MVPs are a convenient little solution to having a great idea, but not the amount of funding to execute it. MVP or a minimum viable product is essentially the smallest thing that you can build to prove one of the biggest ideas you have, mainly at a fraction of the cost it would require to build the real thing, or at least mass produce it. The idea behind MVPs is to show a finished product that works, to be able to get funding and investment to produce them en masse. An MVP can also tell you if the product is even a good fit for the market, if it’ll land well, and if users will actually end up enjoying your product and using it. All in all, your MVP’s function is twofold. It determines the product viability, but it also sets up the product expectations. Which means, if your MVP excels, your product, regardless of how frivolous a pain point it’s resolving, will land well in the market. Here’s a list of things you need to keep in mind when you launch your MVP.

Crystal Clear Mission

Before you launch your MVP, you need to be dead certain about who you’re going to sell your product to, and why. This will help you set up the problem statement that you will share during your launch. If there is even a shred of doubt around the demographic you’ll be touching for the purpose, or whether or not the product can actually resolve the issue you say it is going to resolve, pause the launch and work on refining the statement. You could do a few more focused group discussions to figure it out better. If you need help with this, you can always consider hiring MVP development services.

Figure Out The Blindspots

The next most important thing that you need is to figure out where you’re basing results on assumptions in your process. In other words, what part of the creative process does not rely on actual data from people you’re building your product for? What’s going to work best in your favor is doing an early testing of these assumptions to get that data and deal with the blind spots better. Basically, you need to scout for 3-5 assumptions that, if proven wrong, could break the whole idea, and you need to get the right answers early on to be able to start investing time and money in it.

Set Up The KPIs

KPIs, the most dreaded word, because while it defines what success can look like, it also describes what failure will look like if your MVP fails. Regardless, you need to determine what KPIs you’ll be measuring the product on, so ask yourself what success looks like for this product. How many purchases indicate it has hit the market and resolved the problem it claimed to resolve?

Design The MVP Features

Now that you’ve gotten the groundwork done, it is time to start designing the key features that are going to reflect your product’s use. What is the core advantage that users will get from your product? Design that first. You might feel inclined to supplement features, but that’s just adding work and liability at the initial stage; stick to the basics and cover them well.

Time to Simulate

Before you start jotting down the code, it is ideal to test what your MVP will be offering via simulations. For instance, consider testing the landing pages. You can track how many signups to expect just by doing that. Next, try clickable prototypes that you can create with Figma. Mimic the automation by doing it manually on the backend to see how the product will behave. If you test initially before writing the code, you will go into the process knowing the weak spots and fix them in real time instead of circling back to them later.

Build The Crux

Once you have an idea of what your product can deliver, get started on building the crux. This is the part where you build the value you promise to your customers. Once you have built it, run experiments. Experimentation is the most important and recurring part of the process, and you will need to keep doing it to determine whether it is failing or landing.

Conclusion

Voila! You’re ready to launch your MVP from a much more grounded place. An MVP doesn’t have to be a swift, shortcut type of process to getting the product out. In fact, the more work you put in the initial stage, the better chances you have at getting it right and having a solid base for the actual product.