Sometimes, launching a full product isn’t a viable option, considering all the restraints regarding time and budget.
In a situation like this, a product with minimal functionalities to gather the attention of initial users can be considered a viable method for a small business.
Today, we’ll discuss what a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is and the perks of creating one. So, without further delay, let’s start with a formal definition and introduction.
What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?
An MVP is a parallel development process where the product and its customers are developed through a long-running process of creating a bare-bones product version.
“An MVP is not a product, it’s a process.”
-Eric Ries
An MVP sits right in the middle of ROI and risk, and the risk can be eliminated through effort and time to marketing. The more effort is put into marketing the MVP, the lesser the obstacles become in the path of future business operations.
What Is the Purpose of an MVP?
An MVP has quite a few purposes to fulfill after its release. An MVP helps the founder determine if their product strategy is offering any value, who’s receiving the value, and if they’re gaining actual users.
To keep track of all these factors, the founder of an MVP has to keep an eye out for several data metrics that can help a founder measure the success of the MVP itself.
The success of the MVP will determine how good the product is, who’s using and being satisfied with it, and how it can be made even better by considering user feedback.
The primary goal of an MVP will always be to test the water before setting sail. When you validate your idea with a product of minimal functionality, you can commit to launching your product on a larger scale. It defines the development and marketing phases themselves via actionable insights.
MVP is synonymous with a good startup. Want to hit the ground running and create a startup that’s going to be effective? Start by creating and launching an MVP based on your product vision.
Benefits of Having an MVP
To ensure your startup will not end up in a loss, it’s best to launch an MVP to reduce the number of risks. There are quite a few benefits of MVP, but we’ll be discussing the benefits that we think are the top five:
- MVP Is Great for Investment Returns: When you launch an MVP, you can apply monetization methods within the product. When you have customers willing to pay, you are slowly but surely getting an investment return while acquiring a budget for future development.
- MVP Is the Greatest Market Analyzer: With an MVP, you can easily test the market to see if the product is needed in the current market or if it can solve people’s pain points with a bare-bone-product version. When you receive customer reactions, it’s easier to plan what you want to put out for your audience.
- MVP Helps You Create A Better Product: When you release an MVP for your target audience, their feedback will help you improve your product with sufficient features. It helps you create a superior product with a long-term investment of time and resources.
- MVP Always Brings in The First Customers: With an MVP comes the chances of monetizing the product. When your startup is an MVP, there’s a high chance that active users will buy into your product to test and enjoy all the functionalities. That way, you’re already receiving customers even when the final product isn’t fully out, making for an efficient business model.
- MVP Ensures A Quick Release: An MVP only needs limited functionality to solve a major pain point of the target audience. When you’re only spending time developing what others need, you’re spending fewer development resources on less important things. That way, you save time before the launch, helping you release your product quicker than most competitors.
Examples of Successful MVPs
Now that we’ve successfully explained how an MVP in development can get your business to new heights let’s look at a few popular examples who have used the MVP method to spread their business like wildfire.
1. AirBnB
The founders of AirBnB had zero money and used their apartment to validate their MVP, a peer-to-peer online renting system. All they had at the start was a simple website with photos of their apartment on the landing page and other details. They immediately found a few paying customers, and the idea took off.
2. Dropbox
Back in 2007, people barely had any idea about file hosting services. To make it accessible to the public, the founders of DropBox created a simple video and used it as their MVP to reach out to more people. Their video made 70,000 people sign up overnight to learn more about the product and see it in action. The massive customer feedback also helped the founders fine-tune their application to perfection.
3. Facebook
Facebook only started as a platform to connect students of Harvard University, where students could share their thoughts and ideas on their profile walls and message each other. After making it available for public use, the idea of FaceBook took the world over like a storm, and we all know the rest.
4. Instagram
The MVP version of Instagram only allowed users to post photos and apply filters. But the idea became so popular that customer feedback was exceptional, and the app kept adding in more features and stands where it is today.
5. Amazon
Amazon started as a bookstore in the early 90s, where the website’s purpose was to work as a middleman to buy books from different retailers and then deliver them to people who ordered the same books on their website. Today, Amazon has evolved into a multi-billion dollar company that sells everything a human being might need daily.
What Makes a Good MVP?
The goal of an MVP is to solve the problems of the target market’s users and customers. The idea of being eager to solve all your audience’s pain points and turn them into gain points is what makes you a good MVP builder.
Then comes the functionality of the MVP. When developing the MVP and before releasing the product, always ensure that the product performs all the core functions flawlessly. You also need to pay attention to MVP feature prioritization to ensure you’re serving the right features from the start
When all the features are working, and people are getting what they paid for, there’s no doubt it’s a good MVP.
Lastly, an MVP always has to be simplistic. When the product is supposed to be minimal, there’s no need to overwhelm the users with many features or an over-complicated UI. Keep it as minimalistic as possible while solving all the core pain points of the target audience.
Potential Cost of Building an MVP Mobile App
If you’re planning to do it all by yourself, the idea may seem fine at the start, but it’ll be a stressful task for you in the long run, and solo development isn’t always viable unless the MVP in development is very basic and minimal.
The cost of building an MVP can depend on many things, and the range can also vary. But the ideal estimation of building an MVP can be around $5000-$50000, which possibly can and might break your bank.
At Impala Intech, we keep the cost to a minimum to make the development as viable as possible, and we charge only $3000 as a starting point. But, the cost can vary depending on the requirements and other elements of the development cycle.
To Wrap It All Up
Whenever you’re looking to validate a concept, building an MVP is the best way to validate your idea in front of your target audience.
MVP can not only validate your ideas in front of our potential user base, but it can also help you make further business decisions based on the outcome of the MVP launch. Either way, getting in touch with your customer base is the best way.
At Impala InTech, we are always prepared to help you create your first MVP and offer professional guidance. Why not get in touch with us for a consultation?
FAQs
MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product
An MVP can help you prove the viability and feasibility of your business idea/ product idea with a tangible product. It can also help you secure potential investors for future development.
The features that are present in the MVP to solve core pain points of the target audience can be considered the key features of said MVP.
Customer feedback is the most important asset during MVP development. A startup founder or business owner can get ideas about ways to improve their product through user feedback.
When you have a functioning product and a working team behind it, you prove that you are committed to the product idea, and have a capable team who can create a great product based on current market knowledge.
