What is MVP or Minimum Viable Product?

Gathering insights from your MVP is better than making a fully-functional product. Your MVP is the product to be launched with the core feature which fulfills the basic promises/functionality. It is referred to as the “Minimal feature set”.

A minimum viable product has enough features that it can be launched. The idea is to launch it as soon as possible to put it in front of real users so that product validation can begin. The use of analytics, a/b testing, surveys, and user interviews provide insights into how users are using the app, and that can be used to develop the product further with correct assumptions.

Why Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?
 

Here are the few benefits of making MVP rather than a fully functional product at once.

1. MVP helps you in decision-making for the future.
2. It minimizes the development cost of your product.
3. An MVP with minimal functionality is less time-consuming than a functional product.
4. MVP gives you time to cope with the downsides in your process at the earlier stage of development.
5. You can test the hypothesis with the outcome of testing and fast delivery.

The Goal of MVP

Your MVP will let you know what strategy you will need to adopt in the future. This means what makes your product hit the “product-market fit”

Iterate the entire process until the market fit is obtained, and your product will give you a foundation for your success by making enough popularity in terms of analytics and sales.

Step 1 – Choosing the MVP features

First, define your target audience, and the problem you are intended to solve, then make up a process of doing must-have functionalities in it.

Feature Prioritization – MoSCoW Analysis

Moscow method is the prioritization technique in fields like business, marketing, or software development process. It typically has 4 categories/has based on the functionality of making the product, i.e.,

Must have: Minimal suitable subset of the functionality, that is crucial. That is included in our MVP.

Should have: Not critical but important features in your product.

Could have: Desirable features in your product.

Won’t have features that can be neglected or skipped. It means to be “not in the next release” or “not ever”.

Moscow analysis gives you a way to define what features are included in your MVP in the first ‘have’.

Choosing Features’ Critical Mistake

MVP is also the most misunderstood term in the tech industry, and many startup founders make mistakes in deciding what should be included as part of the MVP. Sometimes they launch with too many features in the app, and sometimes they mistake a crappy-looking product for MVP. Here is the link for Startup Mistake #1 – Choosing the Right MVP feature.

Step 2 – Launching your MVP

You must do the three critical things before launching your MVP in this video. MVP must be functional according to the Lean Startup; your MVP is the most promising starting point.

Your MVP must fulfill all the basic functionality along with design, which at least satisfies the customer/client requirements, makes it bug-free and you will improve its look and feel as time passes.

Step 3 – Build-Measure-Learn Loop in MVP

This loop emphasizes speed as a chief ingredient. A startup ideality is defined by how quickly your team transforms the idea into a product that has satisfying/must-have features in it.

This loop starts with your MVP idea, then build a product from it, measures its effectiveness, and learns from the response you get as your customer’s feedback. This iterative approach makes up your product and reaches the product market fit.

Conclusion

Your MVP is the first step to deciding whether you continue with the initial assumptions or your initial idea. Learning from an MVP will help you make efficient use of your resources.

Vizteck solutions have worked with many companies to create their MVPs. Contact us today to get a quote for your project.