Imagine a situation where you spent a lot of time developing a product, took into account all the details, and finally launched it on the market. But in the first week after the launch, you realize that the product needs to reach the target audience, new customers quickly leave, and costs continue to increase. To avoid this situation, consider creating a minimum viable product. Your internal specialists or software design services can make it. Below, we will discuss the steps needed to create an MVP.

7 Main Steps in the Creation Process

In a nutshell, developing a minimum viable product for a software startup is an iterative procesft.com/caps. In this section, we will explain how to create it correctly.

1. Research the market and refine the concept

Start your software development for startups process by analyzing your competitors - find out what they offer, with what features, and at what price. See what their product looks like, how fast it works, and what problems there are.

Evaluate the user experience - look at people's reviews. What do they like or dislike about competitors' offerings? What are they asking to improve? Collect data and then match it to your proposal.

You need to develop something better - higher quality, more functional, with better design, speed, and offers. Focus on user experience.

2. Identify the problem

Also, when creating your startup software, you need to answer the question in a few words: what is this product for? You also need to identify your target audience and narrow it down. To begin, prepare a detailed description of the client or buyer: determine his age, gender, education, area of work, and income level. You can indicate specific habits and hobbies.

3. Analyze your competitors

The next step in the startup product development process is determining the strengths and weaknesses of competitors' products to determine your functionality. Analyze the three major market players and examine their past and current strategies, sales volume, revenue, financial and marketing goals. You can take information from company websites, blogs, magazines, and newspapers, and also from attending business events with the participation of competitors. Software analytics tools are also suitable.

4. Conduct a SWOT analysis

This MVP startup development method allows companies to make management decisions and formulate business policies. It allows you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the product, its opportunities, and threats.

5. Define user flow

You need to study the user's path when interacting with the product. This will allow us to develop requirements for the content and design of websites and applications.

6. Make a list of functions ranked by priority

This list should start with the must-have features for the future product. User stories will help with this - descriptions of useful functions from the users' point of view.

7. Determine the scope and type of MVP

Startup software development means creating a product with the most necessary functions, separating them from non-essential ones. Then, you need to do alpha and beta testing. The first is internal testing when the product evaluates its immediate environment. In beta mode, you can let real users try the product briefly and analyze the feedback. The product is then updated and goes back into beta testing. The number of build-test cycles and their time frame depend on the product type.

The Final Words

As you may understand, the MVP concept is a powerful tool for software development startups. Creating a minimum viable product and quickly attracting early adopters reduces risks, reduces costs, and improves competitiveness. Also, this approach helps ensure focus on key aspects of the product, active interaction with the market and users, and further product development based on feedback. If you want to receive a working solution in the shortest possible time, feel free to contact us. Our team has extensive experience creating software for startups, particularly MVPs.