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MVP Definitions MVP Hypothesis Slicing Patterns Prioritization Lab Rapid Prototyping Open-Source Toolbox MVP Metrics
Templates: Hypothesis Card Prioritization Sheet MVP Plan

MVP Guidance for Startups

Your comprehensive guide to building, testing, and launching successful minimum viable products. From strategic slicing patterns to measuring success metrics.

MVP Definition & Scoping

Clear Distinctions

MVP

Definition: Minimum viable product – validates a core value hypothesis end-to-end with minimal engineering effort and real user feedback.

Prototype

Definition: Exploratory and experimental; may be non-functional or simulated (e.g., Figma mockups, Wizard-of-Oz demonstrations).

Pilot

Definition: MVP deployed with real users in a constrained, controlled setting to gather focused feedback and usage data.

V1

Definition: Post-validation product ready to scale beyond early adopters with proven market fit and refined features.

Quick Navigation
MVP Definitions
MVP Hypothesis
Slicing Patterns
Prioritization Lab
Rapid Prototyping
Open-Source Toolbox
MVP Metrics
Templates:
Hypothesis
Prioritization
MVP Plan

Turning VPC into Testable Hypotheses

Hypothesis Card Framework:

• We believe [persona] needs [job-to-be-done] to achieve [gain] and avoid [pain]

• We will know this is true when [metric/behavior] improves by [X] within [timebox].

• We will test this by [MVP slice] delivered to [early adopters].

Persona
Experiment
Job
Outcome

Template 1 – MVP Hypothesis Card

Transform your Value Proposition Canvas insights into testable MVP hypotheses:

Persona & Context

Question: Who is your target user and what situation are they in when they need your solution?

Example: Busy marketing managers at mid-size companies during campaign planning season
Problem (Pain) & Job to be Done

Question: What specific pain point does your user experience, and what job are they trying to accomplish?

Example: Struggling to coordinate campaign assets across multiple teams and platforms
Value Hypothesis

Question: What gain will your solution provide, and how will it address the identified pain?

Example: Centralized campaign management that reduces coordination time by 50%
MVP Slice We'll Ship

Question: What is the minimum feature set that can test your core hypothesis?

Example: Simple campaign dashboard with asset upload and team notification system
Primary Metric + Target

Question: How will you measure success, and what target indicates validation?

Example: Time-to-campaign-launch reduced by 30% within 2 weeks of usage
Timebox (≤2 weeks)

Question: What is your testing timeline for gathering meaningful data?

Example: 4-week pilot with 10 marketing teams, measure after 2 weeks of active use
Risks & Assumptions

Question: What could go wrong, and what assumptions are you making?

Example: Assumption: Teams will change existing workflows. Risk: Integration complexity
How We'll Recruit Early Users

Question: Where will you find users willing to test your MVP?

Example: LinkedIn outreach to marketing managers, existing network referrals

Strategic Slicing Patterns

Four proven patterns for breaking down your product vision into testable MVP slices:

1

Concierge/Wizard-of-Oz

Manual processes behind the scenes; automate successful workflows later based on real usage patterns.

Manual First Learn Patterns
2

Landing Page + Waitlist

Test message-market fit signals first before building complex functionality.

Validate Demand Market Research
3

Single Workflow Focus

One job-to-be-done executed exceptionally well rather than multiple mediocre features.

Deep Focus Excellence
4

API-First Approach

Provide core value via simple API; build user interface after validating backend logic.

Backend First Core Logic

Prioritization Mini-Lab

MoSCoW Method

Must have / Should have / Could have / Won't have (for now). Quick categorization for initial feature triage.

RICE Scoring

Reach × Impact × Confidence ÷ Effort. Quantitative approach to compare features objectively using data-driven metrics.

Kano Analysis

Classify features as Delighters, Performers, or Basics through quick user pulse surveys and feedback.

Exercise 2 – Rapid Prioritization Process

01. Feature Brainstorm

List 8-12 candidate features or experiments that could be included in your MVP scope.

02. MoSCoW Tagging

Categorize each feature using the MoSCoW framework to establish basic priority levels.

03. RICE Scoring

Score Must/Should items using RICE methodology (1-5 scale works well for rapid assessment).

04. Kano Identification

Mark 1-2 features as Kano Delighters for compelling MVP storytelling and user engagement.

Template 2 – Prioritization Sheet

Use this template to systematically evaluate and prioritize your MVP features:

Candidate Feature MoSCoW Reach (1-5) Impact (1-5) Confidence (1-5) Effort (1-5) RICE Score Kano Type
User Registration Must 5 4 5 2 50.0 Basic
Email Notifications Should 4 3 4 3 16.0 Performer
Advanced Analytics Could 3 4 2 5 4.8 Delighter
Social Media Integration Won't 2 2 3 4 3.0 Delighter
Mobile App Should 4 5 3 5 12.0 Performer
API Access Could 2 3 4 3 8.0 Delighter

Scoring Guidelines

Reach

Question: How many users will this feature impact?

  • 1 = Very few
  • 3 = Some users
  • 5 = All users
Impact

Question: How much will this feature improve the user experience?

  • 1 = Minimal
  • 3 = Moderate
  • 5 = Massive
Confidence

Question: How confident are you in your Reach and Impact estimates?

  • 1 = Low confidence
  • 3 = Medium confidence
  • 5 = High confidence
Effort

Question: How much work will this feature require?

  • 1 = Minimal effort
  • 3 = Moderate effort
  • 5 = Maximum effort

Rapid Prototyping Approaches

Bias towards open-source solutions to reduce vendor lock-in, increase development speed, and maximize learning opportunities.

Stack Recipes by Product Type

Web App (CRUD + Auth + Dashboard)

Frontend: Next.js (React) + Vite or SvelteKit for fast development.
UI: Tailwind CSS or Bootstrap; shadcn/ui or MUI for components.
Backend: FastAPI (Python) or Express/Fastify (Node.js).
Data: SQLite (local) → Postgres; Directus/Strapi as headless CMS.
Auth: Supabase Auth (open source), Ory Kratos/Hydra.

Internal Tool / Admin

App frameworks: Appsmith, Budibase (both open source).
Headless: Directus, Strapi for content management.
Database: Postgres (or SQLite to start).
Charts: Apache ECharts, Chart.js for visualizations.

Data / AI MVP

Service: FastAPI + worker (Celery/RQ).
Vector DB: Qdrant or Milvus for embeddings.
LLM orchestration: LangChain or LlamaIndex.
Search: Meilisearch for full-text capabilities.
Pipelines: Prefect or Dagster (open source).

Mobile (Cross-Platform)

Framework: React Native (Expo) or Flutter.
Backend: FastAPI or Supabase (open source components).
Sync: SQLite on device + background synchronization.

Open-Source Toolbox

Your curated collection of battle-tested open-source tools for rapid MVP development:

Web Frontend

Frameworks:

Next.js, SvelteKit, Vite

Styling:

Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap

Components:

shadcn/ui, MUI

Backend Services

APIs:

FastAPI, Flask, Express, Fastify

Full-stack:

Django (batteries-included)

Real-time:

Socket.io, WebSockets

Data & Auth

Databases:

Postgres, MongoDB

ORMs:

Prisma, SQLAlchemy

Auth:

Supabase (OSS), Ory

Headless & Admin

CMS:

Directus, Strapi

Admin:

AdminJS

Forms:

React Hook Form

Internal Tools

Low-code:

Appsmith, Budibase

Dashboards:

Grafana

Workflows:

n8n

AI & Search

LLM:

LangChain, vLLM, Ollama

Vector:

Qdrant, Milvus

Search:

Meilisearch

Data Pipelines

Orchestration: Prefect, Dagster

Processing: Apache Airflow

Streaming: Apache Kafka

Observability

Analytics: PostHog

A/B Testing: GrowthBook, Flagsmith

Errors: GlitchTip, OpenTelemetry

DevOps

Containers: Docker, Docker Compose

Proxy: Traefik

CI/CD: GitHub Actions

Remember: The best MVP is the one that gets built, shipped, and tested with real users. Choose tools you know or can learn quickly, and focus on validating your core hypothesis rather than perfecting your technology stack.

Measuring the MVP

Define Success Before You Ship

Activation Metric

Must-have: First value delivered in ≤5 minutes. Measures how quickly users experience core product benefit.

North-Star Metric

Example: Weekly active workflows per user. Tracks sustained engagement and product-market fit signals.

Guardrail Metrics

Error rate, time-to-value, churn proxy. Ensures quality doesn't degrade while optimizing for growth.

Open-Source Instrumentation Stack

Product Analytics

PostHog: Events, funnels, feature flags, and user behavior tracking.

Umami: Lightweight web analytics for basic usage patterns.

Feature Flags & A/B Testing

GrowthBook: Statistical A/B testing platform.

Flagsmith: Feature flag management with targeting and rollout controls.

Error Monitoring

GlitchTip: Sentry-compatible error tracking and performance monitoring for identifying and fixing issues quickly.

Logging & Observability

OpenTelemetry: Standardized telemetry collection.

Loki/Grafana: Log aggregation and visualization dashboards.

Template 3: MVP Plan

Create a focused, actionable MVP development plan:

1Problem Statement

Prompt: What specific problem are you solving? Be precise and measurable.

Include: Target user pain points, current solutions' limitations, market opportunity size
2Persona & Job to be Done

Prompt: Who is your ideal user and what job are they hiring your product to do?

Include: Demographics, psychographics, current workflow, success criteria
3Hypothesis & Success Metric

Prompt: What do you believe about user behavior, and how will you measure validation?

Include: Core assumption, success threshold, measurement methodology
4MVP Scope (Must/Should)

Prompt: What features will you include in your first release?

Include: Must-have features, should-have features, explicit exclusions
5Tech Approach (Stack Recipe)

Prompt: What technologies will you use to build your MVP?

Include: Frontend, backend, database, hosting, third-party services
6Instrumentation Plan

Prompt: How will you track user behavior and measure success?

Include: Analytics tools, key events, A/B testing setup, reporting cadence
7Risks & Mitigation

Prompt: What could go wrong, and how will you address potential issues?

Include: Technical risks, market risks, resource constraints, contingency plans
8Timeline & Owner

Prompt: When will you deliver, and who is responsible for each component?

Include: Milestones, deadlines, team responsibilities, review checkpoints

Ready to Build Your MVP?

Start with one strategic slice, measure what matters, and iterate based on real user feedback.

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