MVP — A Strategy That is Pure Gold!

When bringing a product to market, research and testing is necessary all along the way to ensure you have a viable product that people want to buy, and then marketing and positioning the final product in such a way that people line up to buy what you are selling. A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is an incremental development method by which a product is developed with just enough features to be able to test in the marketplace to obtain information relative to the desire for and validity of said product. An MVP should be part of any product development strategy, and especially software development.

Performing MVP Due Diligence

As part of the initial market research process, information should be obtained through as many channels as possible. Additionally, information gleaned through the use of a landing page marketed to a target audience cannot be overstated when considering development of an MVP. The purpose of a landing page is to describe the core features of your software application and capture contact information for potential early adopters who will be asked for assistance with testing the MVP, as well as providing notification of when the final product is released.

If the landing page was marketed properly and conversion rates are horrible, then Outfast Source recommends more market research be performed before a single line of code is written. On the other hand, if conversion rates on the landing page are good, you then move to development of a product with, as Steve Blank, the Godfather of the Lean Startup Movement defines it, “a minimum feature set,” which will allow you to test your hypothesis, i.e. your belief that there is, in fact, a need for your application in the marketplace; and more importantly, that there is an interest in it. Once testing is complete on the first iteration of your MVP, form a new hypothesis, and then build out just enough new features to once again test your hypothesis. With each product iteration, you learn more about what the market wants and what they are willing to pay for.

The Sandbox Just Got Much Bigger

Making MVP development part of your overall software development strategy enables you to develop and even roll out an application incrementally in a sandbox-type environment. Typically in software development, the sandbox refers to a testing environment where experimental and untested code is isolated from the live version of an application.

In the past, one type of sandbox was the BETA version of a complete application which was built for a very targeted market share and was rolled out to a very small group of potential early adopters for testing to discover bugs, confirm processes functionality and market-specific terminology, and make recommendations on improving the user experience, i.e. user interface and intuitiveness of the application. This was a long and arduous process, and in many cases, involved someone from the software development company actually working at the testing site. In many instances code that was already written under assumptions made as a result of initial research had to be reworked when the application was deployed and folks actually started going through the workflow processes. Additionally, this small group of early adopters would often drive the development of an application locking in a particular market share perhaps, but in today’s global market the sandbox needs to be big enough for a whole bunch of folks to play in.

When the application being tested is mammoth and completely coded, all the capital is spent at the onset of the project so the sandbox ends up being much smaller. When using an MVP as part of your overall development strategy, and especially when bringing a new software application to market, your sandbox becomes much bigger; and you gain more exposure to many different potential markets, which is HUGE when considering initial product traction. Even if not addressing different markets, there may be more use cases within a given market than you were considering, or the use cases may be different than you thought.

Early Adopters Make Great Cheerleaders

As mentioned above, part of using MVP as a software development strategy involves utilization of potential early adopters. Early Adopters are typically early users of a product or service, and as such, are viewed as trend-setters. These folks would be the early users of a new products and services like TRAVO and Uber. Early adopters not only test the product, but they provide feedback relative to the type of functionality and even the emotional triggers and intel necessary for the development of a real revenue stream.

As an example, let’s say you have an idea for a travel planning tool you think there is a market for. Converting potential early adopters to early adopters/customers and even an addition to your sales toolbox might go something like this:

1. When performing initial market research for your travel planning tool, through the use of a landing page and other research methods, several potential early adopters are identified.
2. Once the MVP is developed, a short list of potential early adopters is contacted with a request that they sit through a demonstration of your application (the MVP may be tweaked depending on the intel gathered from the demos).
3. The MVP is given to interested potential early adopters with the request that they use the application when planning travel itineraries.
4. Potential early adopters use the MVP and provide feedback regarding functionality as well as a wishlist of features.
5. A relationship begins to form between a core group of potential early adopters and the seed startup tech company developing the travel planning application.
6. From the core group of potential early adopters, those with the ability to see the end game and have the business acumen to identify one or more potential revenue streams are asked to become early adopters and function as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) as development of the features wish list identified through the testing process is developed.
7. The early adopter SMEs take on ownership and develop an emotional attachment to the success of the new travel planning application (NOTE: Typically early adopter SMEs continue to get the application for free as they are giving their time and talent in assisting the seed startup tech company with ongoing development as a SME for a particular industry).
8. BONUS: Several of the early adopters SMEs are considered thought leaders in their industry and are totally jazzed about the application, can’t wait for the next iteration to be released, and offer to promote the new travel planning application to their ginormous following touting it as disruptive technology that will revolutionize the travel industry (HINT: You need to have as many of these folks functioning as SMEs as possible)!

MVP Development Strategy Reduces Costs and Mitigates Risk

Simply put, making an MVP part of your development strategy is paramount to managing runway efficiency. Data mining and gathering intel to formulate the marketing message of a product through the use of an MVP development strategy is far less expensive than developing a software application with everything AND the kitchen sink, which increases cost and risk. Consider the following specific points from a cost-savings/risk perspective:

• Wasted engineering hours are significantly reduced by developing TO the market based on information gathered through landing pages, A/B, and other user-experience testing methods.
• Potential market share may be revealed that was not produced from initial market research.
• Relationships with Early Adopters are formed which directly impact customer conversion rates.
• Discovery of a features wish list is attained which is key to setting your new application apart from anything else out there (remember you don’t have to be first to market just the best)!
• The coveted product/market fit is achieved complete with a probable customer base of early adopters.
• Early adopters become some of the most cost-effective SMEs and salespeople for your new application!

Using MVP as part of your overall development strategy is a no-brainer. Your hypothesis can be built and tested with fewer resources and lesser risk because the iterative process of idea generation, prototyping, user experience, user interface (presentation), data collection to include emotional triggers that convert early adopters and prospects to buyers, analysis and learning continues until a product/market fit marriage is found or the product is determined to be non-viable. Using an MVP approach significantly reduces rework and helps to ensure that the right product is delivered at the right time.

Got an idea for the next big app? AWAKEN YOUR INNER ENTREPRENEUR! Contact a software developer today to see what it would take to get to Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and make that launch date a reality!

This article originally appeared in the Outfast Source Blog.

This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 320,131+ people.

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