The term minimum viable product (MVP) refers to the concept of building a product with just enough functionality to gain traction with early adopting users. When following the MVP model, more complex features are developed only after carefully considering in-depth feedback from the product’s initial users, often called alpha testers.
The concept of MVP first appeared in Eric Ries’ Silicon Vally Bible, The Lean Start-Up. Since then, the MVP process has become canon for product teams at many startups across SaaS, eCommerce, consumer technology, wearables and a host of other industries.
As illustrated by this famous diagram by Henrik Kniberg, a core component of MVP is releasing a product with real utility in the earliest stages of a start-up and then scaling functionality.
Reid Hoffman, of LinkedIn and PayPal mafia fame, summarizes MVP the most eloquently: “If you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you launched too late
MVP in Personalization
When applying the concept of MVP to personalization, it becomes easier to understand the advantages of a product that was built from the ground-up as a unified platform. Baseline product-market fit for a personalization stack includes a platform that can personalize content and layout, provide recommendations, automate testing and deploy behavioral messages.
At Dynamic Yield, we’re proud to have built an end-to-end solution as our MVP that we’ve continually added market-leading functionality to over the years. To continually follow the exciting development of our product, please head over to our product blog!
