… an actual player in the market
Heyyy Tribe
TGIF!!!
Today’s post is on MVP: what it is and what it isn’t. We had a conversation around this topic with a couple of players in the startup space sometime last year and it was so insightful. We had Funmiyi Balogun, Head of Strategy and Operations, Truvis Agro Services Company; Ayodeji Agboola, Founder, Akowe; Enoch Afolabi, Partnership Manager, Utiva; Gabriel Balogun, Director, Analytics Intelligence Academy; Bolu Oluwagbesan. Founder and CEO, Stanbuzz.
There experiences range from digital marketing to operations to research, etc. across various sectors
Read on to get their insight on building MVPs
MVP simply refers to Minimum Viable Product, it is a bare bones solution produced and put into the market to test your assumptions/idea. An MVP is important in validating your idea before building a full product. An example of an MVP is creating a Whatsapp group instead of a web app to connect service providers to customers. Another example is building a scooter to help people move from point A to B even though the actual idea is to build a spaceship for that purpose.
Importance of Building an MVP
As mentioned, you get to test your assumptions and this will give you a clear idea of how the business is working, what changes need to be implemented and help you decide on the specifications and peculiarities of the final product. There is a tendency to want to build everything and make it perfect before launch but if you don’t test early enough, you will not know the direction in which you need to take your product.
You also get to build traction which is very important as it is one of the things that can help you attract financing and funding. There is sometimes an unfounded need for capital among early stage founders, but an untested idea is less likely to get funding compared to an already tested and validated idea.
Principles for building an MVP
- The solution does not have to be as complex as the problem. Think of the simplest solution to the problem and do not waste so much time building something complex that might not even see the light of day. The initial solution does not even have to be tech even if that is the planned end point.
- Think Product-market fit when building an MVP. You should be focused on getting answers to the important question of “necessity” with an MVP. Does the idea work? Will people pay to use the product? etc. Iterate the MVP itself until you can see that the idea actually solves a problem and this is a solution people need. You can then move to finding out what part of the solution technology can enable and then design your tech to power providing this solution.
- Build an actual product. A scooter is an MVP for a spaceship but a tire isn’t. You need to build something that actually solves the problem on ground, not just any small part of the solution. It should be something you can take to the market; something tangible.
- Don’t get too attached to your MVP. You need to focus on the problem that needs solving not your idea of how it can be solved. The problem will guide you to the best solution.
How to get users to test MVP
You might not be able to find people that are wiling to pay immediately so you would need to plan to test without being paid. Be willing to test with people that cannot pay but can give feedback to help iterate and build a better product. Look at your immediate network for people that have the problem you are trying to solve. Your network should be your first point of contact; they know you and all things being equal, they’ll be willing to try something out for you.
There you have it,
…an MVP should be an actual product
I hope this has helped you
Have anything to add? Shoot me a comment in the comment section below
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