What You Should Know Before You Build an MVP


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If you’re thinking about creating your first version of a mobile app for your business, a Build an MVP (minimum viable product), you’ll find everything you need to know on the subject here.

Before you get down to finding a team to build an MVP, or if you have even started the search already, a few tips will be useful. Read the whole thing to get the full overview of the process you need to prepare for so you don’t make the mistakes others have made.

Build an MVP Definition

The Minimum Viable Product is kind of a basic version of your app. It is a fully functional application, but it’s not the final product you want to release. As the name suggests, the minimum viable product is intended to have the minimum number of features that are necessary to validate the app idea itself. We call these core features, essential features, etc.

It is also called a minimum marketable product and its first users are called early adopters.

Why do people decide to create MVPs?

Why make build an MVP in the first place? It is done for a number of reasons, each of which is good because if you decide to create it:

You’re validating an idea

You’re not risking a large amount of money you would spend on an extensive app if it doesn’t work out. There are over 3.3 million apps on the market and at this point, it is almost impossible to create a completely new app or come up with a new idea. So it happens that even the best ideas don’t stand up to the competition.

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You’re taking less risk

Whether we’re talking about an agency or a development team in general, everyone cares about entering into a long-term relationship. Therefore, you don’t have to be afraid of spending money to do work that someone will take lightly.

You’ll find out what to plan next

By collecting user feedback and through user testing, you will find out what you need to implement into the app. In addition to what you determine by yourself through market research and competitor research, the most important thing is to take into account the opinions of the people who are your customers. It will then be easier to manipulate your development plans and the introduction of a monetization model.

You will save money

You will spend less money on the start-up and can start making money faster. By planning the minimum number of features needed, and therefore the minimum amount of working time, you will have to spend less money by the time of the first release.

This will allow you to:

  • present the finished product to investors

or

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MVP development process

The MVP development process is not particularly different from the app development process itself in general in terms of stages. The differences between the final product itself and the MVP are significant.

When you want to create a minimum viable product, you have to go through stages that will boil down to the development of specific features and the release. Below you will find a description of these stages and a collection of important tips to follow to make your minimum viable product a success.

Market research and analysis

The first and most important thing to do is in-depth market research. Do not save time on this. This is an action you can take alone or with an experienced team who will know what to look out for.

It is almost impossible that there are no apps similar to yours on the market. Find them, see how they work, who their users are, and check the reviews. There must be a product-market fit. Otherwise, you’ll risk that your product will simply prove to be unnecessary.

Defining your business plans

MVP development must also be preceded by the setting up of a solid plan. So try to answer the questions: what business goal do I want to achieve? How will I make money from the app? What benefits does the solution bring?

Strategic considerations are essential to be ones to stick to when planning the software development itself.

User persona

When planning any solution, users are the most important. We need to know who our target audience is and tailor each solution to the problems we want to solve.

Once you know who the target users are, a helpful exercise is to define the user persona. This is the kind of user who is an ideal customer for you. A person with a specific problem you can solve, a person from a particular location or of a certain age, working in a given profession, and so on.

Competitive analysis

Another important step is to analyze competing products. The Competitive analysis involves finding a few competitor apps and listing their features, as well as what we call the ‘feature gap’, i.e. what, in your opinion or preferably in the opinion of users, is missing.

Wireframes and design

The creation of wireframes should take place immediately after market research or while it is still in progress. This is something like an outline of the application screens. The designs, on the other hand, should be prepared by team members – UI/UX designers. On the basis of UX designs, the work of the engineers – the MVP development – takes place.

This should be a continuous process, meaning that features can be implemented at the same time as new designs are created. Each new version of the MVP released to customers should also be created on the basis of user feedback.

Software development

This is where the ‘magic’ happens – software development. The engineers implement feature after feature, and you are involved in the process to different degrees depending on what you expect and who you are working with.

However, don’t think of this step as something that doesn’t affect you as a person who doesn’t write code after all. You should keep an eye on the team’s work and the outcome, i.e. checking that the functionalities work as agreed.

MVP testing

Make sure you have Quality Assurance specialists on deck who will make sure your product works well all the time. Testers do not check an application when it is ready. These qualified team members should verify if everything works correctly at every stage of development.

Idea validation and further plans

Once your MVP hits the mobile app stores and users, monitor the effects and compliance with your intended goals – take into account the number of downloads, the number of loyal and active users, and other success criteria, and most importantly collect feedback and reviews from users.

As mentioned earlier, these should form the basis of your plans for the further development of your app.

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Conclusion

You now know a lot about MVPs and how to get down to the process of building them. Overlooking these important issues is often why startups fail. The whole MVP process isn’t complicated if you prepare properly. An experienced team will help you get through it and create a really successful Build an MVP.

Do it right and then aim to build the actual product you want to share with your users!


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Vishal

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