The MVP Approach Improves Start-Up Apps and Software Products

If your business is a start-up, with a concept for an application, a software product or a website to sell to the public or provide business to business (B2B) or business to consumer (B2C) solutions, you know how challenging it can be to get your product off the ground. It takes a lot of investment, resources and time and, if you miss the mark, if there are gaps in your solution, or if you produce a solution with security or compliance issues you will ruin your reputation and your prospective customer base will go elsewhere.

‘By working with an IT partner whose team is expert in Minimum Viable Products (MVP), the business can quickly and easily define requirements and develop a product to gain insight and perspective into the market, business assumptions and customers.’

Studies reveal that 44% of startups fail because of a shortage of cash flow. That means that your start-up business must jealously guard its investments and spend money wisely. Rapid scale and injudicious expenditure and development results in a 74% failure for those start-ups that expand too rapidly and without the required knowledge of what their customers want and need.

The Author of The Lean startup, Eric Ries, coined the term ‘Minimum Viable Product’ to define product development that incorporates a learning period in which the business can develop a simple, illustrative product with minimal features to test its theories about customer requirements, marketing, user interface, and he market using a short development cycle and minimum investment.

Minimum Viable Products (MVP) provide numerous benefits without expensive, time-consuming product development and allow the business to learn from the initiative and invest that learning into the final product, with plans for upgrades, etc.

• Reduce Risk – The business can avoid the risk of producing a product that suffers from overkill and provides expensive features that customers don’t want or need. It is tempting to add all the bells and whistles but the features your customers want may be very different than what your marketing team and IT team see as the vision.
• Mitigate Expenses – The business can limit its investment and avoid having to engage and attract investors and funding.
• Rapid Development – MVPs can be developed very quickly, because they entail only the minimum features and are designed to get customer feedback and to prove technology and functionality theories.
• Customer Feedback – Customers can see and use the features and provide valuable feedback which helps the business define a final product roadmap and makes customers feel more invested in the process thereby ensuring a better user adoption rate.
• Marketing and Advertising – The business can hear and incorporate valuable information from customers to define and hone its marketing messages.

By working with an IT partner whose team is expert in Minimum Viable Products (MVP), the business can quickly and easily define requirements and develop a product to gain insight and perspective into the market, business assumptions and customers.

• Create a basic product with the crucial feature set
• Design and employ a customer feedback loop to incorporate and integrate customer comments and experiences into the final product or iterate future versions
• Create a product launch without all the fanfare of a final launch and the expense of marketing and advertising to build buzz and customer excitement.
• Limit initial investment to ensure that the idea works before investing a lot of capital and resources.
• Better understand pricing strategies and product upgrade schedules.

‘Minimum Viable Products (MVP) provide numerous benefits without expensive, time-consuming product development and allow the business to learn from the initiative and invest that learning into the final product, with plans for upgrades, etc.’

Explore our expert Minimum Viable Product (MVP) services. Discover our Software Application And Maintenance Services, Software Application Development Services and ongoing technology support. Build Your Software Team using our resources, skills and experience. Our flexible services can provide welcome relief to your busy IT staff, and our core value and benefit to the organization is undeniable. Contact Us to find out more about our Partnerships.

Original Post: Minimum Viable Products Enable Swift Start-Up and Product Insight!