90% of new startups eventually fail, 75% of venture-backed startups fail, and less than 50% of businesses make it to their fifth year. That is a lot of money, time, effort, and manpower down the drain. With unfavorable statistics, the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) has become very important in app development.
A minimum viable product (MVP) is a way that startups test new products by developing the product with basic key features and testing it among the early users. The goal of MVP is to receive viable feedback from potential consumers to help them shape how the final product would look like. This way, there is less risk of failure.
This article will explain why an MVP is so important in app development. Before you start full-scale development, we will also explain how to develop the MVP for any app.
What Is an MVP and Why Is It So Important in App Development?
You’ve just come up with a mindblowing idea that you feel would revolutionize the world and bring a genuine solution to a problem that has threatened it for so long. However, before you invest your time and financial resources in the project, you must exhaust all means to determine the chances of success.
This is where the MVP comes in. Before you develop an app to solve problems, you need to test it to determine if it is viable. The best way to do this is by developing an MVP that requires less time and financial commitment than the real app and contains just enough basic features for you to test the idea with real users.
You might ask why MVP is so important in app development. We’ll give you a few reasons.
It Serves As the Foundation of the Future App
Building an app takes time, money, and effort. With the high startup failure rate, it is important to test your idea with potential users to determine its viability. MVP contains the most important basic features of the app you want to build, allowing you to test the viability of that idea with real users.
It Evaluates App Performance Through User Feedback
In theory, you can only speculate on your app’s potential performance in the real world. MVP allows you to test the idea and allow the users or target audience to give genuine feedback after using the basic version of the product you want to build.
It Is Easy To Implement Changes
With MVP, you can easily implement changes in design or ideas through user feedback. This is harder to do if your first test was with the final app.
It Checks Product Viability
Your idea can look perfect on paper, and you can hire the best team to implement it, but it might still fail in the real world. Many factors can hinder your product’s success, and you can’t determine its viability without testing it in the real world.
Some apps have failed because they were ahead of their time; others failed because it took too long to get the product in the market, and someone else beat them to it. The best way to predict market performance is by getting your MVP to the target users to determine its viability.
It Can Secure Funding from Investors
With the high startup failure rate, it’s getting harder to convince investors to part with their money without a form of guarantee of the product’s success in the market. MVP is the best and fastest way to test the product-market fit. Investors are more likely to part with their money if the MVP is successful.
It Mitigates Losses
Unlike full-stack app development, MVP offers less risk to the developer and investors. MVP helps to mitigate potential financial losses, and other losses in time, effort, and manpower are significantly reduced.
How To Develop an MVP for an App
The following stages are important in developing your MVP for an app and testing it among targeted users.
Determine the Purpose of the Product
Before you start building an app, you must have a clear idea of the existing problems you want to solve. Ask yourself if your idea can successfully solve that problem. The purpose of your product is the foundation. Once you’ve determined the purpose, you can move on to the next stage of building your MVP.
Decide on the Test Location
Make sure the test location has the existing problem, and the feedback you receive from the users in that area will be useful in expanding to other areas.
Determine the Product’s Basic Key Features
Think about the basic features you must have in your product rather than the ones that will be nice. You must set your priorities right, and your MVP should only contain the important basic features that implement your idea and are central to the development of the final product.
Design and Create Product
Once you’ve decided on the product’s basic key features, design the MVP and get it ready for testing.
Test the Product
Test your product in a controlled area and determine the product’s viability in the real world from the data you receive from the test.
Improve the Product Using User Feedback
MVPs are flexible and are designed to be open to positive changes. Any useful feedback from the users in your test location can be implemented easily without changing the general idea of the product.
Final Words
Ignore the few unicorns among startups making the news; they are too few and far between. Developing a successful app is much harder than it seems, and statistics prove that most of them fail to survive in the real world. However, with the MVP, you have a chance to mitigate your potential losses and develop the idea you believe will change the world.
