MVP - Minimum Viable Product

What is MVP and how can it help you in your journey to success?

MVP stands for “minimum viable product”, but what does this really mean?

MVP acts as a prototype to help your employees, investors and others understand what it is you want to create. In the investment context, MVP is often seen as the most profitable solution in product development in terms of risk and return. The goal is to show the simplest, most fundamental version of your product, that works well enough for your early adopters, while giving your customer something to touch and feel.

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The Secret of an MVP

There are different ways to create an MVP. Dropbox did something really interesting when they first started up. They made a 3 minute promotional video where they presented their product and asked people to register to get it. The funny thing about this was that Dropbox as a product didn't exist yet, only a feature to sign in to Dropbox. After the first night the promotional video was released, the number of registered users went from 5,000 to 75,000. Then Dropbox understood that this was a sought-after product in the market, so they decided to actually produce the service we know today as Dropbox.

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Expansion based on MVP

Another example of a creative MVP is Virgin Airlines. They had caught up with passengers' irritation at airline stopovers. But instead of launching lots of routes to different locations, they launched only one route, the direct route from New York to London. This hit so well that it didn't take long for Virgin Airlines to expand with more routes.

The last example we want to highlight is instructive from an app developer standpoint. The MVP technique is called the “Wizard of Oz” and is based on creating the illusion of how the company operates. When Jeff Bezos started Amazon—which at the time was just a marketplace for books—Amazon was far from as advanced as it appeared. When customers of Jeff Bezos wanted to rent books, he even went down to his local library or bookstore and got the book that he sent off to the customer. Similarly, it is possible to create the illusion of a far more advanced app or service than what you are capable of presenting at the time.

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Whether you want to develop your own MVP, test your service and create something that is well received by today's market, get in touch with us and we will help you!

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Sources:

MintyMint - Startup MVP Development: how to build a mininum viable product

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By Vegard Kallhovd

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