At Bitboundaire, we help our clients focus on the MVP essence to build successful products. In this article, you will learn what an MVP is, how it can help you test your ideas and validate your assumptions, and why embracing imperfection and having an eye on fast to profit is the key to creating a successful MVP.

What is an MVP?

An MVP is a product with the minimum set of features that can solve a problem for a specific group of customers. It is not a final product but almost a prototype that allows you to get feedback from real users and learn from their behavior. An MVP aims to test your hypothesis about the problem, the solution, and the market and to avoid wasting time and money on building something nobody wants.

An MVP can be based on two approaches, go fast to market and go fast to profit:

• Go fast to market – you launch your product as soon as possible, even if it could be better or more complete.
• Go fast to profit – you focus on determining what your customers are willing to pay for and how to monetize your product. 

By combining these two concepts, you can create a product that delivers value to your customers and generates revenue for your business.

To illustrate the concept of an MVP, let’s imagine three parallel universes where an entrepreneur called John wants to disrupt the flower logistics business by offering an app that reduces the time between flower production and availability in the stores. In each universe, John has a different approach to building his app.

John Misunderstood

In the first universe, John Misunderstood thinks he knew what his customers wanted and needed. He spends months designing and developing the best app, paying attention to every detail and feature. He wants his app to be perfect before launching it on the market.

However, he realizes he is wrong when he finally releases his app. His customers do not understand how his app works, do not see the value of his solution, and are unwilling to pay for it. John Misunderstood fails to provide his customers with a real but imperfect solution that solves their problems.

John Fastt

In the second universe, John Fastt understands that he needs to validate his idea with real customers as soon as possible. He builds an MVP with the minimum features that can solve the problem of flower logistics. He launches his app quickly and starts getting feedback from his customers. He learns what they like and dislikes about his app and improves it accordingly.

John Fastt succeeds in providing his customers with a fast but imperfect solution that solves their problems. The number of app users quickly grew, but besides that, John started to struggle since the revenue was intense but with zero profit.

John Rightt

In the third universe, John Rightt combines the best of both worlds. He successfully provides his customers with a fast and profitable solution that solves their problems. He builds an MVP with the minimum features that can solve the problem of flower logistics, but he also pays attention to what his customers are willing to pay for. He conducts super-fast research and interviews potential customers to understand their journeys, needs, preferences, and willingness to pay.

He launches his app quickly and tests different pricing models and revenue streams. He learns what works and does not work for his business model and optimizes it accordingly.

Why is John Rightt’s approach the best?

John Rightt’s approach is the best because he embraces imperfection to learn and improve his product. He does not assume he knows everything about his customers or the market. He does not wait until his product is perfect or complete before launching it. He does not ignore the importance of finding a viable business model for his product. He uses a super lean MVP to test his assumptions, get feedback from real users, and iterate on his product based on data and evidence.

Three best practices for creating a successful MVP

To create a successful MVP, you need to follow some best practices that can help you build a product that delivers value to your customers and generates revenue for your business. Here are three of them:

• Define your problem and your solution: Before building anything, you need to clearly understand what problem you are trying to solve and what solution you are offering. You need to identify your target customers, their pain points, how they currently solve their problems, and how your solution can improve their lives.

• Build what matters: To build an MVP, you must focus on the core features that can solve your customer’s problem and deliver value. You must prioritize what is essential for your product and eliminate what is not. You need to avoid adding unnecessary features or functionalities that do not contribute to your value proposition or business goals.

• Measure and learn: To validate your MVP, you need to measure how your customers use your product and how they react to it. You need to collect customer feedback through brief surveys, fast interviews, quick reviews, etc., and use it to improve your product. You need to define metrics to track your progress and success, such as user acquisition, retention, engagement, satisfaction, revenue, etc.

Embracing imperfection is the best way to succeed with an MVP because it allows you to launch your product faster, learn from your customers in a blink of an eye, and improve your product ultra quickly. An MVP is not a final product but a learning tool that helps you to test your hypothesis about the problem, the solution, and the market. By following some best practices for creating an MVP, you can build a product that delivers value to your customers and generates revenue for your business.