From Idea to MVP: 5 Essential Steps for Product Development Success
Stages of a startup
Once you’ve decided to build something new, the next steps are to validate the problem and test the solution; this is where the MVP comes in. A Minimum Viable Product is the first launch-able and sell-able version of your product or service.
The purpose of an MVP is to…
Attract early adopters
Obtain real-world feedback
Validate a business hypotheses
Achieve product/market fit sooner
Enable a quicker launch into the market
Understand your domain
The idea is that you launch the best version of what you’ve got with the smaller budget of a startup, whilst ensuring functionality and reliability are intact for your initial users.
How to Build an MVP
Step 1: Problem statement
Start by defining the problem, how your business is the solution and how there is a need.
Step 2: Conduct Market Research
This is where you identify your target demographic, explore competitors and importantly, calculate the market size.
Find out how to calculate your market size here.
Step 3: Prototype Potential Solution
A prototype is the early visualisation of your product/service that puts design and functionality together. A prototype helps you receive feedback for improvements to implement in your MVP.
Source: Quora
Step 4: Features’ List
One of the best things about launching an MVP is the opportunity for feedback. Based on these comments, you can start to build a list of ideas and features that can be added to your product/service whilst planning your time and resources accordingly.
Step 5: Iterate
Throughout the cycle of your MVP, learning and development is key to your evolution. With the addition of new features comes further feedback, which leads to new features and feedback - it’s a continuous cycle of improvement.
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Although it may look like building an MVP is a long process, it’s just one step on your startup journey. Alongside validating your idea in a cheaper and quicker way, an MVP allows you to get substantial feedback from users and acts as a proof of concept to yourself and potential seed investors.
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