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What do your customers really want? For a startup, this is a very existential question. Most businesses assume their customers want something and build a product based on that assumption. Now we all know the success rate of these businesses. According to the YCombinator statistics, one primary reason startups fail is their inability to find the right product-market fit.
So, you need to test a product before investing all your time, value, and resources. An MVP is an excellent step that helps you preview, decide, test, and finalize all the necessary adjustments your product requires to get going with its final version. It enables you to understand where you stand in this market so you do not get lost.
So, in this blog, MarsDevs introduces you to the importance of an MVP, what it stands for, and the steps you need to consider before you develop one.
MVP, or the Minimum Viable Product, is primarily the test or beta version of the product or service you want to build. Every business is a customer-oriented business now. People know what they want, and it's high time businesses acknowledge that. An MVP helps a company understand whether or not the users need or want what you think they do.
If you want to get a better insight into the approach, you need information and understanding of your consumers and their personas if you want to win the game. MVP helps you get the necessary information.
An MVP helps your startup work smarter and not harder. It reduces wasting time, money, or resources without taking away the experiences from you or your consumers. They have something to refer to when you ask them hard questions. They have an opinion you can count on when you look forward to improving the same.
An MVP bridges the gap between the consumers' expectations and the company's offerings by minimizing errors and elevating the experiences. You can thus keep optimizing the ideas as the development process gets going.
When you build an MVP, you only focus on the most relevant and required features. Consider these as the primary features that solve your consumers' problems. For example, Twitch had only one channel when it launched its website. And the tricky part is the fact that they had no connection with gaming and the entertainment industry.
Another example includes Instagram. When they were first launched, you could only see a couple of screens. The feature that made it big was the photo filters. This insight presents us with an interesting fact. Small features can help the main features be more functional.
When Instagram was just an MVP, they let you upload photos, apply filters, and share them with your friends as you build your profile.
Consider the process without an MVP development. You directly skip shipping the product. This skip involves a substantial initial investment, and the risk increases too. MVP helps you calm down with a trial round with room for improvement throughout.
You can see your idea executed without worrying about failure and starting from scratch. In case it does not work out, you can quickly pivot. The necessary adjustments would make your products more appealing and valuable to your consumers. If you launch a fully developed application, adjustments are never an option you can consider.
In addition, considering the cost you need to build an MVP is a lot lower than the final version. The development process is step-by-step, leaving space for constant innovation as well. You can implement the basic strategy of getting back money using the first few features and then reinvent them through the next investment.
Building an MVP would also help you attract investors. You have a functional product to illustrate your services when you want the investors' attention. It is easier for them to believe, and your roadmap seems more practical now. But how can you create an excellent MVP?
MVPs are the name of the game. If it's so important, are the big players on it? MarsDevs introduces you to companies that successfully passed the MVP building stage to skip failure and turn the products into successful businesses.
Are you a traveler? Honestly, this question does not even matter anymore. Everyone has heard of Airbnb and looking for travelers to introduce them to what seems nothing more than a bluff. Airbnb has been an enormous success, but have you heard their tale of airbreadandbreakfast.com?
Anyone seeking cheaper accommodation worldwide would be grateful to Airbnb. It is a one-stop solution that has impacted travelers' lives like no one else. But, it has not been the same cool app always.
Two friends launched Airbnb back in 2008. The website looked somewhat like the one in the creative, and no wonder you can spot the differences quickly. But after launching an MVP, they have kept changing and innovating over the years. With time, new features like "Experience" and "Adventure" popped in, making it the pot of gold it is today.
We are all either musicians or music lovers. There is no in-between. And Spotify has boldly established itself as the global leader in the music industry.
Two individuals identified the problem of music lovers and the gap in the music streaming space back in 2006. They got going with their product development and launched an MVP called Spotify AB as the prototype.
They launched the beta version in 2007, focusing on people who lived and breathed music. The innovations over time made it one of the most loved apps among music fans. Now, you can stream, enjoy, share, and download music whenever you want.
We grew up with Facebook. Who does not remember our teachers shouting at us to stop with Facebook and return to the actual books? However, do you think they were this sensational when they started?
Let us dive a bit deeper into the world of Facebook. Facebook started as Thefacebook back in 2004. And, of course, it came nowhere close to the one we use today. It lacked most of the services that we see today.
The founders created the application to be the universal directory for the students of Harvard University. Its popularity increased, and it soon started expanding to other universities too. In 2006, Facebook went public by opening its services to everyone aged 13 years or older. This marked the official start of the Facebook we know!
Your product might be the most innovative and exciting one anyone has ever come across. However, if you fail to find the fit in the market, it is nothing more than a lost cause. Thorough market research can help you assess demand and competition and avoid significant wastage of resources, finance, and time.
You need to know and familiarize yourself with the target consumer base even before you get to the MVP development stage. User-centric research can help you identify your ideal customers and understand your unique brag-worthy proposal.
You also need to know what factors make your idea unique or viable, what problems it would solve, and how you can make a product that meets your consumers' wants or needs. This is a crucial step; if you think a great idea can do wonders, you should check out the graveyard of innovative ideas in its ruins back in Silicon Valley.
You need to establish a set of clear and measurable metrics that can help you understand if your launch is successful. Say you want to develop an app. What should you measure?
Some of the key metrics include:
These facts or metrics present you with a realistic point of view that helps you identify the goals, roadmaps, and areas of improvement.
Now you have a clear insight into the value you are presenting to your users, your product's goals, and how you can use these two points to decide what your product would actually look like once you start developing it. So, think of yourself as the final user. Map your journey as a customer and identify the sequence of actions you can implement to solve your consumers' problems.
These user journeys would include their thoughts and decisions that lead to the user taking action. The journeys are nothing more than a visual representation of the customers' behaviors and their relationship with the product you are building.
When you start, consider what your users think and feel while using your product. These feelings or thoughts will considerably affect the users' decision-making processes as well. As you build the application, use these pieces of information and redirect them from one feature to another within your product.
After thorough research, you would have all the necessary information that you need to understand the users' journey. Build an MVP with a credible development team.
There are certain things you should remember when you build the MVP. They include a user-friendly and engaging interface of the product. It represents the final product you want to develop, so you should not confuse the users or let the product fall behind in quality standards.
Think about the primary features that can help you deliver the solution for your consumers fast. Once you release your prototype, prioritize the features that would help you during the development of the final version of your product.
You need to measure the results throughout the MVP development process. The metrics would act as the real test that presents you with insights on the viability of your product. It also determines the future direction and the roadmap for the final product development.
You also need to use these results to keep improving and making changes. Keep the feedback loop running. Keep them short, purpose-driven, and flexible too. until the final product is ready to launch
MarsDevs helps you be more creative, try more efficient systems, and play the long-term game. We know how to do it differently and still be relevant. So, our collaboration can help you understand what your business needs at the moment. While a tech co-founder enables you to understand the processes better, it should not stop you from starting.
MarsDevs is a one-stop development shop that takes care of all your tech needs and makes your business more efficient. We also help you with expert consultancy to know if you get off track. And that's not it. We have a team of dedicated experts to develop, manage, and deploy applications while you focus on scaling the business. We know it already sounds unbelievable. But in this list of incredible truths, we would like to add one more. MarsDevs is affordable too.
So, instead of waiting and worrying about what's next. Get ready with your tech requirements and get on a call with us. We will discuss possibilities and expertise while you present the plan. Let us know about your project, and let's get going then. What do you say?
