MVP helps to understand whether the project is in demand in general, and which system modules you should invest into if it is wanted. There are cases when users start using your service in an unexpected way, and still liking it at the same time.
WHAT IS MVP?
MVP is a minimum viable product that allows one to receive user feedback and figure out what they need. It is important to keep in mind that MVP is not just a version of the product with a minimal set of functions, it is also the least costly way to validate a business concept and is a great foundation for the future development.
Nowadays, numerous companies use MVP as the first stage of creating successful software products. Such companies focus on the minimal set of key features that are scaled to larger projects if they proved themselves demandable and viable on the market.
MVP process in the life cycle of a product
- Building a theory
- Determining the criteria of viability evaluation
- Developing MVP to prove the theory
- Measuring the effectiveness
- Preparing conclusions and new theories if necessary
EVALUATING THE MINIMAL FUNCTIONALITY OF A MVP
NOT MVP
MVP
Once again, it is important to understand that the question you are answering is not 'How to create the most technologically simple product', but 'How to create the simplest product that will meet the requirements of its early adopters'. The first approach considers fast launch a priority. Testing such a product is like testing a car that only has wheels. Employing the second approach, we offer our client a key value of the product, which is much more effective for validating theories in regard to the target market.
STICK TO THE IDEA OF YOUR PRODUCT
Despite the tactics, make sure that your MVP strategy focuses on testing the theories, not on decreasing the functionality in order to save up. As long as your minimal viable product will correspond with your unique value offer, you will be able to iterate it based on the feedback of the early adopters.
STEPS AFTER MVP
What to do after launching the MVP fully depends on your project. We will show such steps using a few cases that we worked on lately.
Botkin.pro
When working on Botkin.pro, a medical consultation service, we created an MVP and made sure that such a service is relevant and demanded in the CIS market, after which we began working on optimizing the process of attracting clients to the service and offering additional features.
Krasivey.com.ua
When working on krasivey.com.ua, a catalogue of beauty experts, we discovered the main difficulties in the process of communication, so we have fully revised the system of selecting an expert based on the experience we received.
Roboform.io
When working on roboform.io, the online form builder, we realized that the main target audience of the service is corporate clients and marketing departments who mostly value receiving a complete information on the conversion of forms, problematic issues, and the possibility to process data. At the same time, we realized that the next stage of developing this project is looking for partners.
All in all, working on a project does not stop with an MVP; once the minimal viable product is created, you repeat the following steps in a cycle:
- Analysis
- Planning
- Implementation
- Data Collection
- Analysis
This kind of a repetition lasts for the whole life cycle of your project.
CONCLUSIONS
Let's make a brief conclusion:
After studying 3,200 rapidly growing internet start-ups, the researches discovered that untimely scaling leads to a failure in 74% of cases, because attracting and servicing new customers cost more than the profit the company received. This happens when a company does not know the needs of its target audience. Nevertheless, it can be avoided by creating a minimal viable product, studying the market with its help, and introducing the changes into the original theory according to the discovered facts.
Keep in mind that MVP is a completed project. It can be small, but it must be completed.
The main goals of an MVP:
- Testing product theories in the most cost-effective way
- Saving the time when developing
- A quick delivery of the product that solves at least one problem of end users
- An accelerated reception of the information necessary to make a decision
