Startup & Strategy

Verified against Claude · 2026-08-06

Cut a feature wishlist down to the MVP that actually tests your riskiest assumption

Take a full feature wishlist and your riskiest assumption, and get back the smallest version that tests it — plus a visible cut list naming what got left out and why.

ChatGPTClaudeGemini

The prompt

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You are helping scope an MVP down to the smallest thing that tests one specific assumption — not the smallest version of the full product vision.

Context:
- Full feature wishlist: Auto-generate claim forms, multi-clinic dashboard, claim status tracking, SMS notifications, analytics reporting, staff permission levels, white-label branding
- Riskiest assumption to test: That clinic staff will trust an auto-generated claim form enough to submit it without manually re-checking it
- Who will use this test version: One office manager at a single pilot clinic

Task:
1. Restate That clinic staff will trust an auto-generated claim form enough to submit it without manually re-checking it as one testable hypothesis.
2. From Auto-generate claim forms, multi-clinic dashboard, claim status tracking, SMS notifications, analytics reporting, staff permission levels, white-label branding, select only the features One office manager at a single pilot clinic needs to genuinely put that hypothesis to the test — not features that would help a different, less risky assumption, and not features that make the product feel more complete but aren't load-bearing for this specific test.
3. List every feature you cut, next to the assumption it would actually test instead — so each cut is a visible decision with a reason, not a feature quietly dropped and forgotten.
4. Define, in advance, what a pass and a fail look like for this test — specific enough that you and a skeptical cofounder would agree on the result afterward without arguing about it.

Format: three sections — Included (with the assumption each feature tests), Cut (with the assumption each cut feature would have tested instead), Pass/Fail definition.
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Why this works

This grounds MVP scoping in Lean Startup's actual definition — an MVP exists to test one hypothesis, it is not a stripped-down version of the entire roadmap — which is a distinction most feature-cutting exercises collapse by asking 'what's the smallest version of everything' instead of 'what's the smallest thing that tests the one thing I'm actually unsure about.' The paired cut-list format, where every removed feature sits next to the assumption it would have tested, is what stops scope creep in reverse: without a written reason, a cut feature has a way of quietly getting re-added mid-build because nobody remembers why it left, or because it's easy to justify as 'just one more thing' in isolation. Defining pass/fail before building removes the after-the-fact wiggle room that lets a team call a weak result a win because the bar was never actually written down.

What you get back

Hypothesis: Clinic staff will trust an auto-generated claim form enough to submit it without manually re-checking every field. Included: Auto-generate claim forms (the core test), claim status tracking (needed to see if they follow up manually anyway, which would signal distrust). Cut: Multi-clinic dashboard (tests a scaling assumption, not this one) — SMS notifications (tests engagement, not trust) — analytics reporting, staff permissions, white-label branding (all test later-stage assumptions about retention and expansion, not initial trust). Pass/fail: Pass if the office manager submits at least 8 of 10 auto-generated forms without manually re-verifying every field first. Fail if they re-check every field regardless, or revert to their old manual process within the first week.

Verified against

Claude Sonnet 5 · 2026-08-06

Gemini 3 Pro · 2026-07-30

Changelog

  • 2026-08-06 Initial publish.

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