4 Key Factors to create MVP for startup —

MVP for startup: Being an entrepreneur is never easy. It is even more difficult when you just have an idea and trying to explain to people why it is good and has the capability to solve business problems. Although a prototype or working product is the best way to explain — it takes time. With time being the most expensive resource, the best way to approach it is via the Minimum Viable Product (MVP for startup) approach. The MVP plays an important role in investor conversations and initial customer conversations as well.

Why do you need MVP for startup?

In this article, we will discuss how to define and create an MVP so that you can focus on product development once you have adequate resources. The primary goal in developing MVP is to ensure that there’s minimal waste in the process of product development for a startup.

The key benefits of MVP for startup are:

• Investor conversations — to indicate what the product will do
• Customer Feedback — to identify if the product strategy works for the customer. Most times, these MVP conversations help us come up with alternate approaches is easier and quicker for delivery. This helps us prevent loss in developing something which a customer won’t use.
• Gathering customer interest — A key requirement for investors to be able to gauge the level of interest is through customer feedback. Although nothing is better than a paying customer — at the initial stages of a startup, it is hard to validate customer interest. Through MVP’s you’ll at least be able to gather expression of interest which can act as customer interest in your seed investment discussions.

The ultimate benefit of an MVP for startup is in ensuring that we can get to market quickly and ensure that we don’t have to wait until the entire product is ready. An MVP comes in various shapes and forms depending on the complexity of the product. In the following sections, we will define the 4 primary factors to consider in your product development strategy using MVP — minimum viable product approach.

Of course, just like your business idea which is unique, the MVP takes multiple forms. It can be as simple as a video explaining what your product can do or as complicated as a prototype.

Minimum Viable Product Vs Prototype

My initial training is as an engineer which makes me a huge fan of prototypes. I think they are fascinating, it gives the engineer within me immense pleasure to start something new, bring it to fruition. It is both a great pleasure and a challenge of being an engineer — the proclivity to do stuff!

And that sometimes can be quite a challenge when you are trying to set up the business. Granted, the business idea might be extraordinary. But if you do not find a way to simplify it, or to make it viable — then there is very little trust from a customer before it is done. If you are an entrepreneur depending on investor money, networks or fresh customers — unless your product is a business marvel, you need a step before going to prototype. Your biggest asset as a startup is your business plan. With an MVP for startup, you’ll be able to boost this business plan adequately to show your commitment and level of interest in the startup idea.

One of the best courses I have done was the University of Virginia one about Agile Development. It was slightly tailored towards software development since it is a field I closely relate to — it made the most sense to me. If your business idea doesn’t need an awful lot of software development, I would still recommend going through this. It brings across a perspective to follow and a new line of thought/structure which is very helpful in business.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Examples

The first example most people talk about when it comes to Minimum Viable Product — MVP is the Dropbox idea. Dropbox devised a video that explained how they went about explaining what the technical solution was. There are multiple articles about how they did it — a sample one is here. The idea was simple — technology is complicated. The best way to explain to an investor was to show that there was interest in this idea in the broad market.

The question is — how do you prove market interest in a new concept which was never heard of before? The idea was — create a video that explains what Dropbox does. It also went a step ahead — asked people to register if they are interested in the product. End result — Thousands of people registered to show interest in the product or service.

If you are an investor and are looking at a business idea to invest in — your key priorities are

• How unique is the service?
• What difference does it offer compared to customers?
• How difficult/easy is it to replicate by someone else?
• How interested are people in this as a business solution?

Perhaps the most important one is the last in this case. To show proof of interest of people. And dropbox did just that by showing a list of people who would be potential customers when they release.

Types of Minimum Viable Product — MVP

Well, the dropbox example is now made sound very easy owing to the huge success they have made. If you look at the websites which raise finance from crowdfunding — all of them talk about products, sign-ups and show customer interest.

The more challenging a technical solution is, the more innovative your MVP should be. If you come up today and tell someone about an app, then just your app/website will find it difficult to pass as an MVP. You would have to go a step ahead and show how many people are interested. You need to show the number of subscribers or potential clients you can have.

If it is difficult software to create, a simple way can be to build a wireframe. A wireframe is typically a skeletal structure as to how your solution can look like and then run a few focus group, interviews where you can effectively explain what the solution is.

If it is a new type of fabric or a business that involves large hardware upfront costs — then you have 3D printing for your rescue. It can build your initial models and give a snapshot as to how your product can appear.

Purpose of Minimum Viable Product — MVP

Most people tend to think that the purpose of an MVP is to influence funding. It goes a long way further than that. Most importantly it is a way to understand what your customers may/may not like.

Every new product or service took an enormous amount of investment. Investment sometimes is in the form of finances. Most often it is in terms of time. If you are building something which no one will appreciate then it is good to know before you spend ages in product design and development. One of the accelerator programmes I took part in had this slogan — fail fast, fail cheaply. At the outset it might appear discouraging as the slogan itself doesn’t talk about tenacity.

But it means that you get honest feedback. The more feedback you can get for a cheaper investment, the better it is for business prudence. Bottom line is that you need to succeed and that is your end goal.

Every product goes through a design phase where it changes multiple times before achieving fruition. You cannot be bogged down by silos and talking to friends who would like your product or service. You need feedback from a would-be customer.

And your MVP is precisely that. Go out, show them to people. Ask them what they feel about it.

• Do they think it makes sense?
• Are they telling this only because they like you?
• Would they be willing to buy a service in the lines of your offering?
• How much would they be interested in spending?
• What changes would they like?

There are innovative ways for you to find them. But the answer certainly is outside of the production lab. And the Minimum Viable Product helps you achieve that.

Originally published at https://inspire99.com on August 16, 2021.