Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
The smallest version of a product that can be released to validate a core assumption with real users, a lean startup concept, not a Scrum term.
What it means
MVP comes from the Lean Startup methodology, not the Scrum Guide, though it pairs naturally with Scrum's empirical approach: build something small, inspect real feedback, and adapt.
An MVP is not simply a low-quality first version; it must still meet a Definition of Done sufficient for real use, since the goal is learning from genuine user behavior, not merely demonstrating an idea internally.
Common mistakes
Teams sometimes confuse MVP with 'minimum marketable product' or a prototype; an MVP is specifically about validating a hypothesis with the least investment necessary.
Example
Instead of building a full marketplace, a team ships an MVP that only supports manual seller onboarding to validate demand.