If you read news about projects and services, you often come across the term MVP. But what does this acronym mean, and why is MVP so often used in the early stages of product development? Let’s find out together.
Minimum Viable Product – A trial of a product, service, or service that has a minimal set of features (sometimes just one) that are valuable to the end user. MVPs are created to test assumptions and validate the viability of the desired product, its value and market demand.
The result of Create a Minimum Viable Product, as well as its testing and feedback from the target audience will help you understand whether the project is worth further development, what changes need to be made to the strategy, and what should be kept in its original form.
In 2008, renting a house or accommodation while traveling was a big issue, and two enthusiasts decided to take a different route and rent out their apartment with a simple fax machine. In fact, this is also the MVP for testing the main functionality. Experiments have shown that the product will find demand, and today Airbnb is one of the largest platforms for finding short-term rentals.
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Why to Create an MVP?
You can say that such a product tests working hypotheses in practice, allows you to implement an idea, etc. Many developers spend many years to implement their product. Many startups close because there is no market demand. And to see if your product has a chance to become marketable, you need to create an MVP beforehand.
The idea of creating a minimally viable product is that you’re essentially creating a real product that you can offer to customers. Next, you just need to observe people’s reactions and refine, fix it.
In addition, you will be able to identify and understand your audience. You need to determine if people need your product and how they will use it. Let’s say, test the future project.
MVP Objectives
- Test the product success hypothesis with minimal resources;
- Reduce time and get the project up and running quickly
- Launch the product on the market and fill it with the first customers before the final version arrives and take away a part of the market from competitors
- Lay the foundation for other projects
- Create a psychological portrait of the target audience to understand the direction in which to develop the company and the project.
- Attract investors’ money or enter crowdfunding platforms.
Varieties of MVP
We have already written that MVP is aimed at hypothesis testing. There are several varieties of such a product.
1 – A “fictitious” product. In this case clients are given a project which doesn’t exist yet. This group of MVPs includes:
2 – “The Wizard of Oz” or the Flintstone MVP. The consumer thinks they are being offered a product with automated processes. But it’s not. All the user sees is a picture of the product, where all the maintenance is done manually. And if the test shows good results, the developers are busy automating it. Here is an interesting example.
The online store Zappos. Nick Swinmern, the founder of this chain, decided to test his business idea before creating the store. To do this, he posted pictures of shoes on the Web.
If the product was ordered, he went and bought the right model and sent it to the customer. Of course, the consumer himself didn’t know this and thought that the whole process was completely automated. This is how Swinmern made sure his idea was in demand.
3 – Concierge. The essence is the same as in the case of the Wizard of Oz, but the difference is that there is no technology and everything is done by the efforts of a team.
4 – Dissolved MVP. The siloed MVP method is used when an idea can be tested and implemented without developing unique software. Instead, they gather ready-made tools, combine them into one system and present it in a single interface.
If all companies started with developing unique solutions, which would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, we wouldn’t see many cool projects. This is what you usually get after you launch, get feedback, and get the first results.
Look at the popular Groupon group buying service. At one time it was a simple site on WordPress, where all interaction with users was conducted via e-mail.After the first feedback and financial results, the social functions were expanded to include a newsletter, automation, and a mobile application.
5 – One-parameter product. This variety is most commonly employed when a finished product has a limited number of features (typically one). This was the foundation of the founders of Spotify, who were mentioned at the beginning of the article. The release of a product that has only one function (parameter) facilitates the identification of a target audience, receiving feedback and analyzing it, then proceeding to testing.
Let’s consider typical mistakes when creating an MVP
- Desire to be perfect. You don’t need to show everything in your head at once. It is important to focus on the main functions, to show the user the benefit of the product.
- Ignoring feedback. The essence of MVP is to get feedback from users. It’s important to listen to their opinions, draw conclusions, and correct mistakes.
- Announcement. Many people shout on all the corners that a new application is coming out, praising its uniqueness and exclusivity. Don’t overestimate user expectations, because MVP may just not work out.
Let’s Summarize
So now you understand what MVP is, how it works, and why it’s needed. All that’s left is to find a team of developers. And this is not a problem. We are already here! Gear heart! We’ll help you save time, money, and the rest of our resources. Our team has all the necessary experts and skills to analyze and implement your idea with MVP, which won’t make you wait long for the result.
