What is MVP?
Minimal Viable Product (minimum viable product) - a test version of a product, service or service with a minimum set of functions (sometimes even one), which is valuable to the end user.
MVPs are created to test hypotheses and check the viability of a conceived product, how valuable and in demand it will be in the market.
The results of testing the minimum viable product and feedback from the target audience help to understand whether it is worth developing the project further, what changes should be made to the strategy, and what should be left as it was.
The usefulness of MVP development is proved by the examples of currently large companies. For example, Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentson in 2006 launched a small service with one function - music streaming. Today their product - Spotify - is valued at $ 21 billion, has partnerships with major record labels and has a 50 million active audience.
In 2008, when renting a hotel or accommodation while traveling was a big problem, two enthusiasts decided to approach the issue outside the box and rented out their apartment by simple fax. In fact, this is also an MVP in which the main function was tested. The experiment showed that the product will receive demand, and today Airbnb is one of the largest sites for finding short-term rental housing.
Are MVP and PoC the same thing?
Proof of Concept (PoC) is a proof of concept and is often confused by some newbies with a minimum viable product. PoC describes the processes for figuring out the technical viability of a software concept (or any other product).
Yes, these definitions are interrelated, but not interchangeable. Proof of Concept - a description of the processes at the initial stage of product development, which are then actually implemented, from which MVP is derived.
Types of MVP
There are many different approaches to creating an MVP, but in practice, some of them are most often used. Next, let's talk about the most popular ones.
Flintstone's MVP
Remember how in the popular cartoon "The Flintstones" the head of the family created the illusion of moving by car? So, this approach involves simulating the presence of functionality, although in reality it is not technically implemented. MVP aims to test a hypothesis, to prove the viability of the chosen business development model.
Initially, this approach had many critics, they say, how can you check something if there is nothing? The method was proved by Nick Swinmern, the founder of the online store Zappos, whose value in 2015 “broke” the $ 2 billion mark.
He made a website and published photos of different models of shoes. I received the order, went to the store, bought the pair I needed and sent it to the customer. So he checked the viability of the idea of ​​selling shoes via the Internet, while initially he did not spend money on renting a warehouse and purchasing products, but only imitating their availability.
Concierge MVP
This methodology is more suitable for online services, the ultimate goal of which is to automate solving problems of the target audience. At the initial stages of product implementation, the service is provided manually.
For example, we want to make a financial accounting and planning service for individuals. But to test if this idea will be in demand, let's first make some financial plans for clients manually using Excel. So we can understand who is willing to pay and how much, what functions need to be implemented in the first place, etc. Often the MVP concierge helps in generating new ideas that later make the final product better.
This model was used in the late 90s by Chuck Templeton, the founder of a service for online booking of restaurants, tickets and more. He did not immediately invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in the technical implementation of the service, but booked tables in restaurants for other people manually. So he checked the viability of the idea, understood who, how much and for what was ready to pay, and got to know the target audience.
Scattered MVP
The scattered MVP method is used when an idea can be tested and implemented without developing unique software. Instead, they assemble ready-made tools, combine them into one system and present them in a single interface.
If all companies started out developing unique solutions that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, we would not see many cool projects. As a rule, they go on to this after launching, receiving feedback and the first results.
Take a look at the popular co-op shopping service Groupon. Once it was a simple Wordpress site where all user interaction was carried out by e-mail. Only after receiving the first feedback and financial results were social functions, full-fledged email newsletter, automation and a mobile application developed.
Product with one parameter
This type is used most often when there is a finished product with a minimum set of functions (usually one). This is the principle behind the founders of Spotify, who were mentioned at the beginning of the article.
The release of a product with one function (parameter) allows you to narrow the target audience, get feedback and analyze it, and then start testing.
When and why do you need to do MVP?
Get started with MVP development in the early stages of product development. The idea can only be cool in your head (yes, this is the harsh reality), so why immediately invest a lot of money in development when there is an option with low costs and accurate verification? After the release of a minimally viable product, you will determine the demand and understand whether you are developing the project in the right direction or not.
But the coolest thing about MVP is collecting valuable information from early adopters. It is the end user who will talk about the correct implementation of the project. Use the collected data to plan further updates and determine the most priority goals: which functions to implement in the first place.
How to make MVP right
In theory, you learned what a minimum viable product is, now let's talk about the practical part - creating an MVP. To get a good result, break the work down into small iterations (steps / stages), outline goals for the team as a whole and tasks for each member. But first of all, convey to the team the general principles of work and product creation.
Zero stage: we determine the basic principles of creating MVP
Hold a general meeting of the team that will participate in the development of the MVP. On it you should figure out whether all team members understand why this is necessary. Discuss the vision of the minimum life product, put it all together, and build the first rough plan for further work.
During the general meeting, discuss the following issues:
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Try to involve as many specialists as possible in the general meeting to consider the idea and testing options from different angles. Be sure to draw up a meeting minutes that reflects the main thoughts, ideas and decisions made.
Stage one: finding the problem that the MVP will solve
After defining the basic principles of MVP, answer the question: “What problem does the product solve?”. Describe its value in several sentences. Firstly, it is useful for yourself and the team, and secondly, in the future it will help in creating a unique sales proposal, landing page and advertising campaign.
For example, we create a financial planning service for individuals. It solves the problem of "uncontrolled spending of money, helps to organize the budget and set long-term goals."
Second stage: find the target audience
A common mistake of novice products and entrepreneurs - they believe that their project solves the problem of a wide audience (of all people). This approach significantly increases the likelihood of failure. Focus on a specific target audience.
Make a portrait of the customer who will definitely buy the product. Describe his gender, age, social status, income level, needs, habits, technique he uses, common problems, leisure preferences, etc.
Take your time at this stage! It is better to spend a few hours to form a portrait of the target audience, than then "drain" the entire advertising budget and get the minimum conversion. And do not forget about what problem MVP solves (this is determined at the first stage).
An example with a service for drawing up financial plans for individuals:
- 25-34 years old;
- men
- 40,000-80,000 rubles per month;
- want to pay off loans, save money, improve the quality of life;
- use a PC and smartphone;
- are experiencing a wage shortage until the end of the month.
A rough portrait has been drawn up, even such a minimum allows you to navigate and gives an understanding of who we are selling the product to. This information will further help in organizing an advertising campaign.
The third stage: we determine the main competitors
Do not think that your product (idea) is unique and is not found anywhere else. If you have not encountered him face to face, this does not guarantee uniqueness. And in general there is a hypothesis of "multiple discovery": all research and inventions are done by several scientists at once independently of each other.
This hypothesis is confirmed by the history of the development of radio. In Russia, it is believed that Alexander Popov invented it, while in Italy, laurels are given to Guglielmo Marconi. Both began to work on the implementation of the idea in 1894, but Popov presented his development in March 1896 (but did not patent it), and Marconi filed a patent document in June 1896. By the way, there are several more scientists in different countries who also claim to be the creator of Radio.
The story with MVP is similar: you have to spend a lot of time, but try to find competitors. You are lucky if the idea still turns out to be unique, and if not, then solve the following problems:
- Gather the maximum information about your main competitors. Analyze the top three players in the market: study the history of development, see the products offered, learn about the competitive advantages and evaluate the ability to offer something better.
- Determine the market shares of major competitors. Consider the activities of companies from all sides, determine their strategies, sales volumes, calculate profitability, etc. So you will understand how successful they are and how you can get ahead of them in the competition (and most importantly, how much resources will have to be spent on this).
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- Attend industry events. Your competitors present their products or services at conferences, exhibitions and any other suitable venues. To collect as much information as possible and ask questions of interest, attend such events. In most cases, they are free, so you only have to spend your free time.
Special analytical tools will help in collecting information: Similar Web, Ahrefs, Quantcast, App Annie, AppFollow and others. Gather data on the popularity of competitors, monthly traffic, the main interests of the target audience, the geographical location of customers, etc.
For convenience, we recommend compiling a summary table with all the information collected. Subsequently, it will be easier to navigate large amounts of data and make any decisions.
Stage four: conduct a SWOT analysis
The SWOT analysis is a four-block table:
- strengths;
- weaknesses;
- opportunities;
- threats.
Again, this is best done collectively, or at least with core team members. It is important to objectively evaluate each item and not be afraid to recognize weaknesses. Let's see the implementation of a SWOT analysis using the example of a financial planning service for individuals:
Do not write paragraphs for entire paragraphs. They should be short and clear to the whole team.
Please note that the table is divided into two parts. Strengths and weaknesses, as a rule, relate to internal factors, and opportunities and threats to external factors.
The purpose of the SWOT analysis is to identify strengths and opportunities in order to focus work on them in order to minimize the negative consequences of weaknesses and threats. The conclusions drawn will help you choose a strategy for the development and positioning of your business in the market.
Step 5: Create a User Journey Map
A simple blitz to determine the convenience of a product: if you yourself do not understand what needs to be done with your service (product, service, etc.), then the consumer will definitely not be able to figure it out!
To avoid such a misunderstanding, in the fifth stage of creating a minimum viable product, a user journey is mapped - what the user does when interacting with the product. You must understand what the audience's requirements for content, design, and interface are.
By the way, do not forget to correct the user flow map after receiving feedback from the first customers. They will tell you what is good and what is bad or uncomfortable. Based on this, adjust the map so that the end user gets what he wants.
For example, for a financial planning service, we made the following map:
- choice of planning period;
- addition of assets, liabilities, income and expenses;
- financial plan analyst;
- setting goals and tracking progress of achievements.
We carried out the first tests, in two months several people wrote to support: “we had financial plans in Excel, it took two hours to transfer all the data to your service”. What are we doing? Right! We add the function of exporting existing financial plans in Excel.
Sixth step: making a list of product features
In the last step, you identified the main user interactions with the product, now describe the specific functions for each. For convenience, make a special map: interactions and functions for each. At first, it looks like this:
Further, for each interaction, a list of functions is determined. This is where logic and user stories come in handy. In the first case, independently or together with a team, think about what needs to be done to ensure this or that interaction.
But as you remember, our vision is often distorted, but real users provide objective information based on experience. User stories describe certain actions of people, on the basis of which the necessary functions are determined.
Next, prioritize all functions. We put the most popular (which are used most often) at the beginning of the list, rarely used at the end. This should be a card like this:
Seventh step: defining the MVP features
At this stage, you must define the MVP functionality or, in other words, plan the volume of the minimum viable product. First, define a few basic functions, without which the project cannot exist at all, there will be no sense from it. This is the wireframe or the smallest usable version of the product.
The frame is like a house without decoration - it seems that you can live, but somehow not very much. Therefore, in most cases, MVP is supplemented with various “usefulnesses”. For this, it is necessary to determine the essential and non-essential functions: which are needed now, and which can be further developed in the course of the project development.
Again, it is better to classify functions as a team. Discussions, disputes, argumentation - this will lead to determining the optimal volume of a minimally viable product. On the map, highlight the wireframe and additional functions within the framework of MVP for the convenience of further planning. You should get something like this:
Such a card with the volume of a minimally viable product can be made on a computer or on a magnetic board in a meeting room or similar room. During development, adjustments are allowed.
Eighth step: choose a management and development method
You are ready to get started: the idea, tasks, goals, volume of MVP are defined. It remains to choose a management model to achieve maximum efficiency and adherence to the established development timeline. Several options are possible:
- Lean.
- Scrum.
- Kanban
- Extreme Programming (XP).
This stage is one of the most important. You can come up with a cool idea, develop a quality concept, assemble a team of highly qualified specialists, but if you choose the wrong management model, forget about achieving success. Therefore, think carefully about which system to work with in the implementation of this or that product.
Step nine: test
Test your MVP with short iterations: alpha and beta testing. Alpha is an internal phase: have completed development, use the product within the team for several days. If everything is ok, start beta testing - an external stage, give access to the project to the first users. Duration: 7-14 days.
After the first beta, collect reviews, visit statistics, behavior analytics and analyze the entire data set. So you will find out what needs to be improved, what can be removed, and what, on the contrary, needs to be added urgently.
Several iterations of development-alpha-beta will help you arrive at an optimal first version of a product that you can bring to market for the general public and continue to refine.
Once again, we will talk the whole sequence of stages:
- Defining the basic principles of creating MVP.
- Searching for a problem that MVP will solve.
- Search for target audience.
- Identification and analysis of the main competitors.
- Conducting a SWOT analysis.
- Creating a user journey map.
- Drawing up a list of product functions.
- Determining the scope of the MVP.
- Choice of management and development method.
- Testing
After going through 10 stages, you will get a good minimally viable product, which will subsequently grow into the first version of a full-fledged project. And do not be afraid to make changes: refuse some stages, add your own, etc. This sequence of steps is not a strict rule, but only an example or a sample, on the basis of which you can build something of your own and unique.
The most common errors when creating MVP
Now you know how to create your MVP. But there is one more point: newcomers (by the way, it’s excusable for them) often make mistakes when planning the first minimally viable products. The second or third time, having gained experience, they work faster and more efficiently.
But why learn from your own experience when there is a stranger? Why not use it and try to avoid inaccuracies along the way? Therefore, below we will talk about the most common mistakes aspiring product managers and entrepreneurs make.
Attempts to achieve the ideal
Close your perfectionist in the cage, because during the development of MVP he will play a trick on you! Remember, the task of a minimally viable product is to give the user a basic idea of ​​the product, which a priori should not and cannot be ideal.
You are testing a hypothesis! Believe me, a small MVP is enough to determine the potential of an idea. If it is cool, then the demand for the product will not spoil even the poor design, interface and minimum speed. And only when this hypothesis is confirmed, start spending resources on usability and a beautiful candy wrapper.
Sloppy work
If the MVP does not have to be perfect, this does not mean that it can be done anyhow. Some products rush from one extreme to another, as a result, they get something incomprehensible at all.
The MVP should be simple but of high quality. For example, if you are making a service, then buy at least a second-level domain, you do not need to leave it on a subdomain of some free constructor.
Lack of feedback
Some beginners are so keen on development that they forget about the priority goal - collecting feedback. Even at the planning stage, you should define key metrics that will show the success of the project. This can be the number of downloads or purchases, the number of new users, the customer retention rate, etc.
"Empty" promises
When the "eyes burn", there is a feeling of the ability to roll mountains! And at such moments, the leader starts making announcements of cool and extraordinary opportunities. Of course, this is all great from a marketing point of view, but if you do not keep promises, users will begin to leave the project.
Therefore, always make decisions about new announcements with a cool head. Objectively evaluate what you can do and what not.
Refusal of analysis and analytics
Inspiring oneself with one's own idea often stupefies the mind and the whole team ceases to pay attention to objective facts: poor metrics, negative reviews, etc. They begin to think that just users do not understand everything now, but when the final version of the product is ready, then they will appreciate it.
No, they won't. In this matter, objectivity is always important. There is feedback from real users, listen to it, adjust the work of the project in accordance with the wishes of end users, otherwise there is no point in all this fuss.
So, to summarize: MVP is a minimally viable product that is made for testing ideas and hypotheses, collecting feedback from first consumers (and yes, MVP ≠PoC). You can implement it in 10 steps and try to avoid the most common mistakes. If you are planning to create a new product, start with an MVP: this will avoid large resource losses in case of poor idea potential.