If you're an entrepreneur, you probably have a lot of ideas for solving problems and creating value for your customers. But how do you know if your ideas are worth pursuing, and if your customers will actually pay for them? One way to find out is to create a minimum viable product (MVP) that tests your assumptions and validates your hypotheses.
An MVP is a version of your product that has the minimum features and functionality needed to deliver value to your customers and get feedback from them. It's not a prototype, a mockup, or a demo. It's a real product that you can sell, measure, and learn from. The goal of an MVP is to test your riskiest assumptions and learn as much as possible with the least amount of time and resources.
An MVP, or Minimum Viable Product, is essentially the most basic version of your product that still delivers core value to your target customers while requiring the least amount of resources to develop. Core Objectives of an MVP Test Riskiest Assumptions: An MVP allows you to test these high-risk assumptions before committing significant time and resources. Customer Feedback: The MVP is deployed to real users, allowing for invaluable first-hand customer feedback. This aids in refining the product and making necessary pivots. Resource Efficiency: The MVP model prevents over-investment in a product that has not yet been validated by the market. It helps you learn with the least expenditure of time and capital.
If you get a skilled resource then you are lucky…. Or else you can use G-Suite or Power BI apps to build your MVP. Power point & Excel sheets (and small scripts) has served my purpose in demonstrating MVPs (low-medium complexity)
Before you create your MVP, you need to identify your assumptions and hypotheses about your product, your market, and your customers. These are the things that you believe to be true, but you don't have enough evidence to support them. For example, you might assume that your target customers have a certain problem, that they are willing to pay for a solution, that they will use your product in a certain way, and that they will find value in your features. You can use tools like the lean canvas or the value proposition canvas to document your assumptions and hypotheses.
Once you have a list of your assumptions and hypotheses, you need to prioritize them based on two criteria: uncertainty and impact. Uncertainty means how confident you are about your assumption. Impact means how much your assumption affects your product's success. You want to focus on the assumptions that have the highest uncertainty and the highest impact, because they are the ones that pose the most risk to your product. You can use tools like the assumption matrix or the hypothesis prioritization sheet to rank your assumptions.
After you prioritize your assumptions, you need to design your MVP that will test them. You need to decide what features and functionality your MVP will have, how you will deliver it to your customers, and how you will measure their feedback. You need to keep your MVP as simple and lean as possible, while still providing enough value to your customers. You can use tools like the MVP canvas or the build-measure-learn loop to plan your MVP.
When you launch your MVP, you need to collect and analyze data that will validate or invalidate your assumptions. You need to define what metrics and indicators you will use to measure your product's performance, such as revenue, retention, engagement, satisfaction, referrals, etc. You also need to set up experiments and tests that will provide you with qualitative and quantitative feedback from your customers, such as interviews, surveys, analytics, etc. You need to use tools like the validation board or the lean analytics framework to track and interpret your results.
Bear in mind that the past is not the future. Your MVP should address legacy and perceived issues. Some metrics If improvement in a process is planned make sure it’s 10x Ensure that you have an MVP that highlights the key problem resolution (never just show incremental improvement in an MVP.) Make is simple, please make it simple. Your first key viewers are investors, senior decision makers, you have three minutes to retain their interest. Keep it very very simple. Take opinion of of operational experience, not just strategy voices. The people at the sharp end know more about the problems. Good luck, it’s awful when you get it wrong, but quite magical when you get it right. Gods speed, never give up
Based on your validation results, you need to decide what to do next with your MVP. You have three options: pivot, persevere, or kill. Pivot means changing one or more aspects of your product, such as your value proposition, your customer segment, your channel, your feature set, etc. Persevere means continuing with your current product and improving it based on your feedback. Kill means abandoning your product and moving on to a different idea. You need to use tools like the pivot or persevere canvas or the innovation accounting method to make your decision.