A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is the most basic version of a product that has just enough features to solve a specific problem for early customers. The idea is simple — instead of spending years and millions building a "perfect" product, you launch a stripped-down version first and learn from real users.
For example, the first version of Dropbox was not even a working product — it was just a 3-minute demo video showing how the product would work. That video alone attracted 75,000 signups overnight, proving there was real demand before writing a single line of code.
The MVP approach saves time, money, and effort. You test your idea with minimal investment, collect feedback from actual users, and then gradually improve the product by adding new features based on what customers actually want — not what you assume they want.