In another post we spoke of the importance of making an MVP – a minimum viable product version of what you want to do in your business. There are many compelling reasons, and perhaps now you’ve bought into the idea but not sure how to approach this in the real world.
This post will help you solidify the concept a little further. How do you go about building an MVP? In my experience, you have to think of the MVP as a process that iterates, rather than a one-off build of a product or service. In fact, you could have lots of MVP stages where you define, build, test, improve, and then start it over again.
In the very beginning you have your product idea, and if you are like most people you have imagined a whole lot of bells and whistles around the idea. For example, perhaps you have an idea to create a French bakery in your area of town. You picture a lovely storefront, gourmet coffees, and a wide selection of bakeries and breads. You research 5 different coffee beans, imagine coffee art, dream about the 3 types of baguettes, 4 croissants, lunch sandwiches, gourmet dog treats, you name it. Then there is the décor – you have Pinterest boards full of options. You’re dying to make it all a reality RIGHT NOW.
Is this smart? Nope.
As part of your MVP you need to identify your target market/customer and get very clear on what problem you are trying to solve for them. You must theorize on the very specific pain points that your business will solve. Define your MVP with the goal of testing whether your version solves those pain points. If there are many pain points, narrow them down to 1 or 2.
Your goal is to then define what the tiniest version of your idea is that can solve the pain point, that you can test with a specific customer, and get feedback for each part of the business that you are going to build.
For our French bakery example, perhaps your customers are those that hang out in a specific part of town. Do they have a “pain point?” What is it? (current pastry options are crappy, or expensive, or they have to make it themselves, etc). Maybe it’s nothing to do with the food but with a lack of a comfortable atmosphere to have breakfast in? Brainstorm! Get specific!
Next, define your MVP features: Your MVP should have only the essential features needed to solve your customer’s pain points. Identify the minimum features that will help you validate your product idea. In the case of our example, perhaps you think about testing 2 types of pastries that you make at a local farmer’s market (before you sign the lease on the storefront)! After you define it, can you make it even simpler? Smaller? Easier to build? Faster?
Chunk it down. I think of it similarly to when I pack for a trip. I start by putting all the clothes, shoes and items that I think I may want to bring on my bed. Then I start taking things off my bed and putting them back into the closet. I cluster the items into outfits, into categories. And then take more off. My goal is to remove at least half of what I started with. This is very similar to defining an MVP. What’s the least amount of things you can put together to test whether your customer likes what you have?
Now the fun part…build your MVP. Again, think fast and furious! Every day and week and month that goes by is money spent. The faster you build and test, the less money you have to deploy to find out if your product has something that customers like.
Next, launch it and test it. In its less-than-perfect glory! Get feedback from early adopters and use it to improve your product for the next round.
Finally, rinse and repeat. The iterate and improve process will go on for the entire life of your product. If you want to stay relevant and keep your business alive, you must continue to gather feedback and improve your product.
If you want to learn more about building an MVP, with more concrete real life examples, check out our ONLINE COURSE!