Minimum Viable Product

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What is MVP?

An MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is an option for startups and young companies that consider generating a new product or a new service. An MVP focuses on one fundamental value or feature develop with the minimum amount of time and money.

Benefits of building MVP

Businesses that only plan to overcome the market often have insufficient financial resources. Therefore, they cannot afford a long-term process of creating and implementing software or costly web projects. Developing an MVP is often the only way for them to discover whether the idea has a chance of success.


Following are the reasons why you should think about developing an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) in your startup:

1. Fast feedback from the market

Buffer’s creator, Joel Gascoigne, had not written a single line of code until he became convinced that there was a requirement for an application on the market that would allow easy post-development in social media. First, he created a simple landing page with the explanation of the app and placed the green button Plans and Pricing on it. He posted the info on Twitter and waited for feedback. Then, he added a second subpage with a price list and, using suitable tools, analyzed which features most were often selected. This made him alert that his idea was good.

2. Saves time and money

The concept of an MVP is to make a basic version of an application that only deals the most important functionalities. This can be done with a lesser amount of time and money. Thanks to this, you are still safe if the idea flops. Drew Huston, Dropbox CEO, before getting down to work on the virtual drive and coordinating files between various platforms, published an unprofessional video where he explained what his idea was about. It did not cost him much and let him collect feedback from his potential customers.


3. Quick verification of the idea

When your mini-version product gets the light of day – show it to the world. Let actual users check it. Do not be scared of criticism. By receiving real feedback, you can recover those features of the application that can be vital for its future success. How to do it? Take advantage of computing website traffic in Google Analytics, make short interviews with users, and ask them to complete an examination or ask them for their opinion on your social media profiles. You will validate your idea in a more consistent manner if you run at least a basic version of the software with the most important features.

What form should MVP take?

In the beginning, it is a good idea to prepare a simple functional mock-up that will order your design and can help as its prototype. In the next step, agree how your application should look like. Technical work is the last step in the preparation of an MVP. Let us concentrate on creating the basic functionalities of our product so that it can be presented to future users or investors.

A simple web application, video or landing page can be a good opening point. Have you got about Zappos, the US-based online store? Now it goes to Amazon, but for its originator – Nick Swinmurn – it would have never extended into its current enormous size. Well, Swinmurn originated a footwear shop… with literally no shoes in stock. His idea was modest. He took pictures of shoes in stationery stores, put them online and when somebody ordered a pair, he went to the seller, bought the right size and sent the package. Simply when there were more orders – he signed contracts with producers and distributors.

MVP on internal resources or outsource?

If you have the ability to develop an MVP in your organization – just do it. If you required external programming support – cooperate with partners who are professionals in this field. This is not the important thing. What is critical here is to spend as little time and money as possible on the process. offshore software development to the US or other European countries will let you save time that you can offer to product development, marketing or investor achievement. With an MVP, you can inspect the needs of your target users, test the product and draw conclusions.