“Building an MVP is one of the most vital parts of a Startup launch in this Guide let’s find how to build a successful MVP”
MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product; it is important to understand the definition and stick to it.
Need for an MVP –
It is often mistaken that when launching your product, it should be a full-fledged product, with as many features as possible and be lucrative.
For Startups, this approach can eventually lead to a dead-end, exhausted resources, and building something that probably your user does not want.
The need of the market is constantly changing. It is a good practice to build your project in iterations as per the user feedback.
Here comes the need for an MVP
MVP is not your final product, but the purpose of an MVP is to build relations with your early users get their feedback to iterate towards a fine product.
In some cases, even a simple website with your company description and a contact form would do.
Let us look at some examples of some famous companies
Facebook – the image, shows Facebook from the year 2005 notice their description, The Facebook of today was never thought to be like that initially.
Twitch.tv Twitch was initially called justin.tv. The original Justin.tv was a single channel featuring founder Justin Kan, who broadcast his life 24/7 and popularized the term lifecasting.
Rules to remember –
MVP is not your final product.
Do not fall in love with your MVP – Be dynamic in your approach be ready to accept feedback and change it with iterations
MVP should not have to be perfect – It is okay to be imperfect. You just need the basic features working.
Planning an MVP –
Start with a template
Here is an example template that you can use
[My Product / Startup] provides [Service Name] to [Target Audience] for [Value Delivered]
See this example
MovingDouble provides Product Building Services to Startups & Small businesses for making the Start-up’s Product Build process easier and fast.
This way you can put your product name in the template and try to figure out your main value delivered.
- List minimum features/specs required to deliver the value & services
List only basic features that will be needed
Example for Hotel Booking Website –
Most basic features would be the Hotel listing database, User signup, and Booking System,
More advance features like User Review etc and be added with later iterations
- Set up a clear timeline and timebox your Idea.
Give yourself a clear timeline on when you want your first launch. Check on the time each feature would consume
The motive behind launching as quickly as possible is to provide the momentum to your idea and get some initial user feedback. This saves you from wasting lots of time building something that your user probably will not use.
- Keep it simple and cut the loose ends
Review the timeline and feature list again and see what things can be cut off.
Great products are built by only focusing on what your product does best.
- Launch and listen
A misconception among the founders is that they sometimes think a product launch must be big with lots of coverage. This is not necessarily true.
The only initial coverage for MVP needs is your circle and friends, who are willing to spread the good words of your Startup. Reach out to the people you build your product for, and ask for their feedback.
- Launch and Launch Again
Market dynamics chances extremely fast, and building ultimate product agility to relaunch with user’s feedback is essential. You keep on building and re-launching. This cycle continues throughout your product lifecycle. All big or small companies keep adding features and launch with what their user like.