MVP and how to create products that add value

At Quipu, as we embrace agile practices, one of the key ideas we’re adopting is the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This concept helps us focus on what matters most: delivering value quickly and effectively to our customers.

What does MVP mean to us?

For us, an MVP is the simplest version of a product or feature that can still deliver real value to users. It’s not about building something perfect right away, it’s about starting small and solving a specific problem. By delivering an MVP, we can test our ideas early, gather feedback, and make improvements as we go.

What benefits does MVP bring to our customers?

• Cost efficiency: An MVP allows us to develop a product with the minimum necessary features to satisfy early adopters. This approach minimizes initial development costs and reduces financial risk.
• Market validation: By launching an MVP, companies can test their product in the market and gather valuable feedback. This helps validate the product’s viability and demand without significant upfront investment.
• Early revenue: An MVP can start generating revenue sooner, which is attractive to investors. Early revenue streams can help fund further development and scaling of the product.
• Risk mitigation: By focusing on core functionalities, an MVP helps in identifying potential issues early on. This allows for adjustments before committing more capital to full-scale development.

Why is MVP important for Quipu?

As an IT company, our priority is to provide solutions that work efficiently and address real needs. The MVP approach helps us to:

1. Focus on what’s most important: We identify the most essential features and work on those first. This ensures we’re solving high-priority problems for the banks and their customers.
2. Get early feedback: By delivering the MVP, we can see how the feature/ solution is being used in real-world scenarios. This feedback helps us improve and ensures we’re meeting expectations.
3. Be efficient: Instead of building everything at once, we create and test smaller pieces of the solution. This reduces waste and helps us allocate our time and resources better.

How we use MVP in agile

Agile is all about working in small, focused steps and improving continuously. The MVP fits perfectly into this approach. When we start a new project, we deliver the MVP first—then, based on feedback, we refine and expand it during future sprints. This way, our solutions grow step by step, guided by what our customers and the final users need.

An example of an MVP

Here’s how we might apply the MVP concept in our work:

Imagine we’re developing a new feature for a mobile app, like helping customers track their loan status. Instead of launching a full loan management system right away, we could:

1. Start with an MVP that shows the loan balance and the next payment due date.
2. Share it with customers and gather their feedback on what they find helpful—or what they’d like to see next.
3. Use that feedback to add new features, like a payment history view or notifications, in future iterations.

This step-by-step approach ensures we deliver value quickly and make improvements based on real user input.

Successful MVP examples

Can you imagine that once the now digital market leaders started with MVPs and managed to reach billions of annual revenues? The following successful MVP examples are a great inspiration to start with your project.

• Facebook, started in 2004 as a social network for Harvard students now is the most popular platform worldwide. In 2006 the platform was rolled out to users worldwide. The plain and simple design with limited functions gradually developed into the largest community.
• Instagram, originally Burbn, started as a location-based iOS app. During the first months after release, the founders got user feedback and understood that most of the features were useless except the feature of photo-sharing. The application has completely changed up to its name and has become the most popular photo-sharing platform.
• Twitter MVP was an SMS service for a closed community. The first tweet was sent in 2006, and after successful implementation within the company members, it became public in 2013. For years the platform was available only for a limited number of users. The period was used to test and improve the concept.
• Dropbox, the first cloud synchronization and storage platform launched a short MVP video to show the users the potential of Dropbox. The video brought 70.000 followers and early adopters, which made the team work on future development and idea validation. The initial feedback helped Dropbox to present the fully developed and improved product to the market.

Think like start-ups!

Take a look at this short video to understand the step by step of how to create an MVP. Watch video here.

The MVP Mindset: Start small, learn, and grow

Adopting the MVP approach means shifting our mindset. It’s not about creating a “perfect” product right away; it’s about starting with something valuable, learning from feedback, and growing the solution over time.

For us at Quipu, this way of working aligns perfectly with our mission to empower every customer to do more with IT. By focusing on small, meaningful steps, we can adapt to changing needs and continuously improve, ensuring that we’re always delivering value to our customers and their clients.

References:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/what-does-mvp-mean-why-do-you-need-addevice/