Companies and developers can undertake considerable risk before a product or business model is supported with the proper funding. Before financial capital is in place, developers must still be able to communicate the benefits of their product, demonstrating what the final result of their efforts will be.

Instead of sinking considerable time and money into product before it is effectively funded, it is best to give stakeholders a small taste.

This is where the minimum viable product approach, or MVP, becomes so valuable and important.

What is an MVP?

In the current development industry, there are numerous ways individuals and organizations define MVP. When Eric Ries, creator of the Lean Startup methodology, sat down with Venture Hacks to discuss the topic, he defined MVP as “that product which has just those features and no more that allows you to ship a product that early adopters see and, at least some of whom resonate with, pay you money for, and start to give you feedback on.” By this definition, an MVP is a bare framework that can help capture the attention of early adopters, support funding efforts and glean feedback.

“You don’t want to waste your time and money building a product no one will want to use or pay for. This is where the minimum viable product comes into play”.

Scale My Business author, Vladimir Blagojevic

Here at Making Sense, we look at MVP through a similar lens. Creating an MVP enables a team to test out a product or business model without wasting any unnecessary resources as they ask for funding. In this way, the underlying code or technology is not high in terms of importance. Instead, it is critical that the team is able to test and verify their vision, ensuring that once funding is in place, it will work as they predicted.

This approach can also help save considerable capital when it comes to technology usage and will also benefit from maximizing your efforts, speed, and focus on the development of your software product.  An MVP allows the team to test their theory first and apply the best systems and solutions once the project has moved to full production.

Top considerations for MVP: Time, team members, priorities

There are several important factors to keep in mind during the MVP process, including the time it takes the team to establish this framework. Because an MVP is only meant to illustrate the vision and goals of the product or model, it is best not to expend considerable time creating it.

In order to address this, it is advantageous to include experienced developers that can quickly put together an MVP with the available resources. At Making Sense, we utilize a specialized team that is not only well-versed in our own products, but those of our clients as well. This approach, alongside our MEAN stack strategy, streamlines Minimun Viable Product creation and ensures we are not spending too much time on this step of the process.

Another essential consideration to make is the team members that will be involved with the MVP. Having the most skilled and advanced developers in place isn’t necessarily critical. However, team members should be able to participate throughout the process with valuable suggestions for the best solutions to use on the initiative. We expect our developers here at Making Sense to be clever and, at times, think outside the box when faced with a particularly tricky problem. That way, they can add considerable value to a project by suggesting solutions to a specific business model that may not have otherwise been evident.

Finally, it is critical to have the right priorities in place to guide the team. At Making Sense, our priority is to deliver high quality MVPs: a distinguible product from the beginning, will make the difference in the future. We believe that scalability is the only way to establish a successful software product.

Overall, MVPs can be a valuable and considerably beneficial way for teams to test and verify their visions for new products or business models.

To find out more about Making Sense’s process for creating MVPs, contact us today.