How do you validate the problem and define V1?

How do you determine whether your team is solving the right customer problem, and how do you decide what should be included in V1 or MVP versus a later release? Walk through your approach from problem discovery to scope definition, tradeoffs, launch, and success metrics. ### Constraints & Assumptions - Start from a customer problem and business goal, not a feature request. - Define V1 as the smallest useful version that can validate the core hypothesis. - Include qualitative and quantitative validation. - Explain tradeoffs and what gets deferred. ### Clarifying Questions to Ask - What business outcome are we trying to move? - Which user segment is the target? - What evidence suggests this problem matters? - What constraints exist around engineering, compliance, risk, operations, or go-to-market timing? - What decision should V1 help us make? ### Part 1 - Validate The Problem How do you know whether the team is solving the right customer problem? #### What This Part Should Cover - Customer research, funnel data, support tickets, behavioral data, segmentation, and problem statement. - Differentiating symptoms from root causes. ### Part 2 - Define V1 Scope How do you decide what belongs in V1 versus later? #### What This Part Should Cover - Hypothesis, must-have user journey, MVP criteria, risk, effort, confidence, and learning value. - Explicit cuts and deferred features. ### Part 3 - Align Stakeholders And Launch How do you manage tradeoffs and launch the first version? #### What This Part Should Cover - Decision criteria, cross-functional alignment, risk/compliance review, experiment or phased rollout, and communication. ### Part 4 - Measure Success And Iterate How do you evaluate whether V1 worked? #### What This Part Should Cover - Primary metric, diagnostic metrics, guardrails, qualitative feedback, and next-step decision. ### What a Strong Answer Covers - Validates problem before solution. - Defines MVP around learning and user value. - Shows clear prioritization and stakeholder management. - Uses metrics to decide whether to scale, iterate, or stop. ### Follow-up Questions - What if stakeholders disagree about V1 scope? - How would you handle compliance constraints? - What would make you kill the feature? - How do you avoid building a local maximum? - How do you decide between speed and completeness?