Startups need to assess their potential in the market before investing in developing a final product. Project identification, testing business ideas on the market, and developing minimal products provide valuable insights into whether you are in the right place with your project and if it is worth investing time, effort, and money.
When startups launch a minimum viable product, they can quickly test their ideas about the target market, users’ needs, and their product’s value proposition. Feedback from early adopters gives them valuable insights into how to improve the product. This ongoing process helps startups adjust their product strategy to fit market demands.
In short, an MVP for startups helps find the right product-market fit and make smart choices based on real-life user data, not just guesses. This feedback-focused method reduces the risk of expensive mistakes and lets startups change their approaches to the final product development process.
Key Takeaways
- What is MVP and some advice on how startups can choose the right MVP type.
- Types of MVPs, their benefits, and drawbacks.
- Concierge MVP as an example of an innovative approach that replaces complex tech products.
- The LaSoft advice is on how to explain your idea to the target audience.
- Best ways to validate users’ feedback and results after testing the minimum viable product.
Defining MVP and How It Impacts Your Business Growth
A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a version of a product with a specific set of essential features that can cover the primary needs of its potential users. The MVP development process, or so-called product prototyping, is the final stage of testing a business idea. It allows you to test with real users in the market, gather feedback, and understand the core functionality needed in the market and whether it’s worth proceeding with the development process at all. By creating an MVP first, you can validate your idea, save costs, and reduce the risk of failure.
Before developing MVP software, startups should conduct expert research on the market, define their target audience, and set clear goals. This prep work ensures that the MVP meets market demand and will be commercially successful as a final product.
How Startups Can Choose the Right Type of MVP
Choosing the right type of MVP depends on your goals, the needs of the target audience, and the resources available for the product you want to test. By carefully considering these factors, startups can maximize their chances of validating business ideas, attracting early adopters, finding upfront investment, or securing funding for further software product development. Below are the key factors to consider when choosing the right MVP:
| Factors | Example | |
| Target Audience | Demographics: Understand the age, location, gender, and preferences of your target users.
Behavior: Analyze how your audience interacts with digital products and what solutions they currently use. Pain Points: Identify your audience’s specific problems and ensure your product may address them. |
If the company aims to test target audience demand, it tries a landing page MVP or crowdfunding MVP highlighting your core solution. |
| Business Goal | Business goals influence the choice of an MVP type because they determine what you need to test, how quickly you need results, and how much effort you can invest. | For immediate validation, simpler MVPs like Concierge or Landing Page are sufficient. |
| Product Complexity | Startups choose the MVP type depending on whether the idea can be tested by one core feature or requires multiple components. | A piecemeal MVP or concierge MVP may better illustrate the concept without full automation for business ideas requiring multiple components. |
| Budget Limit | Funding is available, and there’s no need for an upfront investment or, in case the idea is tested, to raise money and find partners or investors. | Startups with a small budget opt for cost-efficient MVP types such as landing pages, Wizard of Oz or prototyping, while startups with a large budget can choose more functional MVPs such as piecemeal MVP. |
| Timeframe | It depends on the speed priority or whether the startup team is not constrained by time. | If speed is a priority, the team usually chooses simpler MVPs like a landing page or concierge MVP. |
| Monetization | It depends on whether you aim to monetize immediately or focus on user acquisition first and getting feedback from early adopters. | If monetization is a goal, startups select an MVP that supports early revenue, such as a subscription model or piecemeal MVP. |
| Technical Expertise | Startups assess an in-house team; if they lack expertise, they consider no-code or low-code solutions. If outsourcing is an option, more complex MVPs are usually chosen. | To gather detailed insights on usability, consider a prototype or single-feature MVP. |
MVP Types for Startups
Selecting the right MVP type is crucial for startups and businesses aiming to validate their idea, minimize risks, and optimize resources. The right MVP ensures efficient market entry, user adoption, and product evolution.
Landing Page MVP
Startups create a simple webpage describing a product or service, often including a call-to-action (such as signing up for a waitlist or newsletter).
| Benefits | Drawbacks |
| Quick Solution and Cost-Effective: Fast to create and inexpensive.
Data Collection: Can capture email addresses or other contact details for follow-up. |
Limited Engagement: Only tests initial interest, not actual product usage.
Slight Assessment: Usually can’t fully convey the product’s value or functionality. |
Explainer Video MVP
Startups can create a video demonstrating how the product works or the problem it solves to generate and gather feedback.
| Benefits | Drawbacks |
| Visual Appeal: It can communicate complex ideas quickly and engagingly.
Extensive Reach: Easily shareable on social media platforms. |
Higher Expectations: Viewers might have high expectations for the final product.
No Interaction: Users cannot interact with or test the product. |
Wizard of Oz MVP
The Wizard of Oz MVP looks like a fully automated product, but behind the scenes, tasks are manually handled by humans. While users experience what seems like a complete and functional solution, the backend operations rely on manual execution to fulfill requests.
| Benefits | Drawbacks |
| Real-life Testing: Offers users a near-complete experience, allowing for valuable usability feedback.
Cost Savings: Avoids high development costs for backend systems in the early stages. |
Operational Complexity: Managing manual operations while keeping up the illusion of automation can be challenging.
Scalability: Transitioning from manual processes to automated systems requires significant rework. |
No-code, Low-code MVP
An MVP built using no-code or low-code platforms, allowing the creation of a digital product without traditional software development.
| Benefits | Drawbacks |
| Rapid Prototyping: Significantly reduces the time from idea to launch.
Cost-Effective: Eliminates the need to hire a development team initially. |
Limited Customization: It’s challenging to build a scalable solution that offers all desired functionalities or integrations.
Perception Issues: Some investors may view no-code products as less professional. |
Piecemeal MVP
It combines existing tools, third-party platforms, and services to create a functional prototype without developing a custom solution.
| Benefits | Drawbacks |
| Quick Development Process. Reduces development time and cost by leveraging pre-built tools.
Rapid Improvements. Allows rapid iteration based on user feedback. |
Scalability Issues. Limited customization and scalability due to reliance on third-party tools.
Integration challenges. They can arise when combining multiple tools. |
Single-Feature MVP
It focuses on delivering just one core feature (or a small set of only essential features) to users. By narrowing the scope, startups can quickly launch, gather user feedback, and refine the feature before expanding the product.
| Benefits | Drawbacks |
| Value Proposition: Demonstrates the primary value of your product.
Faster Development: Less complexity means quicker time to market. |
Limited Appeal: Users might be disappointed with a feature-limited solution.
Simplification: Offering a primary feature might hinder a full understanding of market needs. |
Crowdfunding MVP
It’s a strategy where startups present their product idea to the public on crowdfunding platforms to secure funding before full-scale development. Instead of building the entire product upfront, businesses create a so-called pitch, prototype, or concept design to gauge interest and attract financial backers.
| Benefits | Drawbacks |
| Encourages the Team. If people fund your product, it proves there’s real interest.
Avoid Financial Losses. Helps avoid investing in an idea that has no market. |
Feedback Issues. Investors may not give proper feedback on the product as they mostly back ideas, making usability unclear. |
Concierge Minimum Viable Product
The Concierge MVP is an innovative approach that replaces complex technical products with human effort. These methods allow you to test your core business hypothesis without extensive upfront engineering, saving time and budget and answering the key question, “Does anyone even want this?”
The Concierge MVP involves simplifying your product to its core components and replacing automated and manual processes. Instead of developing a fully functional product with complicated features, you offer the service directly to your customers and provide them with a comprehensive experience to validate your idea.
Concierge MVP Example: Personal Fitness Coaching App
Imagine you want to develop a personal fitness app that uses AI to create customized workout plans for users based on their fitness goals, available equipment and preferences. In your fully realized vision, users would input their data into the app, and advanced algorithms would instantly generate a customized workout plan, complete with instructional videos and progress tracking.
With a Concierge MVP, however, you skip the automation and deliver the experience manually to validate your idea.
| User Sign-Up | Instead of building an app, you create a simple landing page where users can sign up for a personalized fitness program. |
| Collect User Data | After sign-up, you send users a questionnaire via email or Google Forms asking for:
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| Manual Plan Creation | Based on their responses, you manually create a customized workout plan. You can also include links to free YouTube workout videos that match their requirements. |
| Personalized Delivery | You email the workout plan to the user, positioning it as a premium, personalized service. |
| Follow-Up and Feedback | You check in with the targeted users weekly through email or phone, asking:
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Answering many questions will affect your product’s core features:
Do people value personalization?
If users express excitement and satisfaction with their tailored plans, it confirms there’s demand for this level of customization.
What features matter most?
Feedback might reveal users care more about video demonstrations than detailed written instructions or want progress-tracking tools.
Are users willing to pay?
You can test whether users would subscribe to a service like this by offering to extend their plan for a fee after the trial.
Benefits of the Concierge MVP product development process
- Cost-Effective: You avoid building a full app while validating demand.
- Direct Insights: Weekly check-ins provide valuable feedback on user preferences.
- Flexibility: If users prefer a different approach (e.g., group fitness challenges), you can pivot before committing resources to development.
How to Explain Your MVP Idea to Your Potential Audience
As a stakeholder or business owner, you may not validate the business model at the idea stage. Still, it’s necessary to communicate your concept to your team, investors, and potential users. We offer some effective tools and strategies to explain your MVP idea:
Product BriefIt provides a high-level overview of your product idea and helps to effectively communicate its value proposition, focusing on the problem it solves. A product brief is a concise document that outlines:
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Business Model DesignIt’s a process to validate the business model and communicate your understanding of how your minimum viable product will create value.
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| Landing Page
A landing page is a simple way of communicating your early version idea to the potential audience. It is a cost-effective tool to introduce your MVP development idea to early adopters.
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| Explainer email
Sending an explainer email to your target audience, including potential early adopters and investors, effectively introduces your MVP idea in detail. The email should focus on:
Adding visuals, such as screenshots or concept art, can make your message clearer and more engaging. Always communicate with your audience, emphasizing what differentiates your product from competitors.
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| Explainer Video
It combines visuals and storytelling to communicate your idea; it makes communication with your target audience engaging and informative. Give your product’s value proposition most effectively and show and explain how it solves user needs. Still, keep it concise, making it suitable for your website or social media.
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| Blog Post
Blog posts help share your ideas with a broader audience and can attract attention from users, investors, and industry professionals. Sharing your expertise and vision builds trust in your product and brand. Blog posts can effectively communicate your MVP idea, generate interest, and engage your potential audience with informative content.
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| Prototype Presentation
A prototype allows you to showcase your MVP’s core functionality and if the user experience will be intuitive and smooth.
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| UI/UX Prototype
A UI/UX prototype is a high-quality prototype that requires detailed mockups with key screens and interfaces of your digital product. It allows you to observe how users navigate through your MVP app or web platform, highlighting the intuitive design and ease of use. Also, you can emphasize the essential functionalities that solve the main problem your product addresses. UI/UX prototype allows your audience to click through the prototype to experience the product firsthand.
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How to Validate Feedback and Results After You Build an MVP
After your development team builds an MVP app or platform, initial customer feedback helps understand its performance, identify areas for improvement, and determine the next steps in development. Here’s how to effectively validate feedback and results:
| Collect User Feedback | Gather insights directly from your target audience to understand their experience with your software MVP on your way to achieving product-market fit.
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| Analyze Usage Data | Track how users interact with your MVP to identify patterns and pain points.
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| Conduct Usability Testing | Test how easily users can achieve their goals using your MVP.
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| Compare Hypotheses | After launching your MVP, check the hypotheses and compare them to the data collected.
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| Validate Your Business Model | Ensure that your MVP aligns with your revenue model and financial goals.
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| Iterate Testing Business Idea Based on Insights | Implement changes based on customer feedback and test the updated version with your users. Remember that the MVP is an evolving product, refining it over time based on user engagement and input. |
Building MVP in Agile: Practical Steps and Practices for Startups
Turning your startup idea into a commercially successful product requires technical skills and a flexible approach, taking into account changing users’ needs and market trends. Custom software product development helps startups to adjust product features and functionality according to your requirements and vision. Pairing this with Agile development practices helps you stay adaptable, reduce risks of redesigning, and quickly shape your MVP into a product that resonates with users.
Agile Approach to MVP Development
MVP in agile breaks the development process into short, focused workflow cycles called sprints. Each sprint delivers a small, functional part of your product. The benefit is that you can test and review features constantly, getting feedback from your team and users.
Close collaboration between business analysts, developers, designers, project managers, and the product owner is key to brainstorming and testing different ideas. Daily stand-up meetings, sprint reviews, and retrospectives ensure your team stays aligned and tracks progress.
Final Insights
With the goal of validating their business ideas, minimizing risk and optimizing their investments, it’s a challenge for startups to choose the right MVP strategy. Each type of MVP serves a different purpose, focuses on different options, offers specific features, and requires different budgets. We want to show that by choosing a well-planned MVP type, startups can avoid costly mistakes, improve product-market fit, and increase their chances of long-term success. It’s wise to consider it as a strategic tool that leads your business to sustainable final products.
| MVP Type | Best For | Main Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Concierge | Service-based startups | Not scalable |
| Wizard of Oz | Testing complex ideas with manual work | Risk of misleading users |
| Landing Page | Validating demand before building | No user interaction |
| Piecemeal | Startups with limited tech resources | Integration challenges |
| Single-Feature MVP | Focused solutions for a specific problem | The feature may be too basic |
| No-code, Low-code | Raising funds before development | High expectations from backers |
| Explainer Video | Quick market testing | No real product experience |
FAQ
What does MVP in agile mean?
In Agile development, an MVP refers to the simplest version of a product that includes just enough functionality to:
- Deliver value to early users
- Validate product assumptions
- Gather user feedback for future improvements
MVP in agile development follows such an approach, which continuously refines the product based on real-world testing and feedback. This method allows startups to optimize products and meet changing client’s needs.
How long does it take to develop an MVP?
The MVP development cost and timeline depends on factors like market research, complexity, all the features, and team expertise.
Basic MVP (2–3 months)—simple apps like Landing Page MVP, No-code MVP, or Single-Feature MVP.
Intermediate MVP (3–6 months) – apps with interactive features, authentication, or data processing.
Complex MVP (6+ months) – large-scale SaaS platforms, AI-driven apps, or data-intensive products.
To accelerate MVP development, depending on the goals, startups can use no-code platforms, rapid prototyping, and agile methodologies.
How User Feedback Impacts Your MVP?
Analyzing this feedback helps prioritize your next development steps. If users struggle with a feature or feel their problem remains unsolved, your team proceeds with adjustments. When you are guided by this user-center mindset it will help your startup team refine its product, and have users’ support in the market even before launching the product.
Combining custom development with Agile practices allows startups to create adaptable, user-driven MVPs and position their product for long-term success.
