MVP Chapter #1: What is Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?

Just like everywhere else, in the startup world also “Rome isn’t built in a day.” What I mean by that is the hero products or services you see today were not in the same form earlier. It was their continuous evolution with people’s feedback that made them succeed in the market.

A common mistake that many startups make is that they start way too ambitiously and spend extravagantly on developing their product without even first testing it in the market. For this reason and many others, developing an MVP is important.

If you are drawing a blank on your mind about MVP, then you are at the right place. Here you are going to learn about MVP, its purpose, and how to define it for your idea. Read on

What is an MVP (Minimum Viable Product)?

Who knows about MVP better than Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup? He states in a blog post on MVP, “The minimum viable product is that version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort.”

Let’s make it simpler for you. The actual reality of the market is often different than what you “think” it is. And this is why many businesses doom even before they take off - they failed to understand the market and the needs of their audience (or in some cases, even who their audience is!).

Thus, an MVP is developed first. An MVP is the simplest form of your product that is enough to provide the basic value it was meant to give.

For example - Groupon. Its founders used to manually post deals on their website and sent a PDF document via email to the users who signed up to get a particular deal. The idea was validated and soon gathered enough traction to proceed further.

But an MVP has the potential to offer you a lot more than this.

What is the purpose of MVP?

An MVP serves many other purposes apart from collecting market data. Here are some of the other prime reasons to build an MVP for your product.

1. Release your product quickly.

2. Test an idea before investing a large amount of money into it.

3. Learn about the behavior of your target audience.

4. Easily build a marketing strategy.

5. Start building a brand early.

Now that you know the positives of developing an MVP, let’s address how you can define MVP for your product/service idea.

How do you define your MVP?

Defining your MVP comes down to clarity of the idea and prioritization of the features in it. The more clear you are, the better you can build your MVP.

You may aspire your idea to provide an all-in-one solution, but it may go against you, at least initially, because it will make things more complex for you. This is where prioritization will come to your rescue. It will help you to focus on the vital few features of your MVP.

Here is how you can define your MVP: -

Step 1 - Identify your target audience.

Identifying a clear target audience goes a long way in strategizing your efforts for your idea’s success. Unfortunately, this is a common mistake I see with many startups. They try to target everyone and end up with no one.

Step 2 - Identify the exact problem you are trying to solve with your product or service.

Write down the exact problem statement you are vying to solve for your target audience. You may be surprised by the clarity the first two steps can give you.

Step 3 - Brainstorm its core features.

At first, you may be having a lot of ideas about the functionalities of your idea. Good! Now dump 99% of these ideas and focus on the top 1-3 core features that are enough to solve the above problem statement.

Conclusion

Now that you know what an MVP is and have defined it for your business idea, you have taken the first step toward building your MVP. By the way, we are an MVP development company that has already served clients all over the world and from various industries.

So, get in touch with us if you also want to skip ahead and give birth to your product quickly.