Features to cut in your MVP

Ever feel like you’re drowning in a sea of features? Early-stage founders often wake up to a wild wish list: chatbots, fancy animations, multi-language support, Slack integrations… the list goes on. But in the MVP stage, each extra feature is like carrying a backpack full of rocks on a sprint. Your goal is to sprint, gather feedback, and prove your core idea, not run a marathon.

Think of your MVP as the leanest, simplest version of your product that still solves the core problem. Lean Startup guru Eric Ries even defined an MVP as the version of a product that “collect[s] the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort”. In plain English: learn what users want fast, without building the whole factory first. If a feature doesn’t directly test your biggest assumption or solve your main user’s pain, it’s a luxury you can cut.

This may sound brutal (it is), but killing good ideas in the name of focus is the name of the game. Spotify didn’t worry about podcasts, social features, or even a mobile app on Day 1 – they nailed one thing (music streaming) and it worked. Similarly, Uber’s very first version was simply “UberCab” via SMS – one type of car, one city, and a human dispatcher, no frills.

Features you cut now can often be added later if users demand them. But features you build too early that nobody uses? They’re wasted time and money. So embrace a surgical mindset: if it’s not mission-critical today, slice it away.

Identify the core, cut the rest

Before listing specific features, let’s talk strategy. How do you decide what to keep and what to drop? A classic approach is the MoSCoW method: sort features into Must-have, Should-have, Could-have, and Won’t-have. The “Won’t-have” bucket is your exorcist, banishing the non-essentials. This forces you to state: Why exactly does this feature matter? If you can’t tie it to your core hypothesis or user goal, it’s probably a Won’t.

Imagine you’re on a crowded highway. Each extra feature adds another bumper sticker or spoiler - cool, but only if the car can still move. The MoSCoW method reminds you to rip off the vanity spoilers (Features C and W) and focus on making the engine roar. In practice, this means making a “wishlist” of all ideas, then cutting features to keep the MVP lean.

Concretely, ask yourself: What one problem are we solving? And for whom? Answering that narrows your Must-have list. Everything that doesn’t serve that single answer can usually wait.

Shiny stuff to ditch (for now)

Startups often pack the MVP with bells and whistles that make the creator’s heart race but often baffle early users. These are great items for later, not the MVP:

• Custom branding & design systems. You may love the idea of a bespoke color palette, typography, and a corporate logo, but your MVP can use a simple UI framework or template. Resist the urge to build a full design system from day one. Unless your startup is design-centric (say, a design tool itself), just pick some basic colors and one or two fonts. You can polish later. Remember: users will care if the app works, not if your icons have 24‑point consistency.
• Fancy animations and transitions. Animations are fun, but if they block or distract the user flow, skip them. No need for bursting confetti when they sign up. Those come at product-market fit, not launch.
• High-res graphics & images. Use compressed images or placeholders initially. Don’t lose days optimizing for retina screens or building an icon library. A button is a button – it’ll do.
• Megamenus and granular navigation. Multi-tiered menus look polished, but every extra page is a commitment. Focus on one or two core screens. If a user has to guess where to click, that’s fine for MVP; adding too many menu items usually confuses.
• Lots of platform support. Pick one platform – often a web app is easiest (mobile-friendly of course, but a single codebase). Don’t build separate iOS, Android, and desktop apps right away. The same goes for languages: skip multi-language support unless you’ve validated a global need. Many global giants (like Airbnb or Facebook) started with just one region or language.
• Complete personalization. Features like dark mode, custom themes, or granular user settings can wait. Let every user have the default experience first.
• Brand / domain extras. Don’t waste time choosing the perfect official name or domain before launch. You can have a codename for your MVP, or use a simple landing page on a generic subdomain to collect sign-ups.

In short: MVP UI should be clean and usable, not museum-quality. If you’re Googling “how polished should MVP UI be?”, the answer is “not very.” It should pass a basic usability smell test (“my grandma could use it”), but pixel-perfectness can come later.

Technical traps: skip overengineering

Startups love talk of “microservices” and “scalability,” but building those before you have 100 real users is like building a highway bridge for a single bicyclist.

• Complex architecture and scalability. Resist the urge to build a multi-tier, microservices-based backend if a simple monolithic prototype will do. Use managed platforms (Heroku, Firebase, AWS Amplify, etc.) to stand up servers quickly. Aim to support 1–10 users in real life, not “one million.” Netflix famously built a mini-red-carpet stream for 5 people before going big.
• Exhaustive security features. Of course, don’t store passwords in plaintext or ignore basic security. But you can start with standard auth methods or even skip login entirely by using magic links or social logins to test flow. Advanced features like SSO (Single Sign-On), custom encryption keys, or GDPR cookie banners can come later. (Just make sure you’re not inadvertently breaking major rules or laws, but you likely aren’t if you’re in a small test.)
• Full CI/CD pipelines. You should have version control (git) and basic testing, but a fully automated deployment pipeline is overkill before product-market fit. Manual or simple one-click deploy is fine in an MVP.
• Custom analytics. Basic metrics are key (signups, conversions, etc.), but a giant Tableau dashboard isn’t needed day one. Use Google Analytics or a simple metric tool to track funnel basics. Save deep analytics and A/B testing frameworks for when you have enough users for meaningful data.
• Performance optimization. Don’t spend weeks tuning page load times or database indices before launch. Sure, avoid egregiously slow queries (minutes-long responses), but if your MVP takes 2 seconds to load, focus on whether the product has traction first. Premature optimization is the death of startups.

Build it just good enough to work reliably for the few users you have, then measure and improve. Cut the “future user 100,000” thinking; focus on “our first dozen customers.”

Process & glue you can skip

• Formal design documentation. You don’t need a 50-page style guide or design hand-off docs. A few reference screens or even a Figma board link is plenty for the devs to code the basics.
• Extensive user onboarding/tutorials. If your product idea isn’t obvious, a one-sentence tagline might suffice. In-app tours and guided flows can be a distraction. Launch with a simple signup and maybe a tool-tip or two. Your first users can learn by clicking, or you can personally show them.
• Customer support systems. You probably don’t need Intercom or a full help center yet. It’s often better to just give an email address or even the founder’s phone number for feedback initially. Use these conversations to refine UX, not to build a ticketing system.
• Sales quotes and fancy legal templates. If you’re B2B, don’t spend months on sales playbooks or comprehensive service contracts. A one-page terms doc is fine; actual customized sales collateral can wait. (Just ensure you’re not signing anything legally risky for your MVP user).

Keep it lean, learn quickly

All of these cut items share a theme: they don’t directly deliver your core value or learn about your users. One blog sums it up nicely: “Every screen, button, and interaction should contribute to delivering your core value proposition. If it doesn't, it doesn't belong in your MVP.”.

If you’re asking yourself questions like “Do I need a design system?” or “Should our MVP UI be pixel perfect?”, the safe answer is usually: No, not now. Prototype the bare skeleton of the user journey instead. Nail down one user story from start to finish. Then let real user data tell you where to expand.

For example: Dropbox famously didn’t build the actual sync tech first; they released an explainer video to gauge interest. Similarly, many apps start with “Wizard of Oz” MVPs – functional front-ends with manual back-ends (like UberCab’s SMS hack). These approaches prove concept without spending months building unproven features.

Real-world examples

• Airbnb: Launched with literally air mattresses on the floor. Their entire first website was just photos of that one loft, a simple booking form, and integration with Craigslist. They skipped fancy calendars, pricing algorithms, and multiple listings. They focused on finding willing hosts and guests, period.
• Amazon: Started by selling only books online. Bezos didn’t launch with electronics, groceries, or a loyalty program. Just books. If it wasn’t a top-selling book, it wasn’t on the site. They iterated from there.
• Twitter: Began as a status update service at Odeo hackathon. No hashtags, no trending topics, no retweet or fancy UI. Just tweets. (In fact, it was called “twttr” early on.)
• Buffer: Instead of a complex scheduling app, Buffer’s founder launched with a landing page MVP that gauged interest and pricing willingness. Realizing people clicked and cared, he then built the product.
• Famous lean poster: The Facebook you use now has news feed, groups, ads, and more. But in 2004, it was just profiles and friend requests, for Harvard only. They cut everything to focus on network building.

These examples reinforce a pattern: Startups kill off half-baked features and focus ruthlessly on one core loop that solves the main user problem. In doing so, you get to market faster and learn sooner.

Remember: Every big success starts with an MVP that’s purposely tiny. It’s the leanness, the focus, and the learning cycle that leads to those multi-billion outcomes. Trust the process: trim your startup’s fat, and let your core value shine.