What is a minimum viable product (MVP)?

In product development, the minimum viable product (MVP) is the product with just those core features that allow the product to be deployed and no more. So the product is just deployed to a subset customers such as early adopters that are thought more likely to give feedback, to be more forgiving and able to grasp the vision of a product from an early marketing information or prototype. It is a version of a product which allows a team to collect amount of learning about customers with the least effort.

An MVP is a strategy directed toward building and selling a product to customers. This process includes idea generation, prototyping, presentation, data collection, analysis and learning. So the process is iterated until a desirable market fit is obtained. It also is useful when your money and time are very limited.

Purposes of a MVP

Here are a MVP purposes:

• Be able to test a product just with minimal resources
• Accelerate learning
• Reduce wasted working hours
• Make the product available to early customers as soon as possible
• Base for other products

Testing a MVP

The results of a MVP test aim allow to know if the product should ever be built to begin with. So testing will evaluate if the initial goal or problem has been solved and if it is possible to move forward.

Techniques for a good MVP

A MVP may be an entire product, a prototype or a sub-set product.

For a web application, developers create a mock website for the product and direct traffic to the site through online advertising. This website may have a landing page and a link for purchase or more information about the product. But the link is not connected to any purchase system. Instead clicks are recorded so that customer interest is measured later.

For features, a link to a new feature may be provided on an existing website in a prominent location. But the feature is not implemented. When the link is clicked, the user will be directed to a mock-up, an apology or a marketing page. And like for a web application, clicks are recorded as indication for demand for the feature in the customer base. This is also known as deploy first, code later.

Activities and major components for a company starting out are mapped out with the Business Model Canvas. The MVP in this case can be designed by using these components of the Business Model Canvas:

• Value Proposition
• Customers
• Channels
• Relationship

MVP concepts are also applied to organizations and startups. There is the concept of minimum viable co-founder, based on finding a co-founder with the following attributes:

• Exceptional at building or selling
• Company commitment
• Trust
• Personally likable
• Productivity
• Reasonable
• Rational
• Realistic

There is also the concept of minimum viable team where founders with new company try to build a team with minimal cost and people. The process starts by listing out the basic functions of a particular company. The next step is to strip down to the abstract skills and activities needed by the company to operate.

MVP examples

• Explainer video: it is a short video that explains the purposes of your product and why people should buy it. It is often a 90 seconds animation. This method has served Dropbox very well. Indeed they had already got five thousands subscribers before they launch.

• A landing page: it is a fast way to communicate the value of your offering and to call the visitor to action. It validates your product-solution fit, your value proposition, sales argumentation and can even validate your pricing
• Concierge MVP: here you start with a manual service instead of providing a product. The service should consist of the same steps people would go through with your product

• Raise funds from customers: this is a special case. Basically you launch a crowdfunding campaign on platforms such as Kickstarter, RocketHub and IndieGoGo. If it is validated, it means customers want it and you will also raise money.

A MVP is a good strategy you have to apply to your product. But if you can’t go through all these steps, you can rely on a professional company with a lot of experience such as Razor Theory.