MVP Chapter #4: How to Plan an MVP

Building an MVP and utilizing its purpose is the best thing you can do for the success of your business idea. The majority of the entrepreneurs skip this crucial step only to see their startup dooming later.

Fortunately, some do acknowledge building an MVP but do so without any plan and thus, end up doing so poorly. That is why today we will show you how to plan an MVP to its finest in just 5 steps. But first, let’s take a recap.

What is an MVP?

MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product. It represents your product with the minimum possible features required to solve the core problem you are targeting.

This makes it quicker to launch your product and saves you from being tangled up in extraneous features that don’t add much value.

I won’t dig deeper into this as we have already written a post on “What is MVP?”. If you are looking for more, I recommend you to check it.

Now, let’s understand the steps you need to take to plan your MVP successfully.

How to plan your MVP in five steps?

Step 1: Identify your target audience and their needs

You need to identify your target audience - to whom you will sell your product. You cannot sell anything to anyone but you can definitely sell something to someone. You need to define that “someone” and their pain points (which you will eventually solve with your product).

Ask yourself how you stumbled upon this problem in the first place. Is it faced by a big enough audience? If yes, then who are they? Gather as much information about them as you can.

Are there any competitors? Having competitors is a good sign as it tells you that people are paying them for the same problem you are eyeing to solve.

Step 2: Seek opportunity

You cannot get away with being the same as others. You need to go unique in some way. And for that, you need to find the shortcomings of your competitors. This is where the opportunity lies.

1. What is it that they have failed to solve?

2. Can you provide a better or cheaper product?

3. Can you provide it in a better way?

For this, it is essential to know your audience. Find them, talk to them and listen to their pain points and their buying journey. You can even spread out a survey form for them to fill. This will reveal a goldmine of insights and opportunities you can exploit.

Step 3: Decide on which features to build

Have you sincerely followed the first two steps? Then it would be much easier to decide which essential features to load in your MVP.

If you are still confused, you can use the prioritization of features. In addition to helping you focus on building the most important feature(s), it will also give you a sense of relief that other bonus features won’t be left out. They are just shifted to a later date.

Step 4: Decide on the technologies you will use to develop your MVP

The technology you choose to develop your MVP matters a lot as it determines the quality of the MVP, the development time, expansion opportunities, etc.

I recommend you to go with Laravel, Python, or NodeJS. They are highly scalable, and you can also easily find developers for these technologies as well.

Step 5: Refine your MVP

Once you have developed your MVP, your job isn’t done. It’s just started. Collect the feedback from your target audience.

1. Is it better than other similar products? If yes, then how?

2. Is it a reliable solution?

3. Does it provide the best user experience?

This feedback will reveal the positives and the negatives of your MVP. Use this to refine it further and continue the cycle.

How long does MVP development take?

There is no specific answer to this. It depends upon your requirements, the complexity of the task, and the number of people working to develop it.

How can I launch a successful product?

Developing an MVP to test the market, know your audience, and finetune your product is the best thing you can do to soar your chances of launching a successful product. However, this also requires money.

Thus, if you are short on it, I recommend you ask for family support or find seed investors first. It is also a good litmus test for your idea.

Is it essential to know my target audience?

If you are serious about launching a successful product, then yes. Knowing your target audience is a must these days as it will help you to better fulfill their needs. In fact, the more you know them the more you will have an edge over your competitors.

How can I determine the cost of developing an MVP?

It varies on your requirements but you can get an estimation of the cost of MVP development using our MVP calculator.

Why developing an MVP is important?

There are plenty of benefits that make developing an MVP important: -

1. Reduces the risk

2. Helps you determine the market needs

3. Helps you know your audience, gather their feedback, and mold your service according to them.

4. Simplifies the process of product development

We have a detailed blog post on this. Thus, I recommend you to check it out.

Conclusion

Building an MVP is a reliable way to enter into the market with your product. But this takes planning. The good news is that you can expedite the process of MVP development as we are an MVP development company in business for over 15 years. Contact us to start building your MVP now.