Every successful business starts with an idea, but not all ideas are created equal. Some may seem great on paper, but ultimately fail to gain traction in the market. This is where the concept of an MVP, or Minimum Viable Product, comes into play. As a business builder, you want to find the fastest, cheapest way to test your idea or your product so that you maximize the chance of staying alive and making money. In this post, we will explore why every business needs an MVP and how it can be the key to success.
An MVP is a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers and provide feedback for future product development. It is essentially a basic version of your product that can be tested and validated in the market. This approach tries to help you to launch quickly and inexpensively, while minimizing risk and maximizing learning.
There are several reasons why every business needs an MVP!
First and foremost, you need to validate your idea. An MVP allows you to test your product idea in the market before investing significant time and money. This helps you avoid building a product that nobody wants or needs. It is so easy to be lured into building your dream product straight away, rather than an ugly duckling version. You can totally picture that perfect product and just want to make it happen! You may truly believe you have to build the perfect version of your product (or storefront, or restaurant) in order to get customers. But what if the idea is perfect in your head but not perfect to customers? You could spend all your money before you find out, and then your business is dead before you have a chance to recoup your investment.
Second, you should start with an MVP to get real customer feedback. Most business ideas or products have several possible variations. With an MVP you get valuable feedback from early adopters and use it to refine and improve your product. This feedback can help you identify critical features, understand customer needs, and improve your overall value proposition.
Third, you should approach everything in your business with a de-risking mindset. Building a full-scale product without testing it in the market can be incredibly risky. An MVP allows you to minimize risk by testing your product with early adopters before committing significant resources.
Finally, you should also approach everything in your business with a “cheap and fast as possible” mindset, especially when you are just starting out. This approach allows you to conserve resources and launch more quickly – try to make revenue as fast as humanly possible.
As you’re building and running your business, you will make decisions that you regret later, and spend money on things that you’ll wish you didn’t. That’s life and unavoidable when you don’t have a working crystal ball. However, if you break down your decisions and spends into small amounts, you aren’t risking too much at once. Bring the MVP mindset into everything you do!
If you'd like to learn more on how to make and MVP and see some real world examples, sign up for our course! We go into lots of detail. Head to our Course Sign Up Page