MVP Feature Checklist: What to Include and What to Skip

Why Your MVP Feature List Is Probably Too Long

Every founder we've worked with starts the same way: a spreadsheet with 30+ features they're convinced are "essential." By the time we finish the discovery session, that list is under 5. Not because we cut corners — because the other 25 features weren't essential. They were assumptions disguised as requirements.

An MVP feature checklist isn't about listing everything your product could do. It's about identifying the absolute minimum your product must do to test your core hypothesis. Get this right, and you save weeks of development time and thousands of dollars. Get it wrong, and you build a bloated product that takes too long to ship and still doesn't answer the question that matters: will anyone use this?

The MoSCoW Method for MVP Prioritization

MoSCoW is a simple framework that forces you to categorize every feature into one of four buckets. It works because it makes trade-offs explicit instead of leaving them as vague feelings.

Must Have

These are non-negotiable. Without them, the product literally doesn't work. If your product is a food delivery app, "place an order" is a must-have. "Rate your delivery driver" is not.

How to test: Remove this feature mentally. Can a user still get value from the product? If no, it's a must-have. If yes, it isn't.

Should Have

Important features that significantly improve the experience, but the product can function without them for launch. These are your "version 1.1" features — the first things you build after validating the MVP.

Could Have

Nice-to-have features that users would appreciate but won't miss in an initial release. Dark mode. Export to PDF. Custom notification preferences. These feel important during planning but rarely affect whether users adopt your product.

Won't Have (This Time)

Features you've explicitly decided to exclude from the MVP. Writing these down is critical — it prevents scope creep during development. When someone says "wouldn't it be great if we also added X?" you can point to the Won't Have list and say "yes, and we'll revisit it after launch."

The Feature Prioritization Matrix

For features that are harder to categorize, use a simple 2x2 matrix based on user impact and development effort.

High impact + Low effort: These are your MVP features. They deliver the most value for the least investment.

High impact + High effort: Evaluate carefully. Can you build a simplified version? If the effort is high because the feature is complex, consider a manual workaround for launch.

Low impact + Low effort: Tempting because they're easy, but resist. Easy features still take time, and time is your scarcest resource during MVP development.

Low impact + High effort: Never build these. They're the features that kill MVPs — expensive to build and users don't care about them.

The Universal MVP Feature Checklist

Regardless of what you're building, these categories cover the features every MVP needs to consider. Check off what applies to your product.

Authentication and User Management

• User registration (email or social login)
• Login and logout
• Password reset
• Basic user profile

Skip for MVP: Role-based access control, two-factor authentication, social login with multiple providers, account deletion workflow, user activity history.

Core Value Feature

• The one thing your product does better than alternatives
• A complete user flow from start to finish (no dead ends)
• Basic error handling (users don't see blank screens or crashes)

Skip for MVP: Advanced settings, bulk operations, import/export, undo/redo, offline mode.

Payments (If Applicable)

• One payment method (credit card via Stripe)
• Simple pricing (one plan, or free trial + one paid tier)
• Receipt emails

Skip for MVP: Multiple payment methods, annual billing, coupon codes, invoicing, refund automation, usage-based billing.

Communication

• Transactional emails (confirmations, password resets)
• One feedback channel (in-app form or support email)

Skip for MVP: In-app chat, push notifications, SMS, email marketing, notification preferences.

Admin and Management

• A way to view user data and activity
• Ability to handle support issues manually

Skip for MVP: Full admin dashboard, analytics dashboards, content management system, automated reports, audit logs.

Analytics and Metrics

• One key metric tracked (the number that tells you if the MVP is working)
• Basic event tracking on core user actions

Skip for MVP: Custom dashboards, A/B testing, cohort analysis, funnel visualization, heatmaps.

Features Founders Over-Build (Every Time)

After working with dozens of startups on their MVPs, we see the same over-building patterns repeatedly. Here are the features that consistently waste time and budget.

Social features

Comments, likes, shares, followers, activity feeds. Unless your product is literally a social network, none of this belongs in an MVP. Even if your long-term vision includes community features, they don't validate your core hypothesis.

Admin dashboards

Founders love building admin panels. They feel productive because there are lots of pages and tables to build. But for an MVP serving 10-50 users, you can manage everything through your database tool (like Supabase's built-in dashboard) or a simple spreadsheet.

Onboarding flows

A 7-step interactive onboarding with tooltips and progress bars is beautiful. It's also a week of development time. For an MVP, a single welcome page with a clear "here's how to get started" paragraph is enough.

Search and filtering

Unless search is your core product (like a job board or marketplace), basic browse functionality is enough for launch. Advanced search with multiple filters, sorting options, and faceted navigation is a v2 feature.

Notification systems

Push notifications, email digests, in-app notification centers, notification preferences — this is easily a 2-week project on its own. For your MVP, send a simple transactional email when something important happens and call it done.

A Real MVP Feature Audit

Let's walk through a practical example. Say you're building a project management tool for small creative agencies.

Initial feature list from the founder (28 features):

Time tracking, invoicing, client portal, task management, Gantt charts, team calendar, file sharing, Kanban boards, budget tracking, resource allocation, templates, recurring tasks, custom fields, integrations with Slack/Google/Asana, reports, mobile app, real-time collaboration, comments on tasks, notifications, role-based permissions, white-labeling, API access, multi-currency, tax calculation, approval workflows, guest access, milestones, and dashboards.

After MoSCoW analysis (4 Must-Have features):

1. Task management — Create, assign, and complete tasks within projects
2. Kanban board view — Visual workflow that creative agencies already use
3. Basic time tracking — Start/stop timer on tasks (the differentiator from generic tools)
4. Client view — A simple read-only link clients can visit to see project progress

Everything else moves to Should Have or Won't Have. Those 4 features can be built in 3-4 weeks and test the core hypothesis: "Do creative agencies want a project management tool with built-in time tracking?"

If the answer is yes, you build more features. If no, you've learned that in weeks instead of months.

How to Keep Your Feature List Honest

The "What if we just..." rule

Every time someone on your team says "what if we just added..." during development, write it on a list. Don't debate it. Don't estimate it. Just write it down. Review that list after launch, with real user feedback in hand. You'll be amazed how many of those "quick additions" turn out to be unnecessary.

The 5-Feature Limit

If you have more than 5 features in your MVP, you're building too much. This is a hard rule, and we enforce it with every client at Soatech. Five features is generous — many successful MVPs launched with 2-3.

Weekly scope review

Every Friday during development, review the scope. Has anything been added that wasn't in the original plan? Is there anything that can be removed? The MVP development checklist we use with clients includes these checkpoints.

Turn Your Feature List Into a Launch Plan

A good MVP feature checklist is the difference between launching in 4 weeks and launching in 4 months. The process is simple: list everything, categorize ruthlessly with MoSCoW, verify with the prioritization matrix, and then have the discipline to stick to the plan.

Need help deciding what belongs in your MVP? Talk to our team — we run a free discovery session where we help founders cut their feature list to what actually matters. No fluff, no upselling, just honest advice about what to build first and what to save for later.