Everyone who is planning to launch a business needs a strategy. In case you do not want to waste your time committing unnecessary mistakes, you need to know exactly what you are doing.
MVP has become a global trend among startups. Development companies like Purrweb are helping businesses to achieve their goals with minimum viable products. But if you still do not know what it is or how it can help you optimize your business, we recommend reading this article. This text covers the most important points and focuses on the ways an MVP can be beneficial for you.
What is an MVP?
MVPs have few features. That is why they are called “minimum viable”. Startups launch MVPs to check the effect of their product: is it of high demand? Which functions and features are used by customers more often?
With the help of a minimum viable product, you conduct initial testing to understand the market better. Obviously, your product does not need tons of features for it, essential functionality is just enough.
Imagine you are selling cakes. You are not sure that your skills and opportunities match the competition, but you have invented a special recipe. Before investing all your money in a bakery, staff, and machines to make icing and frosting, you start selling your cakes using your basic recipe. You may be selling these cakes to a narrow circle of people. Their reviews will help you understand which direction you should take. Basically, your plain cake is similar to what is called MVP in IT.
Why is MVP so important?
As an entrepreneur, you need something to start with. According to CB INSIGHTS, 42% of startups fail because there is no market need for their products. In other words, they tried to sell something useless.
Running out of money, ignoring customers, and pricing issues are also among the top reasons for failure. And, believe it or not, launching an MVP can help you avoid these mistakes.
The minimum viable product can provide early feedback from users. It can either confirm their interest in your product or prove that your business idea will not be in high demand. Regardless of the outcome, you will get the essential information quickly — before you spend lots of money. It means that an MVP is a more cost-effective option, as you invest less at the start of your project.
MVP can also save you time. Since it is easier to launch and allows getting the feedback quickly, it can help you outperform potential competitors. With its help, you can attract not only customers but also investors, if they see that your product is popular.
Thus, launching an MVP has plenty of benefits. Initially, of course, you conduct testing and learn about trends, but you can also be noticed by many people, so it is a nice way to promote yourself.
When is it worth choosing the MVP approach?
No matter how trendy this solution is, you need to understand whether it is what you need. MVP approach requires customer involvement if you want to reap all the benefits.
As already mentioned, a minimum viable product is a perfect option if you are short in time or/and money and want to check your business idea. Besides, it can be a great way to attract investors and check the market.
But, there are also occasions when you do not need to build an MVP. If you have a full understanding of the market’s demand and you know everything about the problem your product will solve, you may skip the MVP stage and start creating a large-scale solution. Nevertheless, the minimum viable product is still a cheaper way for your business to enter the market.
Companies that started with MVP
Everyone loves examples and success stories. So do we.
If an imaginary bakery and all the advantages discussed above have not proved the MVP benefits, here are examples of famous brands that began as MVP.
Dropbox, Airbnb, Uber, Buffer, Pinterest, Amazon — all of them have one thing in common: they all started with a minimum viable product. Amazon has not been so giant since the very beginning. Prior to becoming a store that sells everything, it only allowed buying books from the distributors. However, now Jeff Bezos is the richest man on Earth — look how far he has come.
Uber and Dropbox are also famous examples of how you can start your business with a prototype. Both projects started with something small and became very popular step by step. The story of Dropbox creation is now told as a classic success story.
Final word
The MVP approach has indeed become a worldwide trend. It is not surprising, considering how many companies took this “rags-to-riches” path. There are different ways to create an MVP, and you need to choose the one that matches your business goals. If you are not sure about launching your minimum viable product, get in touch with IT companies. With plenty of them in the market, you will find the best solution for sure.
MVP is great for optimizing your business not only at the beginning. By maintaining constant customer feedback, you will know exactly what your users need. Matching their expectations, you will protect yourself from wasting money on useless updates. Build your product like a car: at the beginning, it will look more like a skateboard, but you can gradually make it a powerful sports car.