An MVP, or Minimum Viable Product, is like a prototype that helps you validate you idea before you allocate all your resources to it. That sounds great, right? You make an MVP, test it and know what to improve to achieve success with your product. But it’s not that simple. So, in this article I’m going to dive into why would anyone create a Minimum Viable Product and is it really necessary.
What Is An MVP?
Basically, an MVP is like an upgraded prototype. It’s a usable, working version of your product that contains the minimum features while still providing the value to the users. We have already gone over what is an MVP in more detail in our article about how to define the features of your MVP. But the bottom line is that a Minimum Viable Product should be your starting point. It’s essentially a tool for you to validate your product idea and ensure there’s demand for it on the market.
Why Should You Build An MVP?
Building a Minimum Viable Product and pushing it out to market can have three main outcomes. Depending on which one you end up with, there’s different benefits.
1. Your Minimum Viable Product Is A Success
The first scenario is the best one. You put out your Minimum Viable Product to market and get positive feedback from the users. If that’s the case, congratulations – you can continue to develop your product and add more features to your Minimum Viable Product. In this scenario, having an MVP proves that your idea is valid and has a true market fit. If you decide to put out a Minimum Viable Product and achieve success, it will also be much easier for you to gain additional funding. That’s something you won’t be able to do without a tried-and-true Minimum Viable Product.
2. Your Minimum Viable Product Gets Lots Of Feedback On What Can Be Improved
In this scenario, the Minimum Viable Product was not 100% successful. However, you did get lots of data from the users on what can be improved. The time and money you invested into building the MVP is now returned. You can analyze the feedback and make improvements to the Minimum Viable Product to make it a better market fit. In this case, the MVP actually sets your product up for success. You will have all the information you need to make the product perfectly tailored to its target audience.
3. Your Minimum Viable Product Is A Total Failure
While your Minimum Viable Product may get some valid feedback and useful ideas for improvements, sometimes an MVP might show that your idea is just not feasible. You might think that it’s terrible. But having a failed MVP is much better than spending all this time and money on a complete product and then seeing it fail. A Minimum Viable Product will save you and your team a lot of disappointment in the future. Instead of spending your whole budget on an idea that’s not a good market fit, you can instead allocate those resources to another idea.
Building An MVP Is Simply Common Sense
From my perspective, it’s always better to develop and launch a Minimum Viable Product before starting to work on a complete product. During my career as a Developer, I’ve seen many ideas get scratched during the research phase as well as during testing. And it’s always sad to see. We really want our clients to do the best they can and that’s why we always do proper research, testing and build MVPs. It’s just better to get the feedback quicker. It gives us the time to adjust and makes the probability of product’s success higher. I would say that not building MVPs is like not researching the market. It just doesn’t make any sense if you want your product to succeed.
If you’re looking for an experienced team that has built many MVPs and can help you get your project started – contact us and get a free product consultation!
