MVP development: minimum scope, never minimum quality.
For founders and Swiss SMEs: working software behind a login, used by the people you invite and measured against one number.
HYP-01 Lindmatt Bau · Job software
- Riskiest assumption
- Crews send their site reports from their phones instead of on paper.
- Metric
- Share of site reports sent from a phone
- Threshold
- 30% within the first 8 weeks
Written before any design or code
Why an MVP. Find out with real users before you build everything.
An MVP is not a prototype: it is working software with a database, used by real users behind a login. Before any design or code, the riskiest assumption is written down, with one metric and the threshold it has to reach.
How ScoutCopilot started.
ScoutCopilot, one of the many products we have built, began as a first version with exactly three features.
ScoutCopilot
How an MVP gets you a clear answer. Assumption and price in writing, design and build, then the test with real users.
- Scope, price and assumption.
We write down with you what the first version has to do, or work from your own document, and you get a fixed price. Then the riskiest assumption is written down, with one metric and its threshold.
- Design and build.
You see and try the design first, and tell us what to change. Then we build the first version and test it thoroughly, from start to finish, before your users get access.
- Test with real users.
The people you invite sign in and use it. How they use it shows whether the threshold is reached.
| Scope | Fixed in writing |
| Price | Fixed in writing |
| Riskiest assumption | Crews send their site reports from their phones instead of on paper |
| Metric | Share of site reports sent from a phone |
| Threshold | 30% within the first 8 weeks |
| Design | Approved by you |
| In the first version | Sign-in · site report · photos and hours |
| Waiting | Crew planning · reports without signal |
| Development | Started |
| Testing | Before users sign in |
| Threshold | 30% of site reports from a phone within 8 weeks |
| Week 8 | 34% of site reports from a phone |
| Result | Threshold reached |
| Access | Invited users |
What the MVP gives you. Working software behind a login, and a clear answer.
Working software, behind a login. The people you invite sign in and use it. It is not public.
A clear result. Pivot, persevere or stop, measured against your threshold.
Then the full product. If the answer is yes, the full product is built as custom web software, ready for everyday use.
How the price is set.
You get a fixed price in a written offer, based on what the first version has to do. Nothing is built until you agree to it.
Questions.
What should an MVP include?
Enough to test your riskiest assumption with real users: minimum scope, never minimum quality. The database and thorough testing are never cut. After the design, we choose the features the first version needs, and the rest can wait.
Prototype or MVP?
A prototype is clickable and has no database behind it: it shows how your software will look and how it is used. An MVP is working software with a database, used behind a login by the people you invite and measured against one number.
An MVP first, or the full build?
An MVP comes first when you have a new product idea to test with real users. It tests one assumption, against one metric and its threshold, before everything is built. The full build fits a need you already know, such as a process no standard tool covers: then we build it all at once.
What does an MVP cost?
It depends on what the first version has to do. You get a fixed price in the written offer, and any change beyond the agreed scope is written down and priced before it is built.
Tell us about your project. Send us a message and we will get back to you.