Why do you need a minimum viable product?
Every new business is born out of chaos. Three-quarters of enterprises do not go past the initial stage, which is also the most decisive one. Whether you survive or go under depends on how well you steer through the troubled waters of startup. And that’s exactly where a minimum viable product (MVP) may be your beacon.
Before getting into the details of building a Minimum Viable product, or MVP, let us briefly look at what a Minimum Viable Product is and how it can help your business?
As the name suggests, a Minimum Viable Product involves building a product with only the bare minimum and most essential features that many companies launch in the marketplace as a testing tool.
The advantages of a Minimum Viable Product are manifold.
So the question you need to ask yourself is- how to gain maximum insight with minimum efforts?Step 1: Observe the MarketIn other words, indulge in market research.
You rush to execute it as you think that the sheer brilliance of your idea is enough to make it an instant success.
Hold surveys, look at market trends, observe your competitors.
4 years ago, my friend Michael decided to quit his job and start making figurines.
He was going to rent an office in order to make a reception for clients and in the nearby building there was his workshop.
His clients were people of their 40s and more with a high income and who were really ready to spend a lot of money for a customized figurine.
Finally, he founded the proper one and spent 1.5 months to make it well equipped.
We have created a tool that will help you with it.
About half a year before this story, my other friend Peter decided to open his own business – a small cafe.
As businesses are continuously trying to find ways to compete in the marketplace, using Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Strategy is a way to get applications created using feedback from its users as fast as possible.
While many businesses want to try out new ideas, they also do not want to spend a fortune on development when there isn’t a guarantee that it will take off.
MVP allows businesses to fully develop their idea quickly without cutting corners.
Using this strategy helps to build a solid all-encompassing plan quickly before the product is fully developed.
Using a traditional development strategy could lead to feature issues within the product and how customers use it.
This type of feedback is often what shows the direction the product needs to go in.
The whole startup world has become inspired by the idea of building Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) after Eric Ries popularised it back in 2008. It has become a trendy word in the tech world gradually turning into a misleading concept.
As a result, we have companies that are not willing to use the MVP approach as they don’t 100% understand it, experts who state the concept is wrong and clients who often get hot under the collar after the suggestion to try out a minimum viable product.
Сonsidering the fact that MVP remains one of the most important components when creating software, it would be unreasonable to drop it just because some people misuse the concept.
Let’s talk about why this lean tool becomes confusing, what mistakes you should avoid and, more to the point, what is the right way to build an MVP.
In a simple phrase, an MVP meaning is a product, which includes minimum features, or one main feature.
Well, there are lots of reasons, and the main is that customers can start using it before the overall product appears.
Thus, a user gets acquainted with the idea or concept of the future, more complex product and even can influence on its development.
In such a way, the product owner can create an app, which satisfies his and customers' requirements.
Yet, lots of startupers are prejudiced against such development method.
They are frightened that they won't be able to show the overall idea with an MVP model.
