FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about turning your app idea into a clear, focused, and buildable MVP.
Resources
Resources to turn your idea into an MVP
Explore practical guides, worksheets, checklists, worked examples and AI prompts to help you clarify your idea, challenge assumptions and define a coherent minimum viable product.
40 resources
Start here
Guide · PDF · 11 pages
From App Idea to MVP: Complete Guide
A guide through the journey from an uncertain app idea to a coherent MVP definition.
See the whole journey before you work through individual stages.
Related
Diagram · PNG
The 15-Stage Process
A diagram of fifteen stages, cross-cutting lenses, and the market-discovery and business-model workstreams.
Get a single picture of the journey before you open a worksheet.
Related
Checklist · PDF · 3 pages
MVP Specification Readiness Checklist
Review whether the specification is coherent enough to proceed.
See what is still open before you treat the specification as ready.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related ,
Example · PDF · 9 pages
From Idea to MVP: A Worked Example
Follow one idea through the method to a coherent MVP.
See the shape of the work before you fill in your own answers.
Planner · PDF · 1 page
The MVP Experiment Planner
Plan the experiment that can produce the learning the MVP is for.
Connect a hypothesis to an observable test and a decision you might change.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related ,
Start here
Orient yourself in the journey from an uncertain app idea to a coherent MVP.
Guide · PDF · 11 pages
From App Idea to MVP: Complete Guide
A guide through the journey from an uncertain app idea to a coherent MVP definition.
See the whole journey before you work through individual stages.
Related
Brief · PDF · 2 pages
Stop Building Features Before Questions
A short brief on why a feature list is not a substitute for unanswered product questions.
Pause building until the problem, user, and value are clear enough.
Explainer · PDF · 1 page
The 15 Stages Data Model Landscape
A one-page view of how the data model sits in the wider 15-stage landscape.
Place entities and fields in the method instead of designing them in isolation.
Diagram · PNG
The 15-Stage Process
A diagram of fifteen stages, cross-cutting lenses, and the market-discovery and business-model workstreams.
Get a single picture of the journey before you open a worksheet.
Related
Templates and worksheets
Work through the definition stages, from the idea brief to technical boundaries.
Template · PDF · 2 pages
Idea Brief
Capture the initial idea and why it might be worth pursuing.
Start with a framed idea instead of a loose feature wish.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
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Worksheet · PDF · 2 pages
Problem Definition
Define the problem independently of the solution you already have in mind.
Separate the problem from the app you hope to build.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
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Worksheet · PDF · 2 pages
Primary User Profile
Describe who has the problem, and who is outside the MVP.
Name a primary user before you design for everyone.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
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Worksheet · PDF · 2 pages
Value Proposition
State the outcome, the benefits, and why this solution is worth choosing.
Connect the problem to an outcome a user would care about.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related
Canvas · PDF · 2 pages
Product Mental Model
Describe what the product fundamentally is, before screens and feature lists.
Agree the product concept before you design the interface.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Worksheet · PDF · 2 pages
Core Jobs Prioritization
Identify and prioritize what users must be able to accomplish.
Choose the jobs that belong in the MVP and the ones that can wait.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related ,
Template · PDF · 2 pages
MVP Scope and Exclusions
Decide the smallest useful solution and write down what stays out.
Make the MVP boundary explicit instead of letting the scope drift.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related
Template · PDF · 3 pages
MVP Specification
Assemble the integrated MVP specification from the decisions made across the stages.
Hold problem, user, jobs, scope, requirements, and learning in one specification.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
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Worksheet · PDF · 2 pages
Context and Lifecycle
Map the relevant states of the central object and how it moves between them.
See the product over time, not only as a set of screens.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Worksheet · PDF · 2 pages
Core Experience and User Flows
Describe the core flow, including an important empty or error case.
Check that a user can reach the outcome, and what happens when they cannot.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Worksheet · PDF · 2 pages
Information Architecture
Organize the information and objects the product has to make findable.
Give every MVP capability a place before you invent navigation.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Worksheet · PDF · 2 pages
Data Model
Name the entities, fields, and relationships the MVP needs.
Define the data the product must remember, not a full database design.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related
Worksheet · PDF · 2 pages
Requirements and Acceptance Criteria
Write what must be built and how you will recognize that it behaves correctly.
Turn jobs and flows into requirements you can trace and accept.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related ,
Worksheet · PDF · 2 pages
Learning and Metrics
Define what the MVP must test and which signals would change your mind.
Treat the MVP as a learning instrument, not only as a smaller build.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
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Worksheet · PDF · 2 pages
Technical Boundaries
Record platform, privacy, dependencies, technical risks, and open feasibility questions.
Surface constraints before they surprise the build.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Checklists and reviews
Challenge scope and check whether an idea or specification is ready to proceed.
Checklist · PDF · 4 pages
App Idea Ready for MVP Definition
Check whether an app idea is ready to enter a structured MVP definition.
Find the gaps before you invest in a full specification.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Worksheet · PDF · 4 pages
MVP Scope Challenge
Challenge whether the proposed scope is the smallest coherent product.
Cut work that does not belong in the first testable product.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related
Checklist · PDF · 3 pages
MVP Specification Readiness Checklist
Review whether the specification is coherent enough to proceed.
See what is still open before you treat the specification as ready.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related ,
Review · PDF · 3 pages
Stage Gate Review
Review a stage before you treat its output as settled.
Catch a weak stage decision before later stages build on it.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Worked examples
See what a clarified idea and a useful specification look like in practice.
Example · PDF · 9 pages
From Idea to MVP: A Worked Example
Follow one idea through the method to a coherent MVP.
See the shape of the work before you fill in your own answers.
Example · PDF · 5 pages
Good vs. Bad MVP Specifications
Compare a useful specification with one that looks complete but does not hold together.
Recognize the difference between a long document and a traceable specification.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related
AI prompts and workflows
Use AI to challenge your thinking. You still make the product decisions.
AI prompt · PDF · 4 pages
AI Idea Clarifier
A prompt for clarifying an idea. The product judgment stays with you.
Pressure-test a fuzzy idea before you commit it to a brief.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related
AI prompt · PDF · 4 pages
AI Problem Challenger
A prompt that challenges the problem statement rather than polishing the solution.
Find out whether the problem is real, distinct, and worth solving.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related
AI prompt · PDF · 4 pages
AI User and Value Analyst
A prompt for pressure-testing the primary user and the value proposition.
Check that the user and the promised outcome belong together.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related ,
AI prompt · PDF · 4 pages
AI Core Jobs and Scope Assistant
A prompt for challenging core jobs and the resulting MVP scope.
See which jobs actually justify a place in the MVP.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related
AI prompt · PDF · 4 pages
AI Requirements Reviewer
A prompt for reviewing requirements and acceptance criteria.
Look for requirements that cannot be traced back to a job or an outcome.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related
AI prompt · PDF · 4 pages
AI MVP Readiness Reviewer
A prompt for reviewing whether the MVP definition is ready to proceed.
Get a structured challenge of the whole definition, then decide yourself.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related
MVP knowledge hub
Short explanations of the ideas the method depends on.
Explainer · PDF · 4 pages
What Is an MVP?
A short explanation of an MVP as the smallest coherent product worth building and learning from.
Share a definition before the word MVP turns into a smaller feature list.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Explainer · PDF · 4 pages
Why Progressive Clarification Matters
Why product decisions become clearer in stages instead of all at once.
Understand why earlier decisions can be revisited as evidence appears.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Explainer · PDF · 4 pages
What Is a Core Job?
What a core job is, and why it is not the same thing as a feature.
Describe what users must accomplish before you list capabilities.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related
Explainer · PDF · 4 pages
Evidence vs. Hypothesis
How to tell evidence, hypothesis, derived decisions, and open questions apart.
Mark what you know, what you assume, and what is still open.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related
Explainer · PDF · 4 pages
What Is Traceability?
How problem, user, outcome, core job, capability, requirement, acceptance criterion, and metric stay connected.
See why a requirement with no upstream job is a warning.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related
Explainer · PDF · 4 pages
What Should an MVP Specification Contain?
What belongs in the integrated specification that comes out of the 15 stages.
Know the outcome of the method before you assemble your own specification.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related
Learning worksheets
Decide what the MVP must teach you, track evidence, and plan the next experiment.
Tracker · PDF · 5 pages
MVP Hypothesis and Evidence Tracker
Track hypotheses and the evidence that would support or weaken them.
Keep learning visible instead of burying assumptions in the specification.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related ,
Worksheet · PDF · 4 pages
Define What Your MVP Must Teach You
Decide the learning the MVP has to produce before you plan how to build it.
Choose the questions the first product is responsible for answering.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related ,
Planner · PDF · 1 page
The MVP Experiment Planner
Plan the experiment that can produce the learning the MVP is for.
Connect a hypothesis to an observable test and a decision you might change.
Includes form fields. Use a PDF reader if you want to save what you enter.
Related ,
Article
From MVP Specification to Working Code with Cursor
A practical workflow for turning an approved product definition into software you can trust.
Method papers
MVPCompanion White Paper
From Idea to MVP
A concise conceptual and practical overview of MVPCompanion.
MVPCompanion Method Paper
From an Uncertain App Idea to a Testable MVP Specification
The conceptual foundation of the MVPCompanion method: its 15 stages, five lenses, Product Definition Chain, evidence discipline, and role for AI.
MVPCompanion Method Paper
The 15-Stage MVP Process
A practical process paper for progressively transforming an uncertain app idea into a coherent MVP definition.
Shared Method
Understand
Guide
Learn the principles and reasoning behind the method.
Available now
Explore
Website
Explore the method and clarify your starting point.
Available now
Do
App
Apply the method with AI-supported challenge and guidance. Develop your MVP Specification progressively.
Coming soon