MVP and Proof of Concept Development
A deliberately small first version of a new idea, built to test whether it works and whether people will use it, before the full product budget is committed. GullySystem scopes it down to the one assumption that most needs testing.
Overview
An MVP or proof of concept is not a cut-down version of the final product — it is a focused build of the one thing you most need to learn before spending more. A technical proof of concept tests whether an approach is feasible at all; a minimum viable product goes further and puts a usable version in front of real users or paying customers.
Proof of Concept or MVP?
Proof of Concept
Answers a technical question — can this integration, this algorithm or this device connection actually work — usually without a finished interface, built for internal review rather than for users.
Minimum Viable Product
A working product with just enough features to be genuinely useful, built for real users so you learn whether they adopt it, not just whether it functions.
What We Cut and What We Keep
- The core workflow that delivers the product's actual value, built properly
- Supporting features that matter later but are not being tested right now, deferred
- Administrative and edge-case handling kept minimal but not absent
- A foundation that the full product can be built on afterwards, not thrown away and restarted
After the MVP
What happens next depends on what you learn. Where the idea is validated, the MVP typically becomes the foundation for the phase-wise build described on our SaaS product development and custom business software pages, rather than being discarded. Where it is not validated, you have spent a fraction of a full build to find that out.
Frequently asked questions
How is an MVP different from just building a smaller version of the full product?
A smaller version tries to include a bit of everything at reduced depth. An MVP deliberately builds one core workflow properly and defers everything else, so the version you test actually represents the value the product will offer, not a thin slice of many features.
Do we need a proof of concept or an MVP?
Choose a proof of concept when the open question is purely technical — will this integration or approach work at all. Choose an MVP when the open question is about users — will people actually adopt and pay for this. Some ideas need one, then the other.
What drives the cost of an MVP?
How complex the one core workflow being tested is, whether it needs a working backend and real data or can be simulated, and how polished the interface needs to be for the audience you are testing it with.
What decides how long the MVP takes to build?
The scope of the core assumption being tested and how quickly you can define what "success" looks like for the test, since an MVP without a clear success measure tends to grow back into a full product.
Will the MVP be usable code, or is it thrown away afterwards?
We build it on a foundation that can be extended, not a disposable prototype, so validated ideas move into a phased build on the same codebase rather than starting over from nothing.
Who owns the MVP once it is built?
You do. Source code and documentation are handed over regardless of what you decide to do next with the idea.
What do you need from us before starting?
A clear statement of the one thing you need to learn from this build, who the test users or reviewers will be, and how you will judge whether the result validates the idea.
Tell us what you need.
Send a short brief and one of our engineers will come back to you — usually the same day.
- No obligation
- We reply the same working day
- Your details stay private