No business person is interested in spending money on a product for which there is no market. MVP is such an innovative product. Creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) app is a popular launch strategy with several big names, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Zoom, Tinder, and Spotify. These golden players online have made their fortunes on their craft. With versatile applications and intuitive user interfaces, these online platforms are always ready to provide users with an immersive experience. But the scene was different from this from the beginning. Back then, these platforms equipped with only a few features and a primitive UI/UX design.
On February 4, 2004, the market introduced a minimum viable product (MVP) made to connect students at Harvard University. With MVP, almost all social media platforms developed. Now, the question is how to build a minimum viable product. This guide discusses implementing the insights and how entrepreneurs can position themselves for business growth in a competitive and vibrant business environment. It also explains creating an MVP and raising business funding in 2024.
What is an MVP (Minimum Viable Product)?
In business, an MVP is defined as the basic, launchable version of any product that supports its products but essential features. It is designed to enable the product to move to market, attract early adopters, and achieve market fit.
Experts today consider Eric Ries’s design MVP concept a combination of “minimum “essentials. It has some basic features that can meet the initial customers. It also comes with a follow-up feedback feature useful for future product development. Before knowing everything about it, building a minimum viable product is essential.
Top MVP Development Benefits to Attract Investors
MVP development has grown in almost all types of businesses in recent years. All sizes of industries or businesses, from startups to enterprises, have benefited from it. MVP is an important aspect of the product development process. Below, we have discussed some MVP Development Benefits that ensure its successful use.
Helps to verify the Product Functionality
The Minimum Viable Product or MVP is important in securing investment funding, so product development has become a major focus. Investors can also analyze product performance and see how the structure solves real-world problems.
Additionally, with MVP, you can ensure that products developed in a customer-centric way. This structure allows you to get real-time user feedback and further improve your product before releasing it.
Helps to ensure the product is in the market
Another prime benefit of MVP is verifying or testing the product’s market viability. This means it allows us to test whether there is any demand for the product in the market.
MVP helps reduce the chance of business failure. At the same time, it increases the possibilities of success by allowing users to provide feedback and change the product.
Investors Rely on Your Team
A smart investor knows that the success of any new venture depends on a Leading MVP Development Team. They also know that a strong team can bring huge success to any challenging project. This is why MVP funding from investors considered the most important task for testing a minimum-viable product before investing in a new project.
A successful MVP development strives to ensure the team behind any product development has the necessary skills and experience. Hence, it is very important to partner with reputed MVP development firms to raise funds for the venture.
Investors Can Check Your Team’s Awareness
With MVP, you can analyze your target market so that investors know or understand that their team is completely aware of the market trends and conditions. If they are not aware, this structure helps them adapt.
Investor can check that you have an understanding of the market
Investors know that MVP development requires extensive research and preparation. Clients instinctively know they will only invest in a product if they know the market demand. In this case, MVP works great. It shows investors that you understand the market, which will help them trust you more.
Real-world examples of Companies that Started with MVP
Currently, many MVP App Development Examples of industry leaders have become big brand names in the business world using MVP. We interact with all these brands in our daily lives. Here is a discussion of some world-famous businesses whose journey started with a Minimum Viable Product.
Snap chat
Snapchat is a great example of an MVP. In 2011, some students at Stanford University created a social media platform for social interaction where they allowed to post content, but these would disappear after a few moments. Later, they created peekaboo using MVP, where users get permission to post photos. After years of success, Snapchat added useful features like 10-second videos, stories, and chats, which helped it gain more than 363 million daily active users worldwide.
Airbnb
AirBNB is another example of MVP. There is a success story behind this concept. Two men living in San Francisco decided to rent out the top floor of their apartment to visitors due to their tight budget. Then, they built a website MVP with a basic landing page to grow their business. The main aim was to test the demand for apartment booking, which gave them positive results.
Uber
Uber is a shining example of the MVP version. Inspired by San Francisco taxi drivers’ uncooperative behavior and high costs, Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick developed a unique business idea to connect iPhone users with cab drivers and use simple payment gateways. Uber started its journey from here. Organizations use MVPs to test traveler demand. Today, Uber’s is $95.58 billion.
How to Build an MVP
According to American entrepreneur Reid Hoffman, if you are not embarrassed by your first product, you have yet to start a business. Hoffmann’Hoffmann influenced many startup founders, leading to the creation of superior products.
If you want to grow your business by creating an MVP, follow the above steps to build one yourself.
Step 1: Start with Market Research
Business ideas sometimes match market needs. If you want to start the MVP development process for a successful business, you must first ensure that you can meet the needs of your target users. Conducting surveys is a very profitable idea in any business. Various studies show that informed businesses are more likely to succeed. Also, MVP will help you know what products your competitors are offering, which will help you differentiate your product concept. It is the first step to building an MVP.
Step 2: Ideate on Value Addition
How will your product benefit users? Why should purchasers buy your product? Answering these questions will help you define your product’s value. An MVP will help you understand how much the product is worth to users in its basic state. Try to build an MVP based on user needs.
Step 3: Map Out User Flow
Design plays an important role in the MVP stage. You have to design the app so that users will benefit. From opening the app to the final process, you need to think from the user’s perspective when you create the app. You have to make sure that customers get everything.
Knowing and defining the user flow is important to determining the process stages. The sooner you explain the steps, the sooner you’ll get to the bottom line. The focus should be on how users find, order, and buy the product.
When you define each step of this process, you can define its properties.
Step 4: Prioritize MVP Features
Knowing your target market and needs lets you outline your product’s features. This step includes the core functionalities of the MVP solution and services. Yet, it also weighs on the least effective product. So, you need to focus only on the essential features that will meet the needs of your target market.
Step 5: Launch MVP
Creating your MVP will be much easier if you gain proper knowledge about business core features and market needs. Yet, it is important to know that an MVP always equals the final product but must meet the customer’s needs.
Step 6: learn about the ‘B.M.L.’ ‘Build’ Measure, Learn
All are important parts of the MVP creation process:
- First, you need to define the scope of work,
- Then, move the product to the development stage.
Testing must done again before the product development phase. Quality assurance engineers usually perform the first test to improve product quality.
Before launching the MVP, you have to go over everything again. After launch, you should get feedback from users.
The Proper Cost to Develop an MVP
After knowing the steps to create an MVP, your next important question should be the Cost to Develop an MVP. An MVP development cost is much lower than a full app developer cost. But if you need to know the factors that affect this cost, the MVP development cost comes with a big price tag. The average cost to build a minimum viable product can be $15,000 to $150,000, depending on various factors such as the complexity of the product, its UI/UX design, the skills. And the location of the MVP development team, etc. So, it is important to consider these costs before starting MVP development. For example, developing an MVP for a video-calling app may cost $30,000 to $50,000. While an MVP for a food delivery app may cost $42,000 to $51,000. In most cases, the cost of MVP development depends on the project’s complexity.
How to Find Investors for Your Business?
The first factor in creating a project is its app development cost. So, the first thing to consider is how to raise funds.
Research about Investors
Funding is the most important factor for any new product development. And it is a challenging task. Having the right amount of money increases the chances of success. So your main task in this case will be to find the investors, for which thorough research is necessary. By presenting a product that aligns with their interests. You can capture the attention of MVP investors and secure MVP funding. You have to keep the knowledge about MVP investment history.
Focus on the Future
When you pitch your product to potential investors, focus on the future. Present the potential and future of your product to investors. For example, explain the market demand to the investor if you are building a food delivery app. And focus on the app’s potential users, mapping out how you will interact with your customers or users. The key is to convince investors that your product has a strong future.
Create a Pitch that Resonates with Investors
Then, after building a list of potential investors, you need to create a well-crafted pitch that resonates with them, focusing on the most valuable aspects of the product. As a result, investors will be attracted to your product. For example, your pitch should highlight online ordering and delivery trends if you want to build a food delivery app like KFC. Offer convenient delivery options to increase the likelihood of repeat customers. This will help investors learn about your product and help them believe in its capabilities.
Be Prepared to Answer Questions
When presenting your MVP to potential investors, expecting and addressing their inquiries is crucial, ensuring you stand out with thorough and tailored responses. This means you are honest enough about the risks and challenges associated with the product.
For example, suppose you dream of starting a new food business like Pizza Hut. In that case, you need to be prepared to answer almost all investors’ questions about the competitive landscape of food supply, customer needs, the potential for churn, and the scalability of the business model.
Optimize Your Cash Position
Optimizing your cash position is critical so you know your burn rate before pitching the product to potential investors. Ensure you have the money to sustain or increase your business. If you are fundraising, this will help. Yet, it is very important to have a clear plan for your fundraising, which will lead you to a successful business.
Embark on Your MVP Development Journey with The Intellify
MVP software development is a great way to raise money for any software or application development. A created MVP determines the success of any product and service. Almost all online giants like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Airbnb started their business as MVPs. Now, they are unicorns in their respective industries. Securing a partnership with a reputed app development company like The Intellify to raise funds for successful MVP building is very useful. No matter how complex your project is, their skilled team of developers will help turn your breakthrough vision into a reality for millions of users. The Intellify, a leading MVP development company, builds processes that set them apart. Through our effective and high-quality MVP project management service, they have developed products for hundreds of clients across industries and helped clients secure MVP funding, $950 million. The Intellify is your best choice if you want to develop an MVP for your business.
Conclusion
Developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is crucial when introducing a new product or service. The key to a successful MVP is a thorough understanding of your business goals and customer needs. As a result, you can make an accurate decision about your product trajectory based on the data. Yet, it must be remembered that MVP is not the final product but a vital tool for any business development and product validation. So, it is easy to market any product or service with a well-designed MVP.
