Pushing out Boxio’s MVP fast was the best decision we’ve made.
We got the first 50 users for our startup Boxio in 5 days after the MVP launch. And it took us 6 weeks to come up with the final MVP concept and get the app ready before that.
Here’s why we think moving fast is the key & critical mistakes that you can avoid by doing the same:
- You only build something people want
We, founders, tend to love our startup babies and get stuck with our ideas. The only way to succeed with MVP is to iterate the product based on users’ feedback.
At first, we didn’t manage to do this fully. So, we made a rule that for a while we don’t add any bigger feature unless someone asks for it.
The Critical Lesson we learned: Do alternative designs e.g. in Figma & ask for feedback. Don’t write a single line of code before you know it’s wanted.
2. You don’t have to sell twice
Through social media & lots of manual effort in making people aware of Boxio, we collected a waitlist of 200 subscribers before launching MVP.
Still, only 40 of them downloaded Boxio straight once we sent the launch email leaving the conversion rate to 20 %. The rest 160 are receiving my emails as we encourage them to try Boxio.
Early-stage startups cannot expect customers to be as over the moon about “Coming Soon” promises as they would be for Apple’s new iPhone release.
The Critical Lesson we learned: To avoid being forgotten and doing double selling, show people what you’re cooking.
3. You don’t have time to overcomplicate the MVP
MVP’s name says it all: Minimal Viable Product
Take your concept and simplify it, simplify it again and again and again until you’re left with the absolute bare bones, but just enough to build an experience that works and attracts those early adopters.
During the simplification process, you will have to pivot away from all the glory of the product you have in mind — the time for that is later.
The Critical Lesson we learned: Keep things simple.
4. The product may be copyable, but the community cannot
Needless to say, it’s easier to build community over an MVP than a waitlist.
People today have an overwhelming amount of product options where community plays the key role behind many product-led growth companies like Zoom or Calendly.
The Critical Lesson we learned: Community serves as a powerful advocate for the product — make it strong.
So… what’s next?
Boxio’s MVP was created with the feedback from test users. And now we continue building a better version with the feedback from MVP users.
We’ve recognized the difficulties in computer work: constant information-digging, distractions to get the work done, and difficulties in switching contexts. Boxio has been available to download for free on Mac for a week now (Windows coming soon) and the feedback has been amazing so far.
Ps… You can download free Boxio from here. We welcome all feedback, as we strive to make the app we all need.