MVPs aren’t supposed to last forever

An MVP is built to answer questions. Once it’s answered them — clearly enough — its job is largely over.

But it’s easy to miss that moment. The MVP keeps running. The team keeps tweaking. Each week looks like the last. Nothing dramatic forces a decision.

Knowing when your MVP has done its job is part of the work. If you don’t notice, you’ll keep iterating on a learning vehicle when you should be moving into building the real product. Or you’ll keep extending the MVP into features it was never designed to support, and the product becomes a tangle that doesn’t serve anyone well.

There’s no single moment that flips. There are signs. Once you can read them, you’re much less likely to stay stuck.

What “done its job” looks like

A few signs that the MVP has pr...