. We first define and identify the conceptual boundaries of MVPs and explain the relationship between MVP dimensionality and MVP development decisions. We then specify how MVP risks emerge and how these risks relate to the trade-off decisions that entrepreneurs must grapple with when building and deploying MVPs. We conclude by presenting future research opportunities on this important but previously overlooked phenomenological artifact.