So, you want to start your business and are having some doubts whether your idea will fly off or it will see the same destiny that the majority of executed ideas see - dumpster.
Fortunately for entrepreneurs like you, many of them first tested their ideas in the real market among real people instead of relying on a hunch to see if it is sane to put money and effort into them.
But there are various stages of testing an idea before it is finally ready to go into the market with a high possibility of success. Proof of Concept (POC) and Minimum Viable Product (MVP) both are part of these stages, each serving its unique purpose.
So let’s see what they are, what's the difference between them, and which one you should pick to test your idea.
Ideas are everywhere but the majority of them are better kept unattended if you are to save your time and money. Why? Because they later turn out to be garbage which, at distance, seemed like a pot with glittering gold.
Sometimes your idea may have some potential, but is it feasible to build it the way you have imagined? This is where POC comes to your rescue.
Proof of Concept is the most basic form of your idea brought into the real world. POC is the earliest stage of product development and is used to check the feasibility of your idea. POC is relatively inexpensive and faster to develop. It usually takes a few days.
Thus, even if you find your idea to be a dud, you don’t lose much. But, apart from this, POC also offers you some complimentary benefits like: -
Determining which technologies to use for development
Luring investors with the positive response to your POC.
Determining the required time and budget
Using feedback to create an even better final product
An MVP is a more mature version of your idea but is not yet reached its full potential. It is your idea in execution to the real world with only the core features.
Once you see some hope with POC, it is still not a green signal to go full throttle on your idea. It needs to be carved even more before you can be sure of its success. An MVP can even take some months to be created and is a bit more expensive than POC.
However, the investment may be worth it because it helps you to dive even deeper into the market and your product. However if you are looking for an affordable solution, we can help you with developing your MVP as we are an MVP development company.
I recommend you check our guide “What is Minimum Viable Product?” to know about it even more.
As I said earlier, both POC and MVP are the stages of testing your idea. Thus, the question is not about which one should you pick out of the two as both offer invaluable insights. Where POC tells you whether your idea is feasible, MVP helps you to determine how to brand your product.
The real question is at what stage you are currently in your product development?
If your product just exists in the form of an idea, you should start with POC. It will help you to find whether your idea is a winner or not.
But if you are hopeful about your idea or have some proof of its success, building an MVP is the fastest way to launch your product.
POC or Proof of Concept is the earliest version of your product in existence. It is usually cheap to build and can be done within a few days. POC is built to check whether your idea is feasible or not.
A prototype is a version of your product between POC and MVP. It represents a sample of your product built to test the concept and process.
POC, prototype, and MVP are the versions of your product at different stages. The development of your product goes like this - POC → Prototype → MVP.
When a business idea strikes you, you first need to validate the feasibility of your idea. You can do this with a POC.
Then there is the validation of the process. So you can create a sample product called Prototype to determine the ease of developing it.
Once your idea passes through these tests, it is a good sign to invest in building an MVP - a minimum version of your product just enough to solve the core problem it was built to solve.
Buffer is a great example of an MVP. When it started out, it was just a simple landing page showing what Buffer is and its plans & pricing. But when visitors chose a plan, Buffer explained that it is not ready yet and encouraged them to sign up for updates.
They stayed in touch with them seeking continuous feedback to shape its services. Further down the road, they even determined whether people would be interested in becoming paying customers. Once its founders validated their idea, they moved to grow it even further.
POC and MVP help you at different stages of product development. Thus, we recommend you to build a POC first, and then go for an MVP development company to build your MVP upon your validating the feasibility of your idea.
The smart way to start your business or introduce a new product never involves relying on your hunch but rather proven systematic steps. POC is where to start from and MVP is how you understand your product from the perspective of your audience and launch it to the market.
If you want to build your MVP, you can reach out to us. We have already done this for many of our clients and now it is your turn.
I love to make a difference. Thus, I started Acquaint Softtech with the vision of making developers easily accessible and affordable to all. Me and my beloved team have been fulfilling this vision for over 15 years now and will continue to get even bigger and better.
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