How to Create a Minimum Viable Product That Drives Learning

Developing a minimum viable product (MVP) allows startups to launch and iterate quickly based on real customer feedback. Follow these tips for building an MVP that effectively validates your ideas early.

Define Your Target Customer

Always start MVP development by deeply understanding your ideal early adopter. Ask

• Who has a pressing problem your product solves?

• What customer segment gets the most value from your solution?

• What groups are most open to new innovations in your space?

• Who can provide the most useful feedback on features and messaging?

Outlining your target customer profile ensures you build an MVP tailored to their needs.

Refine Your Value Proposition

Articulate the core value your product delivers to customers in 1-2 sentences. Focus on:

• The critical problem you address

• Your solution and key benefits

• What makes your approach unique

• The outcomes and impact you enable

This value proposition becomes your guiding light for defining minimal features and selling points.

Carefully Scope the Functionality

Resist cramming every possible feature into your MVP. Prioritize the absolute minimum set of features that enables value delivery.

• List all proposed functionality and rank by importance.

• Cut out “nice to haves” and nonessential items.

• Align features tightly to the validated needs of target users.

• Consider starting with a single “magic” feature that solves the core problem.

Limiting features makes coding faster, testing easier, and keeps your focus razor sharp.

Set a Budget

Calculate an initial budget encompassing:

• Development costs

• Any licensing fees

• Basic marketing activities

• Release and distribution

• Ongoing hosting, support, operations

Keep costs low by utilizing lean development strategies, free tools, unpaid channels, and a scrappy mindset.

Define a Realistic Timeline

Given your budget and complexity, set a reasonable timeline for MVP completion, such as:

• 2-4 weeks for a basic landing page MVP

• 2-3 months for a concierge/manual MVP

• 4-6 months for a full working prototype

Resist endless polishing. Set hard go-live target dates to motivate focus.

Design Your Minimal Viable Experience

Craft an end-to-end user experience with only essential elements:

• What triggers awareness of your product? Ads? Search? Referrals?

• What is the sign-up and onboarding flow? Keep it simple.

• How is value delivered? Focus on core features.

• How do users engage with the product? Streamline paths.

• How will you support and communicate with users? Start manually first.

Map just enough to test your hypotheses before over-engineering.

Build Your MVP Using Agile Methods

Develop your MVP using agile, iterative techniques to adapt it based on feedback:

• Work in short 1-2 week sprints with clear deliverables

• Involve your target users early and often for input

• Continuously refine features and priorities as you learn

• Focus on rapid prototyping over robust infrastructure

Agility allows you to release an MVP fast while co-creating with real users.

Identify Your Riskiest Assumptions

Uncover the riskiest parts of your model requiring testing by asking questions like:

• Who is our core customer? What do they value?

• What features are must-haves versus nice-to-haves?

• How should we market and sell to customers?

• What pricing structure works best?

• Will users find the product easy and useful?

Your MVP experiments should tackle your biggest unknowns and uncertainties first.

Get Your MVP in Front of Target Users

Line up a small group of ideal prospects to demo your MVP for feedback:

• Leverage your personal and professional network

• Reach out to customers individually for one-on-one testing

• Offer free access or incentives in exchange for feedback

• Explain it’s an early test version so they know what to expect

Real user input is the only way to validate you’re solving real pain points.

Solicit Actionable Feedback

During MVP testing, ask specific questions that reveal tangible insights:

• Does this address a critical problem for you? How serious is the issue?

• Were you able to clearly understand the value proposition?

• Did you find the product intuitive and easy to use?

• What key features did you expect that weren’t included?

• How interested are you in this solution? Would you pay for it?

Feedback yields data to shape successful product-market fit.

Iterate Quickly Based on Learning

Use feedback to rapidly evolve your MVP:

• First address any flaws blocking user adoption.

• Double down on features users love.

• Remove elements with little value.

• Test pricing models, marketing messages, workflows.

• Relaunch updated MVP versions for more feedback.

Continuous small changes will hone product-fit and reduce risk.

Decide Whether to Build, Tweak, or Scrap

There are 3 potential outcomes from your MVP experiments:

1. Strong validation – Time to invest in growth.

2. Moderate traction – Make tweaks and retest assumptions.

3. Low interest – Consider scrapping for a different idea.

Let user reactions guide next steps without overreacting or clinging to poor concepts.

Launch Your Official Version 1

Once MVP testing provides enough confidence in the model, do a full launch:

• Wrap up lingering feature development and infrastructure.

• Develop expanded marketing materials and sales strategy.

• Allocate budget for launch activities like advertising.

• Iron out customer support processes.

• Publicly announce launch to create buzz.

Use lessons from your MVP to optimize the initial real product for success.

By focusing on the critical features and hypotheses needed for learning over scale, you can build an MVP that fuels growth with minimal waste. Use fast build-measure-learn loops to uncover flaws fast and maximize customer value.