Learn what is MVP and how to create one!

Imagine that a company wants to launch a new product or even introduce new features in an application. What is the best way to do this by avoiding high spending and reaching the customers with the least effort?

The answer is simple, using a Minimum Viable Product: MVP. Through this concept, an acceptable prototype can be presented, which will be used as a parameter for the final product.

So, to learn what this short term is, how to design it, and how to analyze the results obtained from its use, stay tuned in this article from the following topics:

• What is MVP (Minimum Viable Product)?
• What are the types of MVP?
• How to develop the MVP? See step by step!
• Examples of MVP
• Become a great entrepreneur!

Let’s go!

What is MVP (Minimum Viable Product)?

MVP is the acronym for Minimum Viable Product, which is a concept applied in the business world to validate the idea of ​​a product or service through a prototype developed with minimal investment, being tested by a group of initial customers.

In other words, it is the simplest version of the product that solves the main problem and that can be launched in the real market with low development and launch effort in a short period of time.

Frank Robinson, co-founder, and president of SyncDev was the introducer of the term in 2001. The MVP is the version of a new product with the collaboration of the customer in pursuit of improving the user experience.

It follows a cycle of build, measure, and learning, as defined by Eric Ries in The Lean Startup. Thus, MVP is a very rich source of feedback for product development and improvement, to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers.

But be careful! People have the wrong idea about MVP, thinking that it means building the product by its parts. By doing this, they forget that the Minimum Viable Product is an initial solution to the customer's main problem.

The image below demonstrates this difference well:

In other words, it is not about assembling the product in parts but adding functions and features according to the needs of your target audience. However, the first version already needs to meet your customer's main need.

Now that you understand what MVP is, and what it isn't, let's move on to the types of MVP and after learning step-by-step how to build this variable! Come with us!

What are the types of MVP?

Let's discover some types of MVP to validate your idea before the market!

Double MVP

Double MVP is an A/B test to analyze how the user receives and accepts certain content, varying aspects such as size, transport, use of the interface or operating system.

With the A/B test, it is possible to measure for which test the user's acceptance was better, so with the data collected, it is easier to know how the user behaves and what is the best possible combination for him

MVP Concierge

MVP Concierge consists of seeking a close, direct and personalized solution, meeting what the client needs.

One of the great advantages of this type of MVP is that it often doesn't need a high investment.

For example, a startup, even before having developed its product, whether it is a software or a platform, it is possible to manually deliver this product to a small group of users to understand closely what the customer needs and customize the solution.

MVP Smoke

MVP Smoke seeks to assess the customer's interest in a product even before this product has been launched. This type of MVP consists of distributing and presenting the solution to the customer.

A good way to assess this interest is through a Landing Page, for example. It can make a brief presentation of the product, measure the conversion rate to assess the product's viability and get contact information for the potential customer in exchange for discounts or the advantage of having the product first hand.

MVP Wizard of OZ

MVP Wizard of Oz is somewhat similar to the MVP Concierge. But here the interface must be up and running, but without the automation. Tasks are done manually to understand customer needs.

MVP Prototype

Prototyping consists of developing a working example of the product or service the company intends to launch on the market. In this way, it will be possible to analyze interactions, performance and gain insights for the creation of the final product.

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How to develop an MVP? See step by step!

Check out step by step to develop an MVP next:

1. Find out what the client's need is

The first step is to map the customer's need to create the MVP, which our product needs to meet. For that, we need to carry out a market analysis to study consumer behavior.

After doing it, a good way to organize this data to see which ones are a priority for your product is through the Pareto Diagram.

Using this tool, with its concept of 20% of factors responsible for 80% of the impact, you can identify which are the main issues that should be the focus of the MVP.

Thus, transforming the data in the Pareto Graph, we get something as shown in the image below:

As shown in this generic graph, of the 5 factors, only 2 were already responsible for 80% of the entire distribution. Simple and practical to use, isn't it?

Another very good tool for preparing the MVP is the Effort x Impact Matrix, in which we organize the factors according to the effort used to carry it out and the impact on customer satisfaction.

According to the quadrant in which each factor is found, a different attitude will be taken by the company.

This way, priority will be given to factors that have a high impact on customer achievement, but that demand little effort on the part of the organization.

Remember that the goal of MVP is to save time and money, that is, get the product to market as quickly as possible.

2. Develop a prototype

When we talk about prototypes, we can divide them into two classes:

Prototype 1.0

Tests the fit between user and product, that is, answers the question:

• Does the value proposition serve the customer?

Prototype 2.0

Tests the fit between the user, product, and business model by answering the following questions:

• Is it possible to monetize?
• What is the cost to deliver the value proposition?
• What are the distribution channels for the customer?

With these questions answered, we can move on to the MVP launch strategy.

3. Attract the first users (Early Adopters) of the business

Create channels to attract those who will be the "guinea pigs" of your Minimum Viable Product. It can be through a landing page, for example, that will help you understand where your audience can be and how they relate to that pain.

The Early Adopters are the people most willing to use your product or service, before all other potential customers. In general, it is the individuals who suffer most from the need that your product seeks to remedy or who are big enthusiasts of the solution.

Often these users already have some workaround to mitigate the problem that affects them. Thus, creating a communication channel with these customers is essential for absorbing this information, which has a lot to contribute to the construction of your product or service.

In addition, they are an important source of propagation for your brand, whether positively or negatively, making a good relationship with this niche within your target audience even more relevant.

Evaluate the information you have gathered about the profile, preferences, and desires of these Early Adopters. Cross-reference this information with the previous mapping done with all potential customers and better target MVP development efforts.

4. Be open to criticism

Remember that your product will receive reviews and suggestions for improvement. You must be prepared to receive this feedback and use it to improve your product. 

After all, this is one of the main objectives of the MVP, that is, finding points for improvement, the corrections that must be made to generate customer satisfaction.

Comments and feedback can help you better understand how your product works and how it is being accepted by early customers. This is essential for adjustments and improvements.

5. Measure MVP performance

It is necessary to measure the performance of this MVP. To start this analysis, you need to understand that the prototype can generate 4 possible outputs:

• It solves the user's pain for the problem addressed;
• It shows what is needed to solve the user's pain;
• It reveals a new use case, more promising and better than the initial one;
• It shows that your product/service is irrelevant to the user and why.

To know if the MVP has met the expectations, you need to know what this "expected" is in the first place. For this, we need to have a well-defined objective, indicators to measure performance and a target to be achieved by the indicator.

A very simple example to help you understand this measurement might be: imagine that your company is developing a messaging application. So, we have the following:

• Objective: Connect people, regardless of the distance between them.
• Indicator: Number of downloads performed.
• Target: 100,000 downloads in the first 6 months after launch.

An important note is that the indicator needs to be defined before the product details because this indicator will verify if the product reached the business objective.

If the product is defined before the macro indicator, there is a great risk of creating a metric that does not represent the objective of the enterprise, but a metric of vanity.

Also, we cannot forget that one of the best and simplest ways to monitor MVP performance is by maintaining an open communication channel with customers, collecting feedback given by them.

A closer relationship with users should be sought, especially Early Adopters, as these are the ones who promote your company more engagingly.

Having learned all this, it's time to map out your product's MVP Plan. To help you out, the image below shows an example structure you can follow.

Examples of MVP

Now that you know what the Minimum Viable Product is, its types and how to build yours, let's see how large companies used MVP to validate their ideas!

Facebook

Facebook was initially tested inside Harvard University. The network only reached students from the university community and was important for young Mark Zuckerberg to promote fundamental changes, in line with what was revealed to be necessary throughout the validation process.

iPhone

The first iPhone, released by Apple, was the typical example of MVP. The device lacked some basic functions such as copy and paste, in addition to requiring mandatory download from iTunes for activation. The focus was to validate the need for some features to be released in subsequent versions of the equipment, generating anxiety and euphoria among customers.

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