Buying Software

How to Cut an MVP Down to a Version You Can Ship

By Mudabbir Hasan, Co-founder · Published · Last updated

Cut the MVP until it tests one core value honestly. Write the core action in one sentence, keep only the features that enable it, and move everything else to a version 1.1 backlog. Cut admin tools, reporting, secondary roles and automation if people can do them by hand for now. Keep accounts, the essential integrations and basic analytics, because without them the launch produces no evidence.

How do you know your MVP is too big?

Valtorian, a development agency, lists the signs. The product takes a long walkthrough to explain. There is no single critical user path, only several flows of equal weight. Roles are complex, with admin, partner and end-user logic and their permissions. The team spends more time on edge cases than on the main success path. And cutting any feature feels emotionally impossible. Its test is a rule of thumb, not a measurement: if you could drop about 30 percent of the scope and still test the main value, the MVP is probably oversized.

Signs the first version is too big

  • It takes a long walkthrough to explain

  • There is no single critical user path

  • Several user roles and permissions

  • More time on edge cases than the main path

  • Cutting any feature feels impossible

Source: Valtorian.

How do you cut it?

  • Write the core action as one sentence. If you cannot, the scope is still too broad.
  • Keep a feature only if it is needed to test that value honestly. Valtorian's reframe is to ask that, not whether the feature is useful.
  • Move everything else to a version 1.1 backlog. Tulip Tech, a UK agency, sorts features with MoSCoW and lets only Must-haves into the MVP, with a cap of five. That cap is the firm's own rule: its reasoning is that a sixth Must-have means two of them are really Should-haves.
  • Challenge anything built for future comfort, such as admin tools, automation, reporting, advanced settings and secondary roles.
  • Ask what staff can do by hand behind the scenes for now.

Cutting in five steps

  1. 1

    Write the core action in one sentence

    If you cannot, the scope is still too broad.

  2. 2

    Keep what is needed to test that value

  3. 3

    Move everything else to a version 1.1 backlog

  4. 4

    Challenge features built for future comfort

  5. 5

    Ask what staff can do by hand for now

What should you never cut?

Cutting too far is also a failure. A version that cannot teach you anything is not a minimum viable product. From how we scope MVPs, four things stay in:

  • Authentication and user management. Real users need real accounts to produce usable feedback, so this is core scope, not a phase-two item.
  • The essential third-party integrations, such as payments or notifications, where the product actually needs them. Not every integration a full product might eventually want.
  • Basic analytics from launch. An MVP without usage data is a slower way to ask people's opinions.
  • A backend and database sized for the validated feature set, without building for scale the product has not earned yet.

Cut or keep?

Cut for now

  • Admin panels and reporting dashboards
  • Secondary user roles
  • Automation and advanced settings
  • Integrations nobody uses at launch

Never cut

  • Authentication and user management
  • Essential third-party integrations
  • Basic analytics from launch
  • A backend sized for the validated features

Why does the first version still take so long?

Usually because of decisions, not code. Our MVP service page says an MVP moves at the pace decisions get made, and that a multi-stakeholder sign-off process is the most common reason a timeline slips. We ask for one decision-maker who can answer scope questions without a committee. Tulip Tech makes a related point from experience: it says an MVP with 15 features is really a small product that takes about six months and £150,000. That is the firm's own estimate, so treat it as an illustration.

Who should decide what is in?

The founder, with evidence. In our process, product discovery and feature planning is the first phase, and its deliverable is an agreed feature list, not a backlog of everything that was ever discussed. If your idea is not yet defined enough to cut, a Product Discovery Sprint, from $1,500, exists for that. It clarifies the vision, target users and key journeys, prioritises features and defines the MVP scope, and leaves you with a build-ready specification.

Read: Paid technical discovery, what you get and when to skip it

What should you do this week?

  • Write the core action in one sentence and show it to someone outside the team.
  • List every feature and mark each one: needed to test that action, or not.
  • Remove 30 percent and check whether the main value can still be tested.
  • Name one person who can say yes or no on scope without a committee.

MVP development services

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Sources

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