Understanding the MVP: Why It's Your Best Friend in Product Development

So, you're thinking about creating a new app, website, or product, and you've heard about something called an MVP. But what does MVP actually mean? And why is everyone so excited about it? Let’s break it down in simple terms!

What is an MVP?

Although an MVP or Minimum Viable Product term is not new, there are still a lot of misconceptions about it. Generally, an MVP version of the product contains only the core features that can solve a specific problem for your users. At this stage, it just needs to work well enough, so you can test your idea with a real audience.

Henrik Kniberg has come up with a great skateboard-into-car analogy regarding this phenomenon. He says that if your goal is to build a car, your MVP doesn’t have to be a car without a wheel or windows. Instead, you can start with something smaller — like a skateboard, scooter, or bicycle. It will still help you reach your destination even though it doesn’t have all the features of the car. The idea of MVP is to create a functional product that delivers real value, even if it's not the final vision, and then test and iterate it based on the feedback results.

Why is MVP Important?

It may seem that creating an MVP is too complicated or expensive, but in reality, it is not. Moreover, omitting it might disrupt the whole process and give you the wrong results. Basically, launching an MVP is like taking the first step on a journey. It helps you:

• Provide alternative solution for investors. Investors don’t want to invest money in a product they haven’t seen and cannot try. And without the money, you cannot finish the product to show it. MVP comes to the rescue here — by developing it, you can generate the investors’ interest and already show them the minimal version of the product to get the needed budget.
• Learn quickly and cheaply. You can spend numerous months constructing a finished product, complete with all possible features that the development team believes the users will want, only to find out that they don’t want such product at all. Instead, you can construct a viable version, release it, and get feedback in order to verify your theory. This way, you can quickly learn fast if the users like your idea and if it requires some modifications. An MVP is simply an approach for gleaning users’ insights while minimising the consumption of time or financial resources.
• Reduce risk. There is always going to be a financial risk during product development, and the worst-case scenario can be building the full-featured product without the confidence that users need it. An MVP can carry out this duty by allowing you to collect the essential features in the initial stages and present it to your target audience. If it works, good — move on. If it doesn’t, you can now change the direction of the project and come up with something better or more useful.
• Focus on what matters. When creating an MVP, you have to be able to determine the core feature of your product and the problem it’s solving. You can start with essentials, learn what people really need, and get their feedback on additional features you can add later. Your target audience can actually give you other ideas as to what you can add to the product to make it even more valuable.
• Get feedback fast. Once you launch your MVP, you get direct feedback from real users. They can provide insights that will help in the later stages as well. Based on the feedback, you can add or remove the features, and in a way, it guides you on what to build next.
• Build a better product over time. An MVP isn’t a finished product, and it’s about launching quickly while learning and improving till you get to perfection. With every new iteration, you make changes to the product by adding features, fixing issues, and making it better based on what your users need and want.

Common Misunderstandings About MVPs

Often, when people hear “MVP,” they think it means launching a low-quality or unfinished product. But an MVP isn’t done to launch something to make a quick buck. It’s an important part of product development that ensures it solves the real users' issues.

A successful MVP is both minimal and viable — meaning it has just enough features to solve the users' problem. It's incomplete; it's meant to be concentrated and purposeful.

Another misconception is that MVP is the same as the Prototype. This can’t be further from the truth. A prototype is basically a design or a layout that shows how the future product will look like. It doesn’t have any functions, and it doesn’t do anything besides representing the visual look of the app. MVP, however, looks like the finished application and includes the main features of the future app. Prototypes can be created in a few weeks, while MVP takes around a few months.

Why You Should Start with an MVP

• Start Small and Learn Fast. An MVP can also be seen as starting small, but it has its purpose. Even if at the beginning it's more like a version for the early adopters, you can already put something out there that works and start testing it immediately by researching the users’ reaction to it. Such approach helps you avoid adding features that no one really wants or needs and lets you focus on the important things instead.
• Adapt and Improve. As your data comes from the feedback of real users, it enables you to adjust and enhance your product in an efficient manner. You are not guessing or making projections based on possibilities, you’re building based on facts and real experiences. For example, people may like the messaging feature in an app but not the calendar feature. With this information, you already know what is worth spending the energy and resources on!
• Stay Flexible. Building an MVP allows you to remain more flexible without taking too much risk. If at any stage, you realise that your initial idea is doubtful, you can just adjust it and head in another direction without losing too much time and money. You’re not locked into a fully developed product that took years and thousands to build. Instead, you have room to experiment and find what truly works.
• Engage Potential Users. It takes a long time to prepare the target audience for the new product. Going on the market straight with the finished product will make the payback period longer, as well as the learning curve (in case a new product requires time for adoption). Launching MVP helps to make a statement on the market and start establishing early relationships with customers. With an MVP, organisations can collect data and insights about how users interact with a product to gauge how quickly they understand its purpose and flow.

Real-Life Example of an MVP: Diversido Experience

Diversido has a lot of experience building MVPs for companies in different spheres. One of our business cases was creating the Scooter Rental App from scratch. The client had custom-made 4-wheel 2-seat electric scooters that could be rented occasionally or daily. The first thing we did was analyse the customer’s needs and the market. Then we began developing a few core functions like coupons and benefits logic, as well as campaign administration; then it was time for sign-ups and price model usage. Initially, we did an MVP and gathered feedback. In the process, we learned that the most common issues with similar apps are Bluetooth disconnection and working in offline mode. We focused on these problems and solved them during the following development process.

Another successful case was an app for trainers and coaches called Health Mentor. In the beginning, we were asked to prepare a Proof of Concept — a preliminary experiment to determine if the product or idea is feasible. It’s a concept related to an MVP, but if an MVP is designed for early adopters, a PoC is typically prepared for investors and stakeholders. The idea we needed to validate was that app users will allow data exchange between fitness and nutrition apps and Health Mentor. We did prove this concept and created an MVP, which allowed us to gather feedback and learn the user's main needs and objections regarding the health application. Based on this, we were able to create a really great and useful product with a rich set of features.

How to Create an MVP: A Simple Approach

• Identify Your Core Problem. Research the market, determine your target audience, and survey it to understand what your app should do. By understanding the main problem your product is trying to solve, you can already start developing it. What is the one thing your users need most? What can be the solution to this need?
• Choose the Key Features. How can your product solve the users' issue with one feature? What that feature will be? Decide on the smallest set of functions that are necessary to solve that problem. Only focus on what’s essential and leave out the details.
• Build Quickly. Don’t aim for perfection — instead, aim for “viability” to start learning and improving. Your MVP should be something you can release relatively quickly — usually within a few months.
• Launch and Gather Feedback. Among the MVP benefits is that you can quickly rerelease it to real users and start collecting their feedback. You can find out what they like and dislike, what they need to add or remove, and what they wish the product could do ideally.
• Iterate and Improve. Use the feedback you gathered to make changes, add new features, or modify it if necessary. Repeat and reiterate, continuously improving your product based on information you get from users. Test it each time when you make a significant change, if possible.

Common Mistakes to Avoid with MVPs

• Overcomplicating the MVP. Remember, an MVP is about keeping things simple. Don’t work on it like you would work on the final product. Going on the market straight with the finished app will make the payback period longer as well as the learning curve. Start small and add features gradually as you learn more about what your users need.
• Ignoring user feedback. An MVP is only valuable if you use it to learn from your target audience. Make sure you’re actively listening to feedback and making changes accordingly. Ignoring this step defeats the whole purpose of building an MVP.
• Poor marketing efforts. Your product might be the best on the market, but the users will never learn about it if you don’t market it correctly. The right marketing strategy makes half of the success, and it’s crucial to ensure that enough efforts are given to this.
• Waiting too long to launch. The main point of an MVP is to get to market quickly. Don’t delay your launch trying to perfect every detail and add the most features. Get it out there, learn, and iterate to build the perfect final product.
• No plan for scaling. After MVP development, you move to the next phase to gather everything you have at that time and make the final product. But already in the first stages, you must have plans for its future scaling. You have to keep them in mind when surveying users, so you can then adjust them as needed.

Conclusion: MVP is Your Best Friend!

Developing a Minimum Viable Product is an essential step for launching any new app, website, or product. It allows companies to achieve cost efficiency by focusing on essential features, testing assumptions early, and avoiding unnecessary investments in unproven concepts. It’s all about starting small, focusing on the core problem, and building a great product step-by-step. Furthermore, it’s a proven approach followed by corporations like Airbnb, Facebook, and Amazon. These world-leading companies started with simple versions of their products and continually evolved them based on user feedback. Their MVPs allowed them to adjust when necessary and grow into the massive platforms they are today.

If you're uncertain about how to begin your MVP journey or need advice on the best approach, our team at Diversido can provide expert consultation. Whether you have an idea or just want to explore the possibilities, feel free to contact us anytime. We’re here to help you bring your vision to life and build that sports car you’ve always wanted.

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