What is an MVP and why does your startup need one?

The goal of any startup developing a fully functional product is to offer users a solution to their problem. Therefore, even before launching the project, it's important to understand whether the audience needs this new product. How can this be done? By using the Minimum Viable Product concept, which is part of the lean startup strategy.

The concept of an MVP can be applied to product development in any industry, but it's most commonly used by startups developing digital services and software. The concept is simple: you're developing a product (good or service), and your job as a developer is to track and analyze the behavior of people using it for the first time.website, application, automated service, etc.).

Using the data obtained during such an experiment, you continue working on the product, adjusting it, or, if there is no audience interest, stop further development.

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MVP helps minimize risks

Every startup is based on a hypothesis. Testing its validity can be done through:

• drawing up a list of criteria that determine its viability;
• creation and launch of MVP;
• performance measurement;
• analysis of the results, drawing conclusions and, if necessary, making a decision to test the next hypothesis.

According to a study by business analytics company CB Insights, approximately 42% of startups fail due to a lack of market demand. Many aspiring entrepreneurs need months, even years, to realize the flaws in their hypothesis.

Realizing that your product isn't interesting to your audience after spending a lot of time and money on its development isn't the best scenario. Using the MVP concept, you can minimize these risks.

Why is it important to create a Minimum Viable Product?

Launching an MVP allows you to get feedback from real users and understand whether the product is truly interesting to the audience and what exactly they need right now.

An MVP is a functional test version of a product that implements only the core features (sometimes just one). Its viability and relevance are tested by collecting real user feedback.

After collecting and studying feedback, they refine successful features, conduct re-testing, and, if the audience's response is positive, begin creating a full-fledged product and release it to the market.

Is it worth spending resources on creating an MVP?

It's a long journey from the idea of ​​creating a sought-after product to its successful implementation. By implementing an MVP, you can:

• save money because you won’t have to invest in an unprofitable business project;
• measure the niche and understand whether there is an opportunity to work on a ready, formed demand;
• find out the level of user interest in your product;
• determine the best development vector using iterations;
• to form a base of real potential customers, as well as early adopters of the new product.

Stages of MVP creation

To launch an MVP, you can use an 8-step process:

• 1-4 – development of a business idea;
• 5-6 is product design;
• 7-8 — development and testing.

1. Formulate the problem

Using a customer-centric approach, we try to answer the question of why the user needs the product, what problem it helps solve, and what its value is.

2. Determine the target audience and highlight its core

When preparing an MVP, don't focus on the needs of a broad audience. Narrowing the target audience allows for a more precise positioning of the new product. To achieve this, you need to create a profile of the "ideal user"—that is, a customer who would buy a product without hesitation if its features fully satisfy them. In marketing, this is called a "customer avatar": the customer's age, income, education, habits, and interests. This consumer information will also be useful later, during the promotional phase of the new product.

3. Study the competitive environment

Even if you've managed to come up with something new and unique, there may still be companies operating in the same niche that offer something in the same industry. It's worth analyzing their market share, learning from their experience, identifying their strengths, identifying their weaknesses, understanding their uniqueness, and understanding why consumers choose them.

4. Conduct a SWOT analysis

SWOT analysis allows you to identify strengths and weaknesses, calculate the capabilities and prospects of a minimum viable product, and anticipate threats.

5. Create a customer journey map

After conducting a fundamental analysis of the business idea, we must look at the new product through the eyes of a potential buyer. A journey map is the sequence of actions a user takes to achieve their goal—purchase the desired product or service. We must put ourselves in the customer's shoes, imagine how they will interact with the new product (for example, an app), and understand at what point it makes sense to offer additional information and when to add a hint. Design the interface so that the journey is short, simple, and convenient.

6. Identify key features and calculate the MVP volume

Regardless of the scale of the future project, an MVP should present only the core features. Offering additional functionality to the user is undesirable in an MVP, as this will confuse the client and distort the validity of the idea's validity research results. Advanced functionality can be added later, after product testing and analysis of the feedback received.

7. Choose an iterative method and develop an MVP

It's important to develop an MVP using one of the iterative methods—Scrum, Lean, Kanban, etc.—as well. All of these approaches are designed to allow for regular releases and rapid improvements to the product based on user feedback.

8. Test the product

An MVP needs to be tested throughout the development phase. This should be done regularly. Alpha testing (internal) is performed by testers, while beta testing (external) requires outside help. Ideally, it should involve a real audience of future users of the new product. You can find people willing to participate in testing on specialized platforms such as BetaList, Quora, ProductHunt, Reddit, and others. You can also engage users through your social media, blog, or email newsletter.

The main goal of testing is to technically improve a product so that random technical failures or imperfections do not prevent the audience from evaluating the functionality of the new product when it hits the market.

The information obtained through MVP (statistics, customer behavior history, and feedback) helps determine whether a new project has a future and potential. Analyzing this data is the foundation for generating new ideas and developing productive product development strategies based on factual data, not theory. In other words, conducting MVP testing is beneficial, and the time invested in it is well worth it.