What Is Minimum Viable Product and How It Works

Anybody who is launching a project for the first time naturally comes to the question of what is a minimum viable product and how it can be used as a part of a smart business strategy. In the article, we are giving an all-encompassing answer to this question, telling about the successful companies that leverage the minimum viable product and what advantages they get.

Customers are extremely picky these days. Once your solution is installed and launched for the first time – it has only a minute or two to capture the user’s attention. At the same time – the development is overwhelmingly expensive. If the company or startup has limited time and budget for the project – minimum viable product development is the best way to keep the balance between delivering main features and keeping costs at a reasonable level. 

Customers are looking for robust solutions that are marked by simplicity and clarity. Therefore today’s market sets new requirements that companies would like to meet. MVP development has become a great solution for many businesses, including startups and well-established enterprises. It enables the delivery of user-attractive projects in a fairly shorter time and gives a chance to withstand strong competition.

List of the contents: 

• What is a minimum viable product
• How do you develop an MVP
• What is MVP for tech companies
• Pros and cons of the minimum viable product
• Conclusion

MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT DEFINITION

So what does MVP mean? It stands for a minimum viable product. In short, this is the basic version that usually covers the fundamental components. Thus it includes features that target the main needs of the users. The minimum viable product facilities the overall development process. It helps to design, test, and deliver the final app. Any additional features will be an advancement based on user experience and feedback. When your company is planning to build a new project, there are different ways to validate the ideas and understand users’ preferences. The MVP project will be a great choice to find the solution for handling both aspects. It has already worked successfully for plenty of companies.

Moreover, the minimum viable product provides businesses with an opportunity for immediate benefits. The company receives a valuable and quick result while minimizing expenses. It lets the company test the received results as well as helps to plan the next steps thoughtfully. In this business practice, interactions with the potential users and their feedback are used to outline the final t features. The development team works with a complete understanding of what the users actually want. This leads to fewer edits and iterations; thus, the work will be less time and money-consuming. It is great to know the minimum viable product definition, but it will be much better to find out where you can use this approach.

A lot of enterprises have started and reached success with this strategy. It is clear that this approach doesn’t need recommendations; it has spoken for itself. Here are just a few of them:

Amazon

Amazon was initially started as an online bookstore in 1994, and its main focus was on selling low price books. The first version of amazon.com is a typical example of an MVP project where everything went from small to enormously huge. They empathized and supported the fundamental features to enter the market and later developed into the top 3 multinational technology companies. The idea behind amazon.com then and now is almost the same; what changed is the number of features and product catalogs around that idea.

Twitter

It appeared as the internal use product of Odeo. It was an SMS-based platform for employees who were not only testing but also using it for social interactions. Twitter was presented to the public in 2006, and now it is known as one of the most popular social platforms.

Groupon

Andrew Mason had an idea to create a website that could bring people together for public meetings and activities. However, he failed his initial target, he continued with the idea of sharing. He tried to share various deals daily by sending discounts and vouchers manually to his subscribers, and it met all his expectations. The project was launched in 2008 after successful testing, later, Groupon created the backend and the voucher system.

Spotify

The Swedish developers started with music streaming as their main product feature. They introduced the landing page in 2009 to check the needs of the market and if they could deal with all licensing concerns. Afterward, they were ready to enter not only the European music industry but become the world-known audio-streaming platform.

HOW DO YOU DEVELOP A MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT, AND WHERE CAN IT BE APPLIED?

This strategy has become a popular approach among various companies. They have found the answer to the question “What is a minimum viable product?” and already implemented it in life. It greatly works for both startups and well-established enterprises. Let’s consider the strategies they usually apply.

MVP product strategy for startup

Firstly, it is frequently chosen for startups. The company has the chance to test its results, engage with potential users and continue developing all the required features gradually while also looking for possible investors.

The main reason why startups develop MVPs – is to show potential investors that they have a team that can work on something real, have achieved something viable, and have at least some user base that indicates demand.

When entrepreneurs come up with the idea of producing something new, it will be the perfect match to leverage the startup process here. As we talk about startups, they require not only testing but resources as well. In most cases, the company has a limited budget to start. Thus they can focus on the initial idea and core functionalities. Later, when they present the MVP startup at the market, they learn what direction they should move next. They start to work on improvement, adding new features, or even changing the initial ones if they do not get positive feedback. At the same time, they have the opportunity to find new resources and investments if the first stage is successful. Finally, they decrease the risks of failure as much as it is possible.

Typical startup MVP strategy: Idea – Initial funding – Launch – Market validation – More investment

Enterprise MVP process

Next, large enterprises also use this approach quite often in order to improve the quality of services and be aware of the current customers’ preferences. The minimum viable product app can be a reasonable decision for them. It is a reasonable option for both new and well-established market players.

In opposite to startups, enterprises don’t seek funding; they use MVPs as a part of the advanced resources utilization strategy. They research the viability of a new product for the mass market or internal use by building extra layers around the core idea, leveraging the feedback of actual users.

In order to have a well-established business, the company has to be always up-to-date, follow all innovations, and improve the provided services. It is misleading that a minimum viable product only corresponds to startups; it has already been integrated into the software development lifecycle. This is a proven business strategy. After defining the production priorities, the developers are able to start the minimum viable product creation. At the launch, you will receive feedback for implementing the changes and improvements before investing too much time and resources into features that may be redundant.

MVP development: Market offering definition – Priority identification – Implementation – Launch – Feedback – Improvement

Despite the fact that the MVP development lifecycle is the same for both startups and enterprises, they chase very different goals.

WHAT IS A MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT FOR TECH COMPANIES

One of the most important business and marketing rules, in particular, is that users come first. You don’t want to spend a fortune on a glossy application, even with a brilliant idea at its core, to see that it is used only by a thousand people around the globe. The task of any business is to get maximum exposure at a minimum cost. Right, a startup can’t gain a user base without having at least some app. In this context, it is the perfect balance between reasonable resource utilization and gaining the attention of potential customers, investors, media, etc.

Many businesses apply the minimum viable product as it helps to simplify the development process and reach the final purpose. It goes without saying that every company wants to create a successful market offer. It can only be fulfilled when its production has constantly increasing popularity among users. Therefore launching a new project, companies should be able to clearly see the result from the customer’s perspective.  As long as you combine your ideas with the preferences of the users, you will get the expected results. Both tech and non-tech companies apply MVPs for their software products and apps connected to their services. This approach is appropriate in different business spheres as everyone will benefit from it.

MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT PROS AND CONS

MVP product benefits

In today’s rapidly evolving tech landscape, the concept of a minimum viable product has emerged as a crucial strategy for startups and businesses. By focusing on these benefits, it’s easy to observe a profound impact on companies’ advancement.

Only needed functionality

When you start, attention should be concentrated on finding and implementing the core function of the application. You get the chance to test your idea, collect feedback, present your project quicker at the market, and cut down costs.

Testing convenience

The company has the opportunity to check the basic version via this approach. You are not dealing with the feature-heavy expansion without careful consideration at first.

Customers’ feedback

The MVP process includes learning the users’ opinions and considering their conception of the final result. Sometimes you might even change your intentions to meet the customers’ needs and avoid adding unnecessary developing steps.

Market recognition

The MVP  startup acknowledges that your offer is targeted at the chosen market. In addition, the developers should differentiate it from similar projects by focusing on developing special application features which they want to present to the public.

Less time-consuming

Minimum viable product development includes the core functionalities; therefore, the company is concentrated only on creating outlined steps. The production launch appears to be faster. The following task is to gather feedback, continue improvement, and be ready to release the updates in a short time.

Reasonable expenses

Starting MVP  development is the most reasonable approach for your budget. You get the chance to investigate the market needs to make sure that your initial idea is attractive. Depending on users’ feedback, you will know exactly what will be the next features that deserve the resources. As for another benefit, you will have fewer expenses because overall development time is considerably shorter.

Challenges related to MVP product

In order to prevent possible challenges when building an MVP, it is essential to carefully plan and prioritize features, manage user expectations, establish scalability measures, and effectively incorporate user feedback into development iterations. Additionally, maintaining clear communication with the development team, continuously testing and iterating, and being open to making necessary adjustments based on market response can help overcome challenges and ensure a successful MVP development process.

Features prioritization

Companies might face the challenges of determining their core functions and purposes. Defining the minimum does not seem so easy, as we always want to add more and more features. It will be wiser to deliver something simple rather than spend resources on unnecessary functions customers are not using. Actually, it is the first benefit that businesses should not forget that the minimum viable product is all about testing and learning from it.

Compromise design

When we want to add attractiveness, we might think about an excellent design that will catch the eye of the users. It is really true, but then they wait for the functionality. Creating an app startup, make sure more time is spent on functionality, and only then extra features and complex design.

Imperfect results in the first stage

The minimum viable product won’t be perfect in everything. The so-called Pareto Principle should (20% of work gives 80% of the results) should be applied. And sometimes, it is hard to resist the temptation to spend too much time and resources on polishing unnecessary aspects of the software. As mentioned above, developers should mostly focus on the final goals, dealing with the minimum viable product; developers should follow the step-by-step development process. The company should accept that, for example, the app will not be created as a complex application including all possible and expected features. It is the basic version that still needs improvement and resources, but the most important thing is that it provides you with the perfect foundation for your project.

CONCLUSION

We hope that you have found this article helpful and had the chance to find the answer to the question, “What does minimum viable product mean”. We’d like to stress the following points. This approach deals with the basic version of the project that includes core features. The presentation for the users before the launch gives you a chance to gather their feedback, analyze and learn it. The next stages of development and improvement will be explained and supported by the users’ needs. As a result, you will be sure that your company is developing and investing resources in something workable that has the market demand.

In short, giving the correct answer to the question “What is a minimum viable product? ” helps us fully realize its purposes and benefits. Both new and well-established businesses choose this approach for its numerous benefits. If you plan to build something new, you should definitely consider this strategy. Don’t forget to have a professional consultation first; the qualified team will be a great decision here.