Minimum Viable Product – Everything about MVP App Development that You Need to Know

What features do companies like the famous Amazon, Uber, and Facebook share? Since you’ve read our article about MVP app development, you probably already know the answer. But if you’re not sure, it’s the term “MVP.” They all started as a sort of minimum viable product. So for example, Facebook connected students, Uber provided a simple taxi service, and Amazon made buying books easy.

But what does their story have to do with the minimum viable product? Well, the basic concept is these companies began working on, testing, and developing their basic features before scaling up to their current size. That’s the idea behind an MVP. But don’t worry if the concept isn’t clear just yet. I’ll explain more in a second.

Today, I’m going to focus on the core of MVP app development. Thus, helping you understand its benefits and how you can create your own MVP app for your products. So, as I said before, let’s go in with a little more detail about Minimum Viable Products by:

Defining MVP App Development

The term MVP or Minimum Viable Product originated with startups and smaller companies. And it was first popularized by people like Eric Ries from LeanStartup. However, it is currently used by businesses of every size to test their newer products. The goal of MVP app development is essentially very simple:

1. First, it’s all about creating a functional product with its basic features complete.
2. Then, the working model is presented to investors, early adopters, and general audiences with one purpose, i.e., to receive feedback.

So, to summarize, MVP is the basic or minimal version of a company’s product. It helps developers get the feedback or validation they need from customers while requiring the least effort/expense.

What are Some of the Benefits of MVP App Development?

MVP is vital to every business idea. Here’s how it helps with your app:

1.      Securing Funds

The most important thing for businesses is funding. But investors need to see something concrete before they are going to fund your ideas. Of course, that’s not surprising, considering the failure rate of startups. However, if you instead choose to present a quick functional presentation with a working MVP app, it will help investors make better or more informed decisions.

2.      Saving Money

MVP app development, or MVP in general, is all about creating a product with its core features ready. These are then presented to users to obtain the necessary feedback to further the app. After that, you make changes, implement iterations and edit the initial concept based on what you learn. However, the benefit of using this technique is saving on development costs. This is because you minimize the total risk of producing useless features.

3.      Direct Feedback

Testing your app or product ideas on your own can take a lot of time and resources. But you still won’t get the opinions of your customers. That’s what makes MVP app development better. It connects the developers and the users through a direct feedback loop. And as a result, they can further improve the core concepts and features within the app by fixing or removing those elements that do not work.

Using MVP allows companies to learn what works for their app. Thus, reducing the risk for investors in the long run.

4.      Market Evaluation

Way back in the day, IBM released a touch screen. It was the first of its kind and far preceded the iPhone release. However, the product didn’t see any success. Instead, only selling around 50,000 devices.

The reason behind the failure is clear when you consider MVP. It had no product-market fit. This is similar to the issues the AR Zone App developers are facing.

Therefore, when working to develop your apps, it’s best to consider if there is even a demand for them in the market. For instance, your product may revolutionize the marketplace. But if the consumer has little interest, the product will undoubtedly fail.

In the end, using MVP is a safe way to determine the long-term viability of your product.

 

5.      Development Flexibility

The development of any app takes a lot of time and money. And on average, costs can range from $16000 to over $72000! These values are based on the complexity of apps, and the time it takes developers to work on them. Therefore, it’s safe to say making changes, revisions, and updates to core concepts comes at a high price.

Fortunately, MVPs solve that problem. With the MVP app development processes, companies can quickly develop solutions and change things that do not work. As a result, reducing any risk of affecting the app’s overall performance.

How to Begin MVP App Development?

Now you’re aware of the MVP’s role in business product development and risk management. Then, let’s talk about MVP app development:

1.      Identify Your Business Idea’s Role

Before you begin MVP app development, you need to ask a few questions. Firstly, will the product, idea, or app solve a problem? Does it fill a need for consumers?

If the answer is anything but a solid yes, it might be time to go back to the drawing board.

Try focusing on the following questions:

• How will the product solve users’ problems?
• How big is the target audience?
• Does the product fit into an existing market or create its own niche?

2.      Clearly Map the Core Features and Functions

Once you see the role of your product and how it fits into the market, you need to focus your attention on the core components of the app.

Begin by sorting through the features you need and the features you can do without. Then, prioritize the ones that can set your product apart from competitors. These features should allow potential customers and investors to experience the full functionality of your application. However, it is missing some core elements if they cannot go from the problem to the solution with your app.

Try taking insight from software developers and business specialists when choosing the features.

3.      Testing and QA of Your MVP App

It’s important for companies to ensure their app works well during the MVP app development stages. This is because the final presentation needs to be flawless to convince people of the product. For example, if the app’s core features do not work well, consumers will refuse to buy it. And investors will not take the risk of investing in another startup that doesn’t deliver.

A good solution is getting help with the testing process of your application. Or dedicating a team to evaluating core functions before development.

Conclusion

That brings us to the end of MVP app development as a topic. We hope you now clearly understand Minimal Viable Product and its benefits. The role of MVP in app development is a simple one that both saves resources and minimizes risk for the company. Thus, allowing for more flexible production with improved market compatibility and viability.

The guide above is designed to introduce you to the concept of MVP and brief you on the direction you can take with MVP app development. Of course, it will still be a challenge. But you now have the tools you need to make development easy. For more resources on mobile apps, software, and games, visit AppSocio.