How to build an MVP?
Building an MVP is an effective way of evaluating your project assumptions, enabling you to test the fundamental aspects of the product early.
A minimum viable product, also known as an MVP, is frequently the first usable version of a digital product.
MVPs are an essential and valuable part of the product development toolkit because they are a vital component in the lean startup methodology.
Any digital product development project begins with assumptions — a lot of them.
You have a great concept or product idea, and you probably know who it will attract, how to approach it, what features will be appreciated, and even what technologies you will most likely use when building it.
Your project will be based on assumptions unless you investigate each of these questions. That is a risky strategy. Some of your hypotheses will be incorrect, but which ones?
Building an MVP is an effective way of evaluating your project assumptions, enabling you to test the fundamental aspects of the product early and, by taking the corresponding feedback into account, develop a final product with a much higher chance of market success.
Before we answer how to build a Minimum Viable Product, let's first define it.
What is an MVP?
An MVP is a basic, workable version of a digital product that typically includes only the most essential features from the conceptual design. It is used to put your product idea to the test with your potential customers and collect the data to fine-tune the development process.
An MVP is a tool that helps you interact early with customers, reduces wasted resources and time throughout development, and results in a better, more suitable final product.
The MVP concept is defined by Eric Ries' user-centered lean startup methodology and is as follows:
A version of a new product that allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort.
So, while it may be a "lite" version of the final product, the MVP's primary goal is to collect helpful information.
This data should provide answers to three key questions:
Is there a need for the product?
Does it solve the users' problem?
Is it likely to be profitable/sustainable?
How to develop an MVP
So now we know what an MVP is, but what does it serve? What is its function in the development process of your product?
Step 1: Know the purpose of your MVP
The MVP (or, more precisely, the information it provides and collects) is the foundation for your ultimate product. We're back to depending on assumptions without that foundation. Assumptions are unreliable pillars to build on.
Simply put, an MVP is about getting the most significant certainty with the least amount of time and resources.
Step 2: Do research (just enough of it)
Market research is vital for each new product.
What if we found ourselves building something that nobody wanted? In that case, what did it matter if we did it on time and a budget?
CBInsights poll investigated the reasons why startups fail. 35% of respondents said there was "no market need" for the product or service.
An MVP can be your most valuable piece of market research in digital product development, allowing you to grasp consumers' genuine demand for the product, the uses they'll put it to, who your potential competitors are, and so on. An MVP can provide you with a firm foundation from which to grow.
Furthermore, thorough market research at the start of a project serves as a foundation for later development stages, such as product-market fit and scaling, when it comes to establishing and growing the final product.
However, remember that research can be enticing (there's always another question to ask, another hypothesis to test), and it's critical not to get trapped - collect the knowledge you need, then construct your MVP!
Step 3: Focus on the must-have features
If an MVP is a snapshot of your product's fundamental elements, you must be clear on what those elements are. Which features and qualities you could include in the design are genuine "must-haves"?
Begin by thinking about all of the prospective features in light of the following questions:
What is the user problem that you're trying to solve?
Who exactly are the users you're building this product for?
What are the benefits of that solution?
In doing so, you should be able to determine the hypotheses that the MVP will test, which will emphasize the aspects that are (or appear to be) absolutely critical and thus worthy of testing.
One option to investigate these challenges is to begin the development process with a product discovery workshop. For a day or two, the project development team (including developers, business analysts, UX designers, etc.) meets with the client and business partners to thoroughly study and identify the project's fundamental features.
We explore target users, company goals, the drivers behind the product concept, and project risks and begin considering potential solutions and technology throughout the workshop. The MVP concept is taking shape at this early stage.
Step 4: Build the MVP ASAP
To be clear, each MVP is unique, so there is no one-size-fits-all strategy for creating one. We typically begin with a clear product vision, followed by a basic design centered on UI/UX and architectural wireframing before building the MVP.
On the other hand, creating the MVP is the practical start of the build-measure-learn cycle at the heart of Ries' lean startup approach.
You have a hypothesis you want to test (that your product concept will solve a specific problem for a specific group of users), you build something that represents your product (the MVP!), user reactions and feedback is gathered and collated, the resulting data is analyzed and the insights and conclusions direct the next stage of development.
While this article focuses on MVPs, it is essential to note that the MVP is not the first opportunity to verify your idea (sometimes, you can measure and learn before you build).
Numerous non-code ways exist to engage with potential users and gather user feedback, such as design prototypes or no-code tools like Webflow.
Step 5: Time to learn (and keep learning)
After you've constructed the MVP and given it to users, the next step is to learn from the experience and apply what you've learned to the next stage of development.
Perhaps you'll develop one MVP, or maybe learning from one MVP will prompt a rethink, a pivot in the project's direction, and you'll repeat the MVP experience to test your updated hypothesis: another experiment.
Even if everyone loves your MVP, the learning doesn't stop there. The following phase is to guarantee your creation's product-market fit, fine-tuning the product and its features to satisfy the market's specific needs until you have a product that customers want and will pay for.
Summary
The minimum viable product will almost certainly be an important aspect of your digital product development approach. It's the first concrete output and, possibly, the most impactful feedback and data in the final product version.
However, it's essential to realize that the MVP isn't a product in the traditional sense; it's part of the learning process that leads to the product.
Consider the MVP an exercise wherein you test the key product features with the specified user audience, utilizing a product with a core value proposition wrapped up in essential features.
There is no apparent response to the "how to produce MVP" question. The MVP is the point at which development and creative sides intersect and are tested in the real world.