Talking about facts, it takes years to develop a software product loved by millions of users. Instagram, Facebook, Uber and many more apps haven’t started as full-fledged products. These apps have developed gradually by adding one feature at a time. Suppose you have a great idea and are looking for ways to run that idea. Look for someone that helps you create the best landing page. Experiment with SEO, pay per click, introduce your product on a Youtube blog, and build essential software. These are the examples of Minimum Viable Product (MVP), which comes with using shapes and forms.

MVP product launch definition

Launching an MVP is one of the essential stages of building your startup. It works as the main tool to test the business idea by considering the real-world market. Yet some founders ignore the idea of validation and prototyping stages. This happens in a few cases due to the wrong calculation of the cost of MVP development.

The product can also refer to placing the MVP on the market. It supports customers to try the product and shoot their Feedback. The product launch defines the implementation bases of the concept in the well-working platform. It goes through the whole creation cycle with testing and learning business hypotheses. MVP launch uses go-to-market strategies such as:

• Soft launch: It refers to launching a product release limited to half of the target audience. This launch aims to reduce the risk of the connection when the product releases.
• Hard launch: It’s a kind of release of a ready-made product that comes with huge marketing activities to get the attention of the audience. It is a common framework for an enterprise business that pass-through MVP and soft launch stages.
• Dark launch: It’s a method used for continuous delivery. In simple words, it comes with regular feature updates on your minimum viable product. It’s the best way to decide whether a new update is efficient enough to scale all the users.

Wireframe your MVP

Wireframes are considered low-fidelity, along with white and black designs meant to represent a product’s user interface. It comes with the great thing that aligns teams and testing assumptions. One can easily explore multiple concepts designed using various factors, including desktop, tablet and mobile, that are made into clickable prototypes for user testing. At this point, it’s a good idea to put the wireframes and prototype in front of potential users. It validates your ideas that can easily accomplish the essential tasks related to the MVP. Check below a few types of wireframes.

Design the prototype

In this stage, one can get the chance to design and apply your brand’s visual hierarchy. The end goal is to provide excellent prototyping where the user interface offers a great look and feel for the development team. One can use colors, fonts and visual hierarchy while considering accessibility best practices while designing. Investing in this time comes with offering the maximum product benefits with minor efforts.

What is MVP (Minimum Viable Product)?

MVP is the kind of version of a new product that allows a team to build and test the product idea quickly and cost-efficiently. Once we launch MVP using minimal features to test the market, refine your software project based on feedback from early adopters. MVP product development enables you to identify the shortcoming of refining your product for robust release.

1: Why does one need to build MVP for startups?

MVP vs Prototype

There is a mis-concept that the product design prototype is the MVP. Actually, it’s not. The main difference between an MVP and a prototype is that the MVP is the first version of your actual product, which comes with limited features. While the prototype is the first draft of an actual product, it is declared after testing. Check the image below to understand the clear difference between the MVP and Prototype.

2: How to build MVP?

• Step 1: Start with market research
  There are times when ideas won’t fit the market needs. Before a business initiates an idea, one can embark on an MVP development process. In the end, the more the data business has, the chances of success are higher.

• Step 2: Ideate on value addition
  It is clear what essential estimations are required for the product. This MVP implies the product the most by adding an essential state to introduce value to the product.

• Step 3: Map out the user flow
  As we know, the design phase is essential, the businesses need to look at the app from the user’s perspective, starting from developing the app to the final process. It helps to define the user flow along with defining the process stages.

• Step 4: Prioritize MVP features
  In this stage, prioritize the MVP features based on the low to high priority. Also, it uses essential steps with arranging product features.

• Step 5: Launch MVP
  Once the business decides upon the main features, they learn about the market needs and help create MVP. Remember that MVP is not a low-quality product, but it still needs to fulfil the customer’s needs with ease of use and engagement.

What are the types of MVP models?

• Piecemeal
  The piecemeal is one type of MVP model that comes with multiple sources. For example, Groupon works as an aggregator that deals with various stores and adds to its platform. This works as an affiliate and later earns a little commission that makes a purchase. All the deals are available in the stores, and Groupon hasn’t made its own deals. Therefore, MVP models can be an excellent choice for a startup that works with a minimal budget.

• Wizard of Oz
  The MVP model does not have the expertise or time to make a perfect automated system. Additionally, the wizard of Oz is a fake system where the startup poses like an automated system. But they actually use human workers to complete the task with ease. The model of wizard of Oz is praised in the startup community as it uses a feasible business model.

• Concierge MVP
  The concierge MVP model works similar to Wizard of Oz and hides the working behind the system. Additionally, the implementation of concierge MVP is fairly open in that case. To build a startup, there’s no need to have an app. Manuel Rosso, the CEO of “Food on the table”, specializes in generating a shopping list that is tailored to the individual’s requirements. This model helps to get accurate contact with customers.

3: Why does minimum viable product fail?

There are mainly three types of risks that customers suffer. One needs to use the proper approach to achieve more goals and identify the constraints. A few of the reasons why MVP fails are:

Product Risk – To get the product right

• Make sure that your problem is worth solving.
• Define the smallest possible MVP.
• Validate and build MVP at a small scale.
• Later look for the large scale.

Customer Risk – Build a path to customer

• Identify the pain point
• Narrow down to early adopters
• Start with outbound channels
• Develop scalable inbound channels

Market Risk – Build a viable business

• Identify the competition using existing alternatives
• Check price and measure what customers want to say
• Optimize your cost structure by making the business model work

4: Checklist for minimum viability

• The product should be ready to use by outliers
• Testing should be thorough and complete
• The product is ready for real-world use
• The product should be prepared to handle full-lifecycle
• Data strategy will prove and disprove the viability

5: MVP testing practices

• Get feedback from users
  Getting Feedback is essential for any startup. Therefore, we help you understand your customer better and provide great ways to ask them for Feedback.

• Allow visitors to rate your product
  Show your product to visitors and allow them to rate it. This way, you can test your MVP idea and understand the user’s behaviour while testing the product.

• A/B test
  One major issue that startups face is they assume the product created is perfect to use. But the assumption can be wrong. Therefore, to test it, use this practice and test using different layouts.

• Look for fundraising sites
  If you know, there are crowdfunding sites that help startups to use it and test their products. One can make an explainer video and let the crowd funders decide if the product is worth marketing.

• Performance marketing
  If you launch a product, the first thing you can do is get users to test it. This will help to understand the product’s performance and, therefore, help you add new things to it.

• Pre-order pages
  This practice offers a great way to validate your startup’s product. It helps set up the landing page and promote the page by using Google or Facebook to get instant feedback from users.

• Market your product worth with blogs
  Finally, whether your MVP is digital or hardware, you can market it thoroughly using your blogs. As we know, blogs help promote your product and let potential customers understand how it works.

FAQ for building MVP

What problems does MVP solve?

As we know, each product is built to solve a problem, and if your product isn’t solving it, the product eventually fails. The great way to do this is to find a product that can survive in the market and do multiple tests.

What are the best examples of MVP?

There are a lot of notable companies that have launched MVPs successfully. A few of the examples are:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Amazon
• Groupon
• Dropbox

How do you measure success after building an MVP?

Several approaches give a realistic prediction of the future success of a product. A few of them are listed below:

• Customer Engagement
• Word of Mouth
• Sign-ups to gauge user interest
• Better Client appraisals
• Client Acquisition Cost
• Percentage of active users

What are the essential tips for moving from MVP to a full-scale product?

MVP is not something that we can work upon for two to three months. It takes a considerable number of efforts that go into a process. Few steps to consider while moving MVP to the full-scale product are listed below:

• Collect Feedback
• Prepare to scale
• Get the right pricing
• Do not shy away from marketing

What are the key questions to ask when building an MVP?

• What is the impact of the climate?
• What are the common languages used by you?
• How do cultural factors impact life?
• What is the local retailer’s role in your MVP?
• How do you encourage engagement?

What is its targeted market?

We know that each product is catered toward a targeted market. Snapchat can initially gear towards teens who want to send each other vanishing messages. So, it’s a unique selling point that offers fame. Therefore, selecting a target market from the start is essential in the business aspect.

Does MVP come with well-designed UX?

It is said that simplicity is the main ultimate sophistication. Therefore, one can keep their product simple, so there is no need to worry about the UX. Simply make sure that the user can navigate easily from the start to the intended point. Also, the better way to do it is to test first using the beta testers team.

Final words

We hope the above things help you embark on your first MVP development journey. Also, keep a note that it does not have to be perfect. Simply follow the MVP approach that empowers the startups to discover about users without spending much of your time and budget. In the end, all it requires is a proper plan for your startup. Identify the hypothesis, identify the main MVP features, know your targeted audience and choose the best MVP development company like us.

If your startup is MVP ready and you’re considering launching, then allow us to be a part of it. We support you in taking your startup to new heights with personalized mentorship and extended support.

Looking to configure your business structure with MVP based solutions? Let’s connect!