Building an MVP is a solution that will help you save money and effort on building a complete product. Learn more about what it is and how to build it.
For startup owners: build an MVP first!
Introducing a new product is a complex task. It requires excellent and advanced knowledge not only about the market but also about the customer’s needs. It is worth creating basic product versions that help in the analysis and makes it possible to develop the most effective solutions. Nowadays, professionals agree that MVP development is an indispensable solution that can help you save time and money, as well as avoid further problems. Let’s learn more about it.
Starting with the definition
Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is the basic version of a product or service. This solution provides the end user with a limited set of functionalities. In this case, the most important are those functions that help solve one fundamental and, simultaneously, the most pressing problem.
Therefore, these can be products or services that remove difficulties and help achieve the set goals. In this way, it is possible to verify ideas quickly in a short time without significant financial outlays. In return, you can count on feedback from the final user.
It is worth emphasizing that these comments can be positive and negative. Based on them, you can make changes to the product or remove those options that do not work. In this way, a simple product is created but tailored to market demand and a specific target group.
Building an MVP from scratch
To create an MVP, you must prepare the right business idea and the selected product or service.
It is worth asking yourself a few basic questions:
- How can this product help a potential customer?
- What functions should it have for the customer to decide to buy it?
- What features distinguish it and motivate the customer to choose this solution?
Knowing the answers to these questions, the goal of introducing the basic version of the product is set. It is also easier to determine its features, thanks to which the customer can solve the problem that arises.
Next, an analysis of the competition should be carried out. It may turn out that certain products already exist, making your product unnecessary. You need to establish an innovative solution or find the features that distinguish the product on the market. The developed product is worth testing. In this way, opinions are gained about its functionality. Users will find its strengths and weaknesses more quickly, which will allow for corrections. There are different ways of MVP development: for instance, a website with Node js (with minimal functions) will be good.
Benefits of using MVP
When developing an MVP, you gain the opportunity to verify the idea quickly. It only takes a little investment to create a basic product. Considering its most important features and solving key problems, you can be sure that it is a tool that customers need and will be happy to use.
However, if, in addition to positive information, there are also negative comments, they can be used for modernization. However, the product can be withdrawn without excessive losses if there are too many of them. It is definitely easier to give up a product or service, the preparation of which was relatively inexpensive (due to its simplicity), than a solution whose development involved considerable expenses.
MVP primarily allows you to examine the current interest of people. It allows you to prepare a product that will be a good solution and will be beneficial for each party. This is quite a saving, although it may seem that the basic versions do not attract attention. In the case of new products, however, it is worth starting with simplifications to offer customers further modifications over time.
Find an investor
The introduction of MVP allows for examining the market and verifying the product’s suitability. This is primarily an opportunity to attract investors to create more extensive versions. This is especially important in the case of products or services that are expensive to develop, require modern technologies, and thus have high financial outlays.
You do not always have to use your own funds or a loan offer. Currently, an increasingly popular solution is to search for investors. With an MVP and market analysis or sales results at your disposal, you can more easily attract their attention.
If investors notice the potential of a product or service, they will be happy to invest in it. Thanks to this, you do not have to introduce extended versions of the same product. This greatly facilitates the market’s functioning and the business’s development. This is especially important for small businesses that do not have large financial resources and require support.
Regardless of the profile of the business and the sector in which the new product will be introduced, it is worth starting with an MVP. After exploring its capabilities, developing a product or service is easier.
Conclusion
As you have already understood, creating an MVP is one of the most effective ways to minimize risk. Although a product offering fewer possibilities is introduced, at the same time, the level of usefulness of an essential function is verified. If a wider audience accepts it, more functions can be introduced. It doesn’t have to be done immediately. Updates or extensions can be set in time. If a product or service is associated with high quality and functionality, customer loyalty can be built in this way. If you have no idea what to begin your journey with, contact professionals: development experts will help you cope with tasks of any complexity and guide you through all the stages.
