You do not need a 40-page product requirements document to build a first MVP. In fact, a huge document can hide the most important decisions. A useful MVP brief is short, specific, and written in language a founder and developer can both understand.
The purpose of the document is simple: make the first version clear enough to quote, build, and launch without everyone discovering the real product halfway through the sprint.
Key takeaways
Section 1: The customer
Write who the app is for in one paragraph.
Section 2: The core workflow
Describe the main journey from start to finish.
Section 3: Must-have, later, and excluded
Split features into three lists.
Section 4: Accounts, payments, and ownership
List the accounts the product needs: domain, hosting, GitHub, Stripe, Apple Developer, email provider, analytics, and any content or video hosting.
Section 1: The customer
Write who the app is for in one paragraph. Include what they do now, why the current workaround is painful, and what would make them switch.
Avoid broad audiences like everyone who wants to be productive. A better audience sounds like independent coaches selling a paid cohort, or mums coordinating school logistics across multiple WhatsApp groups.
Section 2: The core workflow
Describe the main journey from start to finish. For example: a member signs up, pays, creates a profile, joins a private space, and receives weekly prompts.
This section matters more than a feature list. It shows what the app has to make possible, and it reveals where account creation, payments, permissions, notifications, and admin tools are needed.
Section 3: Must-have, later, and excluded
Split features into three lists. Must-have means the app cannot launch without it. Later means useful after real users exist. Excluded means deliberately out of scope for version one.
The excluded list is surprisingly important. It protects the build from casual add-ons and gives everyone permission to stay focused.
Section 4: Accounts, payments, and ownership
List the accounts the product needs: domain, hosting, GitHub, Stripe, Apple Developer, email provider, analytics, and any content or video hosting. If you do not have them yet, mark them as to-do items.
The finished app should live in your accounts. That way you own the code, the data, the payments, and the customer relationship after launch.
Section 5: Launch definition
Define what done means. Is the app live on a custom domain? Submitted to the App Store? Ready for TestFlight? Taking Stripe payments? Used by your first ten customers?
A clear launch definition turns the build from an endless improvement loop into a finished first release.
A simple MVP brief format
Use this structure: customer, problem, promise, core workflow, must-have features, later features, excluded features, accounts needed, launch definition, and examples of products you like.
That is enough to start a serious scoping call. Build with Kat turns this kind of brief into a fixed-price 3-week build when the scope is clear enough to ship.
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