Today, businesses have to embrace effective digital solutions to remain competitive. Especially if you’re in commerce, logistics, insurance, and other dense markets.

Still, many organizations hesitate to leverage technology. This is often deterred by development cost, which sometimes exceeds $200,000. This concern, though, doesn’t apply to MVP product development. 

Today, you will learn how to create MVP and ensure its success from the experts of the AdvantISS team.

GM Insights experts forecast the custom software development segment will reach a value of $198.6 billion by 2032. This includes a significant portion of MVP development for startups and businesses.

But what exactly does the term MVP stand for? Minimum Viable Product is a digital solution that delivers value to its audience with just its core functionality. Usually, it’s characterized by:

• User-friendly design.
• Lack of critical bugs.
• Basic yet valuable functionality.
• Technological innovations.

In essence, an MVP offers functionality that your users need to solve their problems. This way, you launch something valuable, and you can tweak it as you go based on what your users tell you.

The key advantages of startup MVP lie in:

• Reduced time to market.
• Lower development costs.
• Accessibility for businesses of all scales.
• Potential for scaling.
• Opportunity to monetize the product and quickly achieve ROI.

In other words, by launching MVP, you build a foundation for a fully-featured product. You use the initial income and feedback from your users to enhance your tech offerings.

However, this works only if your concept hits the mark and the product is valuable. So, let’s dive into how to build an MVP that becomes a success.

The lifecycle of a minimum viable product isn’t all that different from traditional development. But it does have several purely conceptual differences. Primarily, this concerns MVP’s scalability and reliance on user feedback.

For example, if you want to launch an MVP of a mobile banking app, you may:

• Basic sign-up and login processes.
• Display basic account information (balance, recent transactions, and account details).
• Enable users to pay utility bills, credit card bills, etc.
• Allow users to send money to other accounts within the same bank.

Once you make your MVP live and collect feedback, you can add more features:

• Biometric logins (fingerprint or facial recognition).
• Users can deposit checks using their smartphone camera.
• Ability to apply for loans or credit lines and track application status.
• Help users find the nearest ATM using their mobile device.
• Allow users to set and track savings objectives.
• Enable users to send money to anyone, not just within the same bank.

Your goal is to offer something that sets your MVP apart from the rest. You can do this in several ways: implement something truly unique or combine the best features out there into one killer app.

But how exactly do you go through every MVP stage to keep everything on track? AdvantiSS specialists suggest that you follow these guidelines.

This stage is not just about coming up with features or deciding on the technology stack. Here, you’ve got to understand the true purpose behind the product. Ultimately, your ‘why’ will attract users who share your vision and values. As Simon Sinek puts it in his book “Start with Why:”

“People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.”

Simon Sinek

If the idea is already formed, the next step is the discovery phase. This is when the project team gets down to:

• Describing the concept.
• Sketching out the design.
• Writing down user stories.
• Formulating project requirements.
• Noting down key business goals and methods of achieving them.

The results you obtain during this stage form the foundation of the future digital product.

When creating a roadmap, consider the following:

• Key functionality to be available at the release.
• A tech stack built for scaling.
• A list of features you plan to implement later.
• A product feature update schedule.
• How often do you incorporate user feedback into improvements?
• A development timeline, and approximate calculations of achieving positive ROI.

Formulating a solid work plan means truly understanding the product’s scale and potential lifecycle.

5. Finding Vendors

If you are involved in MVP in entrepreneurship or starting up your own venture, you will need technical experts to bring the product to life. 

You may already have a team within your organization. But sometimes you might find you need more hands to get your software market-ready on schedule.

Whether you hire a team, outsource your project, or simply expand your staff, pay attention to:

• Knowledge of the tech stack you plan to use.
• Experience in implementing similar projects.
• Portfolio.
• Ratings and reviews from previous clients.
• Cost of services.

If the contractor’s offer meets your requirements, you’re all set to kick things off. Just make sure to get all the paperwork in order—sign a cooperation agreement, NDA, or other necessary documents.

Communication between the vendor and product owner typically happens through regular meetings and project management tools. Usually, there are daily meetings where both sides discuss what’s been done, what’s next, and any roadblocks.

This way, all the parties make sure the project stays on track, changes are made quickly if needed, and the final product is exactly what you’re looking for.

7. Marketing

Marketing isn’t something you just do once. It will require ongoing effort throughout all stages of MVP entrepreneurship. To ensure the success of your startup, consistently promote the coming digital product.

For promotion, you can apply all known methods:

• Partner with influencers who resonate with your target audience.
• Go to social networks where your prospects are most active.
• Use streaming platforms for engaging content.
• Send email newsletters to keep your audience in the loop.
• Create SEO-friendly landing pages and articles to drive organic traffic.
• Consider link building and PR to draw referral traffic to your website and boost domain authority.
• Invest in ads to cover a broader audience.

8. Hit the Market with Your MVP

Launching with MVP technology means you can enter the market faster. But, at the same time, it leaves little room for errors.

Before releasing your application, ensure that everything works correctly as outlined in your release roadmap. In other words, test the digital product for bugs in basic functions, problems with interface adaptability, connection stability, and performance.

You’ll have chances to tweak the look or refine the concept later on. But technical issues at the start will lead to an immediate loss of audience, even before they’ve given your product a fair shot.

9. Gathering Feedback

Actively communicate with consumers after launching an MVP.

None of the modeled user cases will give you an understanding of how the audience perceives your software. Real feedback, however, will.

From this moment, the MVP strategy could take one of two paths:

1. The product remains relevant, and you move on to the next big thing.
2. You listen to what your users are saying—both the good and the bad—to make your product even better.

Which route should you take? Well, that’s totally up to you. However, going with the second approach proves to be smarter, as you’ve already got your audience’s attention and a foundation to build on.

Skipping out on the chance to improve based on user feedback? That’s a misstep that can hurt your startup’s reputation in the long run.

10. Improvement 

What you do next really depends on what you’ve got in mind for your MVP. If you want it to evolve, then your course of action will be about collecting feedback, updating the tech stack, adding new features, and scaling the project in every way.

However, if the MVP lifecycle was planned to be short, then your focus might be on collecting revenue and periodically fixing minor bugs.

These tips will guide you through developing and launching your MVP. But, honestly, how well it does is largely up to how experienced you are in implementing similar projects.

If you have been working in the industry for years and have a good understanding of the problems and how to solve them, you’ll nail it. However, as you enter the market without sufficient preparation, it might be wiser to collaborate with those who’ve been working within the same business domain. 

AdnantiSS is always here to help you, whether it’s building your MVP from the ground up or upgrading it. Delegate your task to AdvantISS experts and get a product that will conquer the market and bring in profits.