What is a minimum viable product? Meaning and Benefits

Let’s say you have a great idea for your Singapore startup business, but are not much sure it is going to succeed. No matter how often you research target Singapore markets and audiences, it is never enough. In that sense, Minimum Viable Product is an excellent and cost-effective way to forecast the Singapore audience’s demand.?

This post is made with the definition, the role, and some key principles when it comes to Minimum Viable Products.?

Let’s jump in.

1. What is a Minimum Viable Product??

Simply put, Minimum Viable Product (aka MVP) is the first version of a solution that has only the necessary features for functioning. It could be a car, software, app, TV, e-commerce website, or laptop. By introducing the basic version, companies want to receive feedback from target consumers or potential buyers. The final product would be released in the market only after getting sufficient feedback.?

If you already have Minimum Viable Product and want to move to the next level of developing the complete product, let’s check the following article:

>>> Read more:?When to choose a Software Development Company for Outsourcing?

Minimum Viable Product works in the same way as a tasting sample of the fancy cake. For sure, it could be a high risk if you order a whole cake without tasting it first. You need to get a couple of pieces to choose biscuits and frosting, provide your feedback and let the baker make corrections. The idea of a Minimum Viable Product is to start small and then take cues from the users as to what exactly are they expecting from the product.

Keep this in mind, Minimum Viable Product is small in scale that would take just 3–6 months to build. If a Minimum Viable Product takes two years to build and release, it isn’t a Minimum Viable Product. It is a traditional product launch with lots of front-end costs and risks.

Amazon is a good example for you to have a better understanding of Minimum Viable Products. The former president and CEO Jeff Bezos joined the marketplace in the early 1990s as an online bookstore. But before that, he began brainstorming a list of ideas that he could sell successfully on the Internet. At that time, the website was a Minimum Viable Product that allowed Bezos to prospect audience demand. From 20 different options, he went down to five products. Eventually, Bezos decided on books as the most profitable and demanding product online. Amazon now becomes the #1 eCommerce platform with $225.152B in annual gross profit.?

2. What are the critical characteristics of your Minimum Viable Product??

Minimum Viable Product has three distinct features. One is that it will have enough features for consumers to purchase the product. The other is that it will have a feedback mechanism for users to send their feedback about the product. And, lastly, it should have enough future benefits for customers.?

You might recognize these 3 features in every Minimum Viable Product. But not every product which has all three features will become successful.?

So, the key characteristics of a successful Minimum Viable Product will be:

• It is small in scale, fast, and cheap
• It doesn’t create too much negative impact when you release the half-baked idea into the market to see how it behaves
• It is designed to gauge whether a product is viable at a larger scale. This one is tricky because often you have to detect very weak signals to learn whether this will be true.?
• It yields useful lessons about what users and markets want related to your idea or product so that you understand how to improve it and scale it up.
• It will just be one of many Minimum Viable Products you do.?

It could be a consumable product, a daily-use product, or even a service provided by a website provider.

3. What is the purpose of a Minimum Viable Product?

Here are what any companies of different sizes use Minimum Viable Product for:

• Validate their hypothesis;
• Collect feedback from real-time users;?
• Adjust the future solution.

In short, the primary goal of the Minimum Viable Product is to check the waters with a tight budget and timeframe before investing money into a full-on product.?

Talking about Minimum Viable Products, Facebook is the master. Mark Zuckerberg once launched the site Facemash inspired by the existing trending site named Hot or Not. This site allowed users to rate two pictures and decided who was hot and not. Then it evolved to the website called Thefacebook, an actual Minimum Viable Product of social networks. After a year of testing on the segmented audiences, Thefacebook finally opened access to everyone. And that is how the era of Facebook started.

In this case, the Minimum Viable Product of Facebook might help Mark Zuckerberg:?

- Validate product idea hypotheses with real-life data.

- Reduce time-to-market for new feature releases.?

- Deliver value to your early adopters quickly. The Minimum Viable Product is the shortest route that delivers the most value to your first customers while simultaneously generating learnings for you.

- Test your product/market fit before building a full-fledged product.?

- Collect viable data on user behavior to shape future product initiatives and go-to-market strategy. Minimum Viable Products can be used as a leading component in your product prioritization process to help you make data-driven decisions.?

- Grow a pre-launch user base.

- Eliminate waste — save money and time that would otherwise be spent on fruitless ideas.

4. What are the key principles of a Minimum Viable Product?

Before you go any further, let’s discover who will benefit greatly from Minimum Viable Product:?

- Startup leader: One has already an idea but doesn’t know if it is going to be in demand. Minimum Viable Product will help you to see how your idea behaves in the market. Moreover, the feedback from real customers will suggest to you a lot of areas in which you can upgrade for the final product.?

- Small and medium-sized enterprises - SME: One doesn’t want to make high-risk investments in a new product. In this case, Minimum Viable Product will save you a lot of money and see if it is worth investing your effort and budget in a full-on product.?

- Enterprise: One comes up with a new idea but doesn’t want to risk their reputation with a failing product. Minimum Viable Product is a great way to collect feedback from segmented customers, then increase the risk of wasting time and money.?

Now, you are aware of the definition and the role of Minimum Viable Product for businesses. Before you start down the path of developing a Minimum Viable Product, here are five core principles to keep in mind:

- Do your market research. Before starting, look at what is already on the market. Find out what features competitor products have and why customers use them. Look at quality, speed, design, and features to gain deep insight.

- Refine the concept. Based on what has been learned develop a business canvas for your product. This should include key activities, key resources, key partners, customer segments, customer relations, delivery channels, cost structure, and revenue streams.

- Decide on priorities. Based on the market research and business canvas define the features that must be in the Minimum Viable Product. These will be “must have” features that make the product usable and that give value to customers. These features can be included in the Minimum Viable Product and should be the priorities.

- Build. Develop the Minimum Viable Product based on the priorities identified. Do not get tempted to stray into other areas of functionality.

- Release and measure. Once the Minimum Viable Product is ready, release it to the market. Gather metrics on usage and learn from what this is telling you. It should give you an idea of who is interested and why. It should also provide insight into the features that like versus those that are not of interest.

- Refine. From here the product can be adjusted iteratively, continuing the process to ensure a customer focus throughout.

Final thought?

Talking about launching a new product into the Singapore market, you don’t need to invest in the full-on app in the very beginning. Just dip your toe in the water and make the final product later.?

With years of experience in building, KVY TECH would be the best partner in your journey to becoming a successful business. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.