Once you’ve made the decision to create a new software product, the next crucial steps involve validating the problem and testing the solution. This is when your virtual team would build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to validate your ideas and make sure your product satisfies your target audience. The MVP stage holds significant importance, aligning with the principles of the Lean Startup methodology. Its primary objective is to validate assumptions swiftly and cost-effectively. Furthermore, an MVP serves as a safety net for your business, providing reassurance in case there’s a fear of failure or the product not finding a market fit. But how do you build a Minimum Viable Product? Why should you entertain the idea of building a Minimum Viable Product? In this piece, we will offer a comprehensive understanding of what an MVP is, its purpose, its advantages, and a step-by-step guide on how to build an MVP.
Why Build an MVP? Launch Swiftly and Avoid Failures
The primary objective behind MVP development is to swiftly launch a product based on a well-established idea, all while working within a limited budget. By building a Minimum Viable Product, businesses can gather valuable feedback from users and incorporate it into future product iterations. Through an MVP, businesses can pinpoint the right target audience, draw insights from practical experience, and save valuable time. Keep in mind the following stats to emphasize the value of an MVP for a startup or even a well-established business:
- Approximately 29% of startups fail due to a lack of financial resources.
- Startups that scale their operations properly experience growth rates 20 times faster than those that scale prematurely.
These alarming statistics underscore the advantages of initiating the product development process with an MVP. However, MVP development companies have additional reasons for adopting the Minimum Viable Product approach:
- Establish a foundational model that serves as a starting point for discussions and offers clear visual reference points.
- Conduct initial idea validation by sharing the model with potential users and gathering feedback to identify potential product issues.
- Begin the actual building process after dedicating time to refine the idea, marking a significant step towards a fully-fledged product.
When building a mobile app using design thinking and lean UX principles, the concept of building an MVP can be divided into two main parts:
- Business and marketing: An MVP allows businesses to launch surveys and identify the most effective marketing approaches and advertising platforms for product promotion.
- Proof of concept: Building an MVP helps businesses gain crucial technical insights by developing a minimum feature set, which contributes to making the app unique and successful.
How to Build a Minimum Viable Product in 6 Steps
The question of how to build a Minimum Viable Product is a major concern for many startups. The good news is that experienced software developers know all the ins and outs of building an MVP. Although this can be a complex and demanding process, the expert software development team can build MVP fairly quickly and at a fraction of the complete product’s cost. Here are the basic steps on how to build an MVP.
Step 1: Launch thorough market research
Before diving into the MVP Development process, a business must ensure that its ideas align with market needs. Conducting surveys can provide valuable insights into the target users’ requirements, increasing the chances of success. Additionally, keeping an eye on competitors’ offerings can help identify ways to make the product idea stand out. You won’t be able to successfully market the product if you don’t know your audience, its needs, and the problems they want to solve. This is especially true for innovative, breakthrough products that lack market validation. If you are not sure people would use your product, you absolutely must start with an MVP. That way you’d be able to avoid redundant spending in case
Step 2: Ideate on the value proposition
Define the value the new product brings to its users and how it benefits them. Understanding the product’s value proposition is essential in determining its essential features in its most basic state. Start by identifying the needs of the users and build the MVP around those requirements. Build a product that solves the problem or addresses the needs of the audience. Do not just assume people would love your product just because it looks prettier than that of the competitor or because it’s super innovative. Build and market your MVP and your product with the audiences and proposition in mind.
Step 3: Map out the user flow
Designing the app with user convenience in mind is crucial during the MVP stage. Analyze the app from the users’ perspective, considering the entire user flow from the app’s opening to the final action, such as making a purchase or receiving a delivery. Defining the user flow helps outline the process stages and ensure user satisfaction and future product improvements. This is the part where the proper UI and UX expertise is an absolute must. You need to design an intuitive and user-friendly product that serves its purpose without irritation.
Step 4: Prioritize MVP features
Prioritize the features that the MVP will include based on user demands and benefits. Categorize the remaining features into high, medium, and low priority and organize them in a product backlog. This will guide the building process of the MVP. Focus on high-priority features as they will be the backbone of your product. Show the true value of your product first, and if your audiences find it worthwhile, you can cut deeper by adding medium and low-priority features to the table.
Step 5: Launch MVP
Create the MVP once the main features are decided upon and market needs are understood. Remember that the MVP should fulfill customer needs and be easy to use, engaging, and suitable for users. The goal is to ensure that the product meets customers’ needs better than other alternatives in the market. Alternatively, you will get a proof of concept for an innovative product you came up with. If it works – great! You can continue with the project by adding new features and expanding its functionality.
Step 6: Build, measure, and learn
Follow a systematic process of defining the scope of work, moving the product to the development stage, and testing it. Quality Assurance engineers should assess the product’s quality even before its official release. After launching the MVP, gather feedback from clients to determine the product’s acceptance and competitiveness in the market. This feedback loop enables continuous improvement based on user input. Following these 6 steps, you will not only know how to build a Minimum Viable Product but also how to expand it into a full-scale product. Working with a reliable team of experts, you can count on the flawless MVP development process based on your ideas and the recommendations from the technology consulting experts.
Final Thoughts: Build MVP With a Reliable Partner
While it may seem like a significant milestone, building an MVP is merely the first step in your startup journey. It serves as a cost-effective and speedy solution to validate your idea, gather valuable feedback from real users, and provide tangible evidence of its viability to stakeholders and investors. By working with a reliable team of software developers, you can avoid the common pitfalls and build a Minimum Viable Product that solves problems and brings value to your business and your customers.
