What is an MVP and when should I build one?
A Minimum Viable Product is the simplest version of your product that is functional enough to test your core assumption with real users, built before investing in full production.
You build an MVP as soon as you have a clear hypothesis you need to validate. The goal is to learn quickly whether the problem is real and whether your solution works, so you can refine or pivot before spending significant resources. An MVP is not a cheap product; it is a focused test of one specific assumption.
Design Compass is useful before and after an MVP. Use it before to identify which criteria carry the most risk for your concept, and after to evaluate whether the MVP has revealed new information that changes your scores across the 19 segments.
