Mvp Scoper

🎯 MVP Scoper — Minimum Viable Product Definition

Strip a product idea to its core hypothesis, define the smallest build that proves it, and plan the fastest path to validation.

Activation

When this skill activates, output:

🎯 MVP Scoper — Scoping your minimum viable product...

Protocol

Step 1: Gather Inputs

Ask the user for:

• Product idea: What do you want to build? (2-3 sentences)
• Target market: Who is this for?
• Timeline constraint: How fast do you need to ship? (weeks/months)
• Budget constraint: Solo dev, small team, or funded team?
• Validation goal: What hypothesis are you testing?

Step 2: Identify Core Value Proposition

Force clarity with the "one sentence" test:

"[Product] helps [target user] to [solve problem] by [unique mechanism]."

If the user can't fill this in clearly, the idea needs refinement before scoping.

The Core Loop:

• What is the ONE action users must take repeatedly?
• What is the ONE outcome that keeps them coming back?
• Strip everything that doesn't serve this loop.

Step 3: Feature Triage

Take the full feature wishlist and ruthlessly categorize:

Triage rules:

• If removing it doesn't prevent the user from getting the core value → OUT
• If it can be done manually instead of automated → OUT (for now)
• If only 1 in 10 users would use it → OUT
• If it requires a new integration or service → OUT (unless it IS the core)
• Auth/login → only if data must persist across sessions
• Admin dashboard → OUT (use database queries)
• Analytics → OUT (use Mixpanel/PostHog free tier)
• Email notifications → OUT (unless core to the loop)

Step 4: MVP vs V2 Scope

Present a clear boundary:

━━━ MVP (Ship This) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
• [feature 1] — [why essential]
• [feature 2] — [why essential]
• [feature 3] — [why essential]
Hypothesis tested: [what you'll learn]

━━━ V2 (Ship After Validation) ━━━━━━━━━━━
• [feature A] — [trigger: add when X users do Y]
• [feature B] — [trigger: add when retention > Z%]
• [feature C] — [trigger: add when revenue hits $X]

━━━ BACKLOG (Maybe Never) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
• [feature X] — [only if market demands it]
• [feature Y] — [only if pivot in this direction]

Each V2 feature has a trigger condition — a specific metric or event that justifies adding it.

Step 5: Tech Stack Recommendation

Recommend the fastest stack for the constraints:

Principles:

• Use what you already know — learning = time
• Managed services over self-hosted — ops overhead kills MVPs
• Free tiers first — don't spend before validating
• Monolith over microservices — always for MVP

Step 6: Build Estimate

Estimate time and cost:

── BUILD ESTIMATE ─────────────────────────

Feature 1: [name]
  Effort: [X days]
  Complexity: [low/med/high]

Feature 2: [name]
  Effort: [X days]
  Complexity: [low/med/high]

Feature 3: [name]
  Effort: [X days]
  Complexity: [low/med/high]

──────────────────────────────────────────
Total dev time: [X days/weeks]
Buffer (1.5x): [X days/weeks]
Realistic ship date: [date]

Cost estimate:
  Hosting: $[X]/mo (free tier if possible)
  Services: $[X]/mo
  Domain: $[X]/yr
  Dev cost: $[X] (if hiring) or $0 (if self)

Step 7: Launch Criteria

Define what "done" means for MVP:

Launch checklist:

• Core loop works end-to-end (user can [action] and get [result])
• Can onboard a new user in under [X] minutes without help
• Data doesn't get lost (basic persistence works)
• Payments work (if monetized from day 1)
• Landing page exists with clear value proposition
• At least [X] beta users lined up to try it

NOT required for launch:

• Perfect UI — functional is fine
• Error handling for every edge case — crash and learn
• Automated testing — manual testing is fine for MVP
• CI/CD pipeline — git push to deploy is fine
• Documentation — the product should be self-explanatory

Step 8: Risk Assessment

Identify what could invalidate the MVP hypothesis:

Pre-validation suggestions:

• Before building: Can you sell it with a landing page and waitlist?
• Before building: Can you deliver the value manually for 5 users?
• Before building: Have 10 people said "I'd pay for this"?

Step 9: Output

Present the complete MVP scope document:

━━━ MVP SCOPE DOCUMENT ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Product: [name]
One-liner: [value proposition]
Target: [user]
Timeline: [X weeks]

── HYPOTHESIS ─────────────────────────────
We believe [target users] will [use product] because [reason].
We'll know this is true when [measurable signal].

── MVP SCOPE ──────────────────────────────
IN: [feature list with rationale]
OUT: [deferred features with triggers]

── TECH STACK ─────────────────────────────
[recommended stack with justification]

── BUILD PLAN ─────────────────────────────
[feature-by-feature estimate]
Ship date: [date]

── LAUNCH CRITERIA ────────────────────────
[checklist]

── RISKS ──────────────────────────────────
[risk table with mitigations]

── VALIDATION PLAN ────────────────────────
Before build: [pre-validation steps]
After launch: [metrics to watch]
Decision point: [when to persevere, pivot, or kill]

Inputs

• Product idea (2-3 sentences)
• Target market
• Timeline and budget constraints
• Validation goal / hypothesis

Outputs

• Core value proposition (one sentence)
• Feature triage: IN / OUT / MAYBE with rationale
• MVP vs V2 scope with trigger conditions for V2 features
• Tech stack recommendation for fastest build
• Build estimate with time, cost, and realistic ship date
• Launch criteria checklist
• Risk assessment with mitigations and pre-validation steps

Level History

• Lv.1 — Base: Core value proposition forcing function, ruthless feature triage with cut rationale, MVP/V2/backlog scope boundaries with trigger conditions, speed-optimized tech stack recommendations, build estimates, launch criteria, risk assessment with pre-validation steps. (Origin: MemStack v3.2, Mar 2026)