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← Back to InsightsStrategy · April 22, 2026 · 4 min read

Why Most MVPs Are Too Big

The 'Minimum Viable Product' was supposed to be ruthless. Somewhere along the way it became a synonym for 'v1' — months of build, dozens of features, and no clear test of whether anyone actually wants it.

Strategy

An MVP is not a small version of the final product. It's the smallest possible test of the riskiest assumption.

If you're building a SaaS for restaurant owners, your MVP isn't "the dashboard with three modules." Your MVP is "can we get five restaurant owners to pay $99/month for one workflow?"

The rest is roadmap.

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