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Guide to developing a minimum viable product (MVP)

Developing a minimum viable product (MVP) is an important step in launching any new product, as it helps to evaluate customer feedback and minimise risk. An MVP should include only the most essential features and functions of a product, allowing for a cost-effective and efficient way to test products before launching them into the market. But this can all be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be:

Start with a simple product solving a tiny sub-set of a Grand Problem.

The MVP should be kept as small as possible to accelerate learning and avoid wasting time and money.

A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) must have enough value that people are willing to use it or buy it initially.

Do the right planning, asking for help and investing some to find the right tools can make it possible.

Get it out as soon as possible as a Beta/MVP product and test.

The process of developing an MVP involves several stages which should be carefully considered when crafting a plan, there are also 2 aspects of it, the business and the technical side.

The business side

Tools

When you're developing a minimum viable product, it's important to make sure that everything you build is done correctly. This can be time consuming and challenging, but luckily there's an easier way to get the job done by using external tools. External tools can be an invaluable resource when building an MVP, as they save time and effort by allowing you to focus on the big picture instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. With external tools, there's no need to build something from scratch since what you need is already available elsewhere. This means quicker development times and fewer headaches down the line. So when it comes to developing a minimum viable product, don't forget to take advantage of all the external resources available!

Deliver fast

One of the key elements of developing a minimum viable product (MVP) is delivering it as fast as possible so that you can get the users' feedback quickly. By delivering your MVP quickly, you will be able to get much faster insight into what works and what doesn't. This way, you can make changes and improvements to your product much quicker than if you had to wait until everything was done before letting users test it out. Delivering fast also allows for more flexibility when building features, so that you can focus on only delivering what is most important for an MVP and nothing else.

User feedback

User feedback is an essential part of developing a minimum viable product (MVP). Developers need to know how users interact with their product and what they think of it in order to determine whether the MVP is successful or not.

Sleek Plan is an

all-in-one feedback tool⁠

that makes getting user feedback easier than ever. It offers features such as Feedback Boards, Roadmaps, Changelog, and Satisfaction Surveys which enable developers to collect valuable data on user engagement, likes and dislikes, areas for improvement and more.

With Sleek Plan's comprehensive feedback collection tools, developers can quickly gather useful insights from their target audience – giving them the confidence needed to make informed decisions about their MVP, without the headache of developing anything and it supports a full SKD integration.

Users first

Developing a MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is all about optimizing resources and ensuring the best user experience possible. To do this, you have to start by putting your users first.

This means thinking carefully about what features are essential for their needs, and which ones aren't.

By careful consideration of the features that offer the most value to your users, you can ensure that you won't be wasting any valuable resources on developing unnecessary features.

Ultimately, this will save you time and money while still giving your customers an excellent user experience with your product. Remember: Users first!

Monitor

When it comes to developing a minimum viable product (MVP), one of the most important steps is to monitor how users are interacting with your product and make adjustments as needed. This will help you identify features that could be improved, removed, or added based on user feedback. It's also important to get quantitative data from user activity so you can better understand the needs of your target market. You can track metrics such as the number of active users, their usage time, usage frequency, and purchase rates. These insights are invaluable for further product development down the line. This sort of monitoring will allow you to spot trends quickly and make decisions about how to adjust or modify your MVP accordingly. By using this approach, you'll be able to create an MVP that has a higher chance of success in the long run.

The technical side

Minimise the use of servers/compute that you have to run.

Do not write the code if it is already written.

Open Source

API’s

Performance is important only if it is impossible for customers to perform the tasks

Ask for help

Building a Partner Program Search engine that allows you to search for partner programs and software data.

Start small

When it comes to developing an MVP, the key is to start small. Don't jump into the deep end right away by trying to create a finished product before even testing its viability in the market. Instead, begin with something basic and work your way up from there. You don't need all the bells and whistles of a full-fledged product in order to test how well it will perform. Focus on just those features that are absolutely necessary for your MVP and discard anything extra that may complicate development. Start off with the bare minimum features and add in more along the way as you gain traction in the marketplace.

Do things that do not scale

When you're developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), you want to test the idea first before scaling it. Rather than go full in with feature-rich builds, take a step back and do things that don't scale. This could be as basic as creating an online survey to get customer feedback on your concept or developing a prototype of your product with the most basic of features. Doing things that don't scale will help you validate your ideas quickly and keep any resources invested in check. Once validated, only then should you proceed with building something scalable and ready for wider adoption. It's arguably one of the most important steps when developing a MVP and can save you time (and money) in the process.

Be a consulting company.

One important step in developing a minimum viable product (MVP) is to put yourself in the shoes of a consulting company. Instead of just building something and testing it, take your product through the same process that someone selling it would: research, refine, and implement. What’s more, you’ll learn a lot if you approach it this way! By acting as if you are a consultant selling your MVP, you can uncover valuable insights about what works or doesn't work. You can also look at customer feedback, data collected from user surveys and interviews with customers, and any other sources of data to improve your product. In addition, testing the marketability of the product should be part of this process as well. Finally, you'll also need to develop marketing strategies that will help you clearly communicate who your target market is and why they should buy your product. Again, this requires testing, refining and listening to customer feedback to ensure that your MVP meets the needs of its users. Ultimately, being a consultant for your own MVP will help you produce something that's successful both for developers and end users alike!

Scaling in a non scalable way

Developing a minimum viable product (MVP) requires starting small and scaling up over time. You can't go from having zero customers to millions overnight, so you have to develop your MVP in a non-scalable way. That means creating something that can be sold one by one and gradually increasing the scale of it with each sale. This will allow you to tailor the product specifically for the customer's needs in order to make sure the solution is viable. It also gives you the opportunity to do market research, test propositions and build up relationships with customers before investing heavily into larger scale projects. By taking steps in a non-scalable way, you're significantly more likely to find success when launching your fledgling product out into the market.

Charging

When you're developing an MVP, it's important to consider charging for your product or service. It might be intimidating at first to ask for money, but in the long run, it's a necessary step for ensuring that you can keep doing what you love and make a living from it. Nobody likes grinding away for free when there are bills to pay and mouths to feed, after all! But remember, you don't have to charge too high. Being reasonable and fair is the best way to not only get clients onboard with your project but also show them that you value their business. Don't be afraid of losing out on some clients - there will always be more if one doesn't work out. Charging a fair price is essential if you want your hard work and dedication to providing quality services and products to be recognized and rewarded with profit.

Feature roadmap

When you're developing an MVP, it's important to have a feature roadmap in place. This will help you decide which features you should prioritise. When creating your roadmap, bring potential users into the conversation and ask them what features they need and what can be left out for now. Those who are paying you for the product will understand better than anyone else - so listen to their opinion and make sure that the end product is the best it can be.

Figure out which features are must-haves, which ones can wait, and which ones should be considered as future additions. By defining a feature roadmap, you'll have clear guidelines for when to add or remove certain components from your project - ensuring that the MVP you release is not only viable but also serves the needs of its users.

Helping others and asking for help

When it comes to developing an MVP, it's important to be able to ask for help and to offer help when you can and this goes beyond just having a team of developers or marketers. Whether it's free or paid help, but be sure that you clearly outline what you need assistance with.

If not, it'll just wind up wasting everyone's time and leave you feeling frustrated that you couldn't figure something out on your own.

Things no one cares about

When it comes to developing an MVP, there are certain things that people shouldn't spend too much time on. These are things that no one really cares about, which leads to wasted time and resources. Things like designing a fancy logo or coming up with the perfect name and website domain. While these elements have their importance, they aren't worth spending hours of your time in the early stages of product development. Your energy is better spent elsewhere - like crafting the actual product and determining its target customer audience. So save yourself time and focus on what gets you results.

Things everyone cares about

Developing a minimum viable product (MVP) requires careful consideration of a few key factors. Of course, having a great value proposition is important; but there are other aspects of the MVP that everyone cares about and should be taken into account. Including user experience – this is something that your users must enjoy so they’ll stick around to use or purchase the product. You also need to consider scalability and sustainability when building an MVP, as well as features which can be built upon further down the line. Make sure you include feedback loops in order for you to track how effectively your product meets its intended goals, and always let the design guide your decisions.