What’s a Minimum Viable Opportunity (MVO)?
Most teams obsess over MVPs.
They ask:
“What’s the smallest version of this solution we can build to test if people will buy and use it?”
It’s a good question — but not the first one to ask. The better question is:
“Are we even solving the right problem?”
That’s where the MVO — the Minimum Viable Opportunity — comes in.
Because in high-stakes, high-speed environments, solving any problem isn’t good enough. You need to focus on the right one to explore next — one that’s timely, aligned, and promising enough to justify deeper validation.
A Minimum Viable Opportunity (MVO) is the clearest, most strategic version of a problem that’s actually worth solving — now.
It’s your pre-MVP filter.
Before you invest in designing, prototyping, or building — you first clarify:
- Is this a real problem?
- Is it strategically important?
- Is it urgent or unavoidable?
- Are we in a position to do something about it — now?
🚫 Why Most Teams Get This Wrong
Because they jump straight from brainstorm to backlog. They start scoring features using RICE or ICE. They run Impact–Effort matrices. They talk about trade-offs and feasibility.
But they miss the real challenge: aligning on which problem is even worth solving in the first place. That’s like optimizing the route before agreeing on the destination.
And here’s what makes it even harder:
The people solving the problems are often disconnected from the business reality.
They’re smart, creative, and eager to move — but thinking creatively isn’t the same as thinking strategically. And holding both lenses at the same time? That’s rare.
You can’t assume the team in the room sees the full picture — especially when no one has aligned on what matters at a business level.
That’s why you need a simple way to bring business context into the room. Not everyone needs to agree on the solution — but they do need to agree on where to look next. The 4U Framework gives stakeholders a shared lens to do exactly that.
🔍 How to Spot an MVO
An MVO isn’t just any problem. It’s a high-potential challenge with signals that say: this is worth our time, money, and focus — now.
Here’s how to pressure-test an opportunity: Ask:
- Is the current situation unworkable? (If we don’t act, will things get worse?)
- Is it unavoidable? (Are we going to be forced to address this anyway?)
- Is it urgent? (Is now the right time to act?)
- Is it underserved? (Are users or customers facing a gap no one’s solved?)
If your challenge scores high across 2 or more of these, chances are… 💡 You’ve got a Minimum Viable Opportunity.
⚒️ How to Find One in 2 Hours (The 4U Way)
At Design Sprint Academy, we teach teams to run a 4U Workshop — a 2-hour structured session where stakeholders score 2–3 challenges using the four lenses: Unworkable, Unavoidable, Urgent, Underserved.
The result? One shared understanding of what’s worth solving now — and why.
For this session you don’t need your whole product team in the room. You don’t need creatives or builders to make the call.
What you need is the right group of decision-makers — the people who can see the bigger picture and have the authority to prioritize.
The 4U Workshop is designed for them.
It gives leaders in product, strategy, and innovation a simple way to:
- Compare opportunities side by side
- Align fast — without endless debate
- Make clear, defensible decisions
It doesn’t replace strategy. It makes strategy actionable. Because strategy without prioritization is just a wish list.
Conclusion
The 4U Workshop isn’t where you validate a problem.
It’s where you decide which problem is most worth validating next.
It’s not a replacement for:
- Your company’s north star
- Market positioning work
- Portfolio-level bets
You still need a strategy to define where you’re going and why it matters.
But when you’re facing multiple challenges — and limited time, budget, and attention — you need a way to prioritize the next best bet.
That’s what the 4U Workshop gives you - a simple structure to align decision-makers around a Minimum Viable Opportunity — a problem that’s timely, strategically sound, and ready for deeper exploration.
Not a certainty. A smart, shared starting point.
Want to try it?
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