If there is one takeaway from what we have covered in this MVP series till now, it is this - building an MVP is the best thing you can do to reduce your risk and launch your product to success. But still, many startups underestimate this step and pay a hefty price later.
Shrewd entrepreneurs understand this. So let’s move towards the basics of MVP development and see how you can replicate the success of other products. For that, first, we are going to introduce you to the three objectives to achieve while developing your MVP. Then we will move on to show you the step by step procedure. Ready?
Building basic goals of MVP
There are three facets of testing an MVP and you have to check all three to call it successful. Each of these facets is essential and any issue in even one can hamper your MVP development. So now let me introduce you to these facets in detail.
1. Testing an MVP’s feasibility
This is the most crucial facet out of all the three. Why? Because if your MVP fails to fulfill its intended purpose, then it doesn’t matter how quickly or inexpensively you build it. It doesn’t matter.
2. Building it the quickest way possible
How quickly can you build your product? Your ability to build your product quickly determines the demand you can fulfill. It also has a huge impact on whether you gain the first-movers advantage. In our connected world, you can seldom keep your idea a secret. Thus, you need to move fast.
3. Building it inexpensively
What if your idea isn’t as good as you thought? What if you aren’t able to earn the required profit margin? Finding an inexpensive way to build your product can help you with this. It will reduce your financial risk and can increase your profit.
How to build an MVP?
Step 1: Find out the problem you want to solve
Isn’t it obvious? You think but many entrepreneurs are dumbfounded when asked what is it they are solving. If you don’t want to be one of them, first of all, gain clarity of the problem you want to solve - What is it? Who is your target audience?
But what if you don’t have any idea? Many successful startups exist today because of a poor experience faced by someone - bad service, not being able to do something, or not being able to find a solution. If you have had such an experience, that’s your potential business idea!
Step 2: Analyze your competitors
Do you have competitors? That’s good! You can use their positives and negatives for your benefit. In addition to that, having competing businesses that are thriving means that there is a market for a product like yours.
So, find your competitors and analyze their websites. How much traffic are their websites generating? What are their biggest sources of traffic? What keywords are they targeting? You can use SEO tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz, and Ubersuggest for finding an answer to these questions.
Also, find out what their product reviews are on forums. Their positives create the base of your product. but building upon their negative reviews makes your product stand out.
Step 3: Define the buying journey of your target audience
You may have heard of the sales funnel. This is similar to that. All you have to do is define the steps your target audience needs to take to buy your product or service. It is relatively easy, but let me share with you two tips to make the most out of it: -
Make the transition from one step to the other as smooth as possible.
Keep the number of steps to a minimum.
Don’t fret much over this. Take inspiration from successful websites in your industry and replicate them.
Step 4: List out the least possible features required to get things going
Here you will have some hard decisions to make. You may have some groundbreaking ideas to enhance the functionality of your product. But, at this stage, they may be more of a distraction rather than a great add-on. You can always build them later with upgrades.
Focus on the core of the problem you are trying to solve and find out which features in your product are absolutely essential to solve it.
Step 5: Build your MVP
Building an MVP is tricky. Why? Because even though it is an MVP, your target audience wants quality. They won’t spare you because you are just starting out. This is the harsh reality. Thus, your MVP needs to be of top quality.
You have many options to build a great MVP: -
Hire an in-house team of developers
Hire freelancers
Hire remote developers from an MVP development company
But out of these three, hiring remote developers is the best option if you are looking for quality at minimum investment. It lets you start your project in a short time and use top talent across the world to develop your MVP.
Conclusion
In this series, we have covered the path from “What is MVP?” to how to build it. But there is still some more ground to cover. But before that, if you are looking to hire remote developers to build your MVP, look no further than us.
If you are looking to get an estimated cost, you can calculate it using our MVP cost calculator by answering just a few questions.
