MVP scoping: decide what version one won't do

Who this is for

Scoping is for founders who know the problem and are about to spend real money on a solution.

The typical moment is a quote. A developer, designer or manufacturer has priced the product, and the number is either frightening or suspiciously vague. Scoping also helps if:

• You've been "almost ready to launch" for more than a quarter.
• Every conversation with a potential customer adds a feature to the list.
• You can't explain in one sentence what the first version does for whom.
• You have a fixed budget, such as savings or a small loan, and need it to reach paying customers.

If you haven't yet spoken to buyers, start with customer discovery. Scoping without discovery is guessing with better formatting.

What's included

We work from your discovery notes, or from a short catch-up if you ran discovery yourself.

1. The one job. A single sentence: "Version one helps [buyer] do [job] without [current pain]." Everything else is tested against it.
2. Build list. Only the features needed to deliver that job well enough that a buyer would pay. Each item links back to something a buyer said.
3. Cut list. Every feature we've left out, with the reason and the evidence that would bring it back. This list protects the ship date.
4. Manual-first options. Where a part of the product can be done by hand for the first customers, we say so, with an estimate of the hours involved.
5. Builder brief. A plain-language brief your developer, designer or supplier can quote against, so quotes are comparable.
6. Success test. What a first customer must do, such as pay, use it weekly, or refer someone, for version one to count as working.

Timeline

Scoping usually takes two to three weeks, plus time for builder quotes.

• Week 1: the one-job sentence, first build list and first cut list.
• Week 2: review with you and, if you have one, your builder; manual-first options priced in hours.
• Week 3: builder brief and success test finalised; quotes requested.

A worked example shows why the cut list matters. A founder plans a scheduling tool for mobile dog groomers with twelve features, quoted at $60,000. Discovery showed the groomers' real pain was last-minute cancellations. A version with booking, deposits and reminder texts covers that pain. If those three features cost a third of the original quote and ship in a third of the time, the founder reaches paying customers with two-thirds of the budget still in the bank, ready for whatever those customers ask for next.

How results are measured

A scope is measured by what happens after launch, so we set the measures before building starts.

The success test names a number, for example "five of the first ten customers pay for a second month" or "three groomers take deposits through it in the first fortnight". We also track two process measures: whether the ship date held, and how many cut-list items were pulled back in before launch. If more than one or two came back, the scope was too ambitious or the discovery too thin, and we'll say which.

Mistakes to avoid

• Scoping for the investor demo. Build for the buyer who will pay this month, not for a pitch you may never give.
• Automating too early. If you can deliver the outcome by hand for ten customers, do it, and learn which steps are worth building.
• Letting every request in. One customer asking for a feature is a note. Five asking for it is evidence.
• Comparing quotes on different briefs. Builders quote what they think you mean. A shared written brief makes the numbers comparable.
• No success test. Without one, every launch looks like a success to the founder and a failure to the bank account.

What happens next

Once version one is defined, the next question is how buyers will hear about it. That's go-to-market, and it can be planned while the build is under way. Scoping is a defined project; see pricing, or read the MVP cut-list guide to try a first pass yourself.