Entrepreneurs resort to various measures to save the budget while expanding their business. For example, use the white-label software instead of investing in the creation of their own product. Of course, in the conditions where the vast majority of startups fail due to a bunch of different reasons, it’s really hard to create an app with minimal risk and budget. According to the CB Insights research, 42% of startups fail due to lack of market demand. This happens because most entrepreneurs rely on their hypothetical knowledge of market needs and end up creating a product that no one wants.
Obviously, if you want your startup to be successful, you must understand the market needs. Thus, when you create an MVP (Minimum Viable Product), you make everything possible to understand what the customers want.
In this article, we will help you understand how MVP development can help you save your money and reduce the risks. So read on and learn how to build an MVP successfully.
What is an MVP?
An MVP approach has been developed to minimize startup risks. This concept was created by Frank Robinson — co-founder and president of the SyncDev consulting company. Robinson defines MVP as the simultaneous development of the product and the research of the target audience and their reaction to the product. MVP is a version of a future project that allows you to collect data about how your customers interact with it at the lowest cost. It’s applicable to almost any product, but, most frequently, it’s used for the development of software and digital services.
You shouldn’t confuse MVP with a prototype. Minimum Viable Product already contains the core functions of an app and has everything to be presented to the market while the prototype is too raw and primitive for that.
Goals of MVP
- Minimize the time and effort required on the market research and learn customer’s reaction to the idea.
- Attract the real users that have a demand for your app and gather the feedback from them to improve your future product.
- Outline the direction of the development.
- Find out what features should be added to your app.
Examples of MVP
Being launched in 2009, the WhatsApp MVP application didn’t have a messaging function. The initial idea of the app was to create a mobile phone book that would show the status of a user: available, busy, driving, at the gym, and so on. When users indicated their status, their contacts received a pop-up notification. Then, the developers (Jan Koum and Brian Acton) noticed that the users use statuses for communication. Catching on to this idea, they released an updated version of WhatsApp that provided the possibility to send messages. As a result, the small user base grew to 250,000 in a matter of days, proving that developers are on the right track.
Initially, as Facebook was an MVP website, all it did was connect college students together and allow them to post messages. At that time, such a service already had analogs, but Facebook’s simplicity gave it an unstoppable success.
Amazon
Amazon started as a website that sold books for affordable prices and had a very simple web design. Nevertheless, it was enough to make Amazon one of the most valuable and profitable services in history.
Spotify
Spotify MVP was a desktop app that had only one function: music streaming. When this model has proven itself as a successful one, the developers began to sign more artists and develop a mobile app.
Types of MVP
There are several MVP types. They differ by their main task.
- Single-featured MVP
Typically, this type is used to test one single function. That is, you need to develop one function in a simple form, and then just monitor the feedback from the users. Plus, the users will be able to clearly understand what problem they may solve using your app, and you will be able to identify your target audience with ease. Such a solution doesn’t require much effort.
- Piecemeal MVP
If you don’t have a radically new idea, you can compose your MVP from the most successful elements. Piecemeal MVP involves combining ready-made functions that have already proven themselves to be successful into one interface. This allows you to test the relevance and viability of a similar app before developing such a solution yourself. It doesn’t take a lot of time to develop this type of MVP as you don’t have to create a unique software. Plus, it allows you to save your budget and gives you the possibility to test everything you need. On the other hand, if such a product appears to be successful, you will have to remake the product in a full-fledged system.
- Flintstone’s MVP (also known as The Wizard of OZ MVP)
This type of MVP assumes only an imitation of the basic functionality. It’s aimed to prove the viability of your business idea. For example, you buy a certain product, and then resell it to your customers without producing your own product and don’t have an established supply system. Although this type is not very popular and frequently gets criticized, it allows you to test your idea with minimal investment.
- Concierge MVP
This type is suitable for those who want to create a service with automotive functionality. However, at the stage of MVP, such a product requires manual implementation. This said, you start by manually providing a service that could be automatic in order to test if the customers are ready to pay money for such a service. If it proves itself as a successful one, you can safely invest in the technical aspect of your project.
Instructions On How to Build a Minimum Viable Product
Finally, we can start with the MVP stages. This guide will inform you on how to build an MVP in Agile environment since MVP is a component of the Agile methodology. Use this brief guide as a base to build a minimum viable product.
Step 1. Learn more about MVP development and create a list of your goals
It’s very important to have clear goals before you start developing your MVP. This way you will know in what direction you should move. Some of the most effective MVP principles that can be a part of your list are:
- spend as little time and resources as possible
- collect all the statistics and data
- ensure that there is an audience for your app by pre-selling the product
- collect information about your clients
- create an easy method of collecting the feedback
- use social media to raise awareness of your product
Step 2. Identify the problem your product is going to solve
At this stage, you can estimate the value of your future product. If you already have an idea, make sure that it’s vital. In the case if you don’t have any idea, do a research to find out what idea is going to work. Then, form your main tasks.
Step 3. Define your target audience and narrow it down
When you have to develop an app for a large audience, it will take a lot of time and resources to learn your clients and satisfy each of them. This way, you may spend more money on MVP than you planned to and you will have to delay the release. That is why it’s necessary to have an exact portrait of your target audience and narrow it down to the minimum. This will allow you to significantly reduce an MVP cost.
Step 4. Analyze your competitors
If you think that you have come up with a unique product that is exclusive, you are probably mistaken. Surely, you already have competitors. Your challenge might be to take a primitive idea and turn it into an exclusive product. Collect information and study statistics of your competitors. Such apps as Competitors App, App Follow, Brandwatch Audiences and others can help you with that. You can even become a client of your competitors in order to evaluate the quality of their service. Analytics will help you understand strengths and weaknesses, assess prospects and make a product that will stand out among the others.
Step 5. Think about the main functions of your app and list them by priority
Among all the MVP phases, this is the most difficult one. As you define your target audience, you will understand what functions you should implement in your app. Listing them by priority will help you find out the main features and those that deserve less attention and may be implemented after the successful launch of an MVP.
Step 6. Perform testing and gather the feedback
Firstly, test your MVP with colleagues, owners and employees. This will help you evaluate the application from the side of a user, detect problems, and solve them immediately. After that, you can test a slightly upgraded app with the real users. Collect the feedback and use it to improve your product.
After you finish developing a minimum viable product, you can test the business model and estimate all the risks.