Orange SputnikOrange Sputnik

  • Home
  • Services
  • Flexibility
  • About us
  • Case Studies
  • Blog
Contact Us
Upside-down understanding MVP
Monday, 11 February 2019 / Published in Blog

Upside-down understanding MVP

3 min read

The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is the first and decisive stage in your product’s lifecycle. It helps your product test market and enters it with minimal efforts including spending every single dollar in your pocket.

For most first-time founders, a Minimum Viable Product looks like this:

  1. You have an idea that seems easy and straightforward
  2. Inspiration leads to initial action towards a larger impact
  3. Deploy some resources while implementing an early version
  4. Release Beta version, call it your MVP

Reality check! 90% of startups are failing in the first 4 years. About 40% fail due to lack of product/market fit, 30% run out of money, and about 15% don’t have a plan, or one incompatible with their target market.

This is a hard lesson for the Founders. The counter-intuitive nature of startups makes it difficult for first-time founders to make the right decisions at first. Why do we say the nature of startups is counter-intuitive? I believe this is based on personal beliefs, due to our own unique perspectives, or those close to us (family, friends, close associates). Simply put, you are too close to the action!

What’s an MVP?

What’s a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)? What can be simpler get to know nowadays? Just Google it!

An MVP is a concise summary of the smallest possible group of features that will work as a stand-alone product while still solving at least the “core” problem and demonstrating the product’s value

Steve Blank

Next to this Techopedia says:

A minimum viable product (MVP) is the most pared-down version of a product that can still be released

Techopedia.com

That’s really nice!… While advising startups at Orange Sputnik I have come to believe there is more to an MVP beyond simple definitions. It can be simple, yet confusing to many due to the oversimplification of what MVP means.

Here is how founders sees the approach: “I will create the next big thing, the next great app and will get a lot of satisfied customers”.

Reality check number 2! Slow down, it doesn’t work that way! A failed [not yet, but almost] startup I know spent over 13 months in development, exclusively focused on the product without a go-to-market plan. Otherwise simply called a sales plan! Many Founders fall into this trap. Perhaps they are afraid to sell, thereby choosing to focus on the look and feel of their product instead of simply going out and selling!

I have had many conversations with Founders and this seems to be a recurring theme. How do you plan on going to market with this product? What’s your sales strategy? These simple questions were either not qualitatively answered, or simply ignored. The results were almost always the same. Perhaps it’s a lack of confidence, considering approaching a potential customer could be as simple as saying “Hi there! I like you, could you try my product and give me some feedback?”

So, back to my point regarding your MVP. This stuff is like a brilliant website or landing page, or a mobile application. It needs to be treated as a simple tool that solves a simple identifiable problem which you are testing. The MVP itself must include sales funnel and all related sales processes from day one!

And as they say: “No money, no honey”. Even if you don’t think about how to earn, you have to think about how to grow your product. And that is explicitly related to your sales strategy.

So the good news is now you know that any MVP must include sales funnel, and MVP is not about building the product or application itself, it’s about testing your market need and discovering the market size and product fit.

The bad news is that there are multiple steps involved in building the next big thing. First of all, you need to find a “victim”… large one… basically your main competitor. What would sound better?

  1. I’m disrupting the children’s toy industry, i.e. “Toys R Us”
  2. I want to start a toy shop similar to the one around the corner
  3. I want to eliminate laziness and encourage people to get up and go!

I believe in the first option… and, frankly, it’s not about a specific company. It’s about an old medium of something or indirect competitor according to your target audience. An example would be Netflix identifying Fortnite as their direct competitor since Netflix has the same target audience as Fortnite, who would spend their own free time playing online games rather than watching movies at home.

What next? Define your target audience, what are its critical parameters, how can you attract your target audience, and how long would it take to put their John Hankock on your papers? How much it will cost you? What sales funnels are to be applied? What conversion do you expect from every sales channel? And for sure what test cases exist within the scope of your startup?

I hope my toughs will help you avoid wasting valuable time and money. You can always find me on LinkedIn.

Liked the article? Please share it with your friends.

Igor Popov
loader
Don’t miss the best articles!
Subscribe to the Blog Digest

Your e-mail address is only used to send you our newsletter and information about the activities of Orange Sputnik company.
You can always use the unsubscribe link included in the newsletter.

Tagged under: Mobile Application, MVP, Startup

What you can read next

Ubuntu Server
Ubuntu Desktop optimization
What Founders Want What VCs Give
Atomico Survey 2022: What Founders Want And What VCs Give
Subscription. Reloaded.
Subscription. Reloaded.

Tags

Development Guide How-To Investors Metaverse Mobile Application MVP Optimization Pitch Deck salary benchmark Server Startup Startup Accelerator Subscription Ubuntu Web3 Web Development

Recent Posts

  • Ubuntu Server optimization

    Ubuntu Server optimization

    A short introduction story. Here at Orange Sput...
  • Startup Secret Sauce

    Startup Secret Sauce

    What is the life cycle of a startup idea? Let&#...
  • Landing page is the cornerstone for a startup

    Landing page is the cornerstone for a startup

    There was such a story. I knew one very smart d...
  • IT Salary Benchmark - Europe 2023

    IT Salary Benchmark – Europe 4Q23

    IT Salary Benchmark (ITSB) Europe 4Q23 Edition ...
  • 3 Must-have Pitch Decks for a Startup

    3 Must-Have Pitch Decks for a Startup

    Earlier, I described what seems to be a perfect...
  • Scaling Up Startups

    Scaling business is easier than you think

    Scaling is just like a math equation with one u...
  • Unicorns and tremendous profitability

    Unicorns and tremendous profitability

    People who are not diving deep into the topic o...
  • How to build a perfect pitch deck

    How to Build a Perfect Pitch Deck

    While engaging in different startups as a Disco...
  • How to Build a Metaverse Platform

    How to Build a Metaverse Platform: Complete Guide

    Metaverse. If you’re among those who are ...
  • The worst habit for a startup

    The worst habit for a startup

    It can sound quite weird… However, the wo...
  • The State Of Pre-seed And Seed Valuations 22Q4

    The State of Pre-seed & Seed Valuations in 22Q4

    Today I would love to share a very useful repor...
  • 100 Ways To Win

    100 ways to win

    If there is a gap, something will fill it. Ther...
  • What Founders Want What VCs Give

    Atomico Survey 2022: What Founders Want And What VCs Give

    As you probably know Atomico released their Sta...
  • Right Time For Search Of Investments

    When is the right time to search for investments?

    Yesterday, one founder bragged he hired more de...
  • Profit is back in fashion

    Profit is back in fashion

    In 2015, the correlation between startup profit...
  • Find 10 Differences Game

    Find Your 10 Differences

    To achieve something specific, first, you need ...
  • Subscription. Reloaded.

    Subscription. Reloaded.

    The subscription model is the wet dream of any ...
  • Where is the value

    Where is the value?

    So where is the value? A couple of weeks ago, I...
  • 5 Tips for hiring the right Software Developer

    5 Tips for hiring the right Software Developer

    Hiring the right software developer is your mos...
  • Ubuntu Server

    Ubuntu Desktop optimization

    Optimization of a PC or a laptop is a usual tas...

Contact us

We build Dedicated Teams for Software Development for Enterprise Level and Startups.

The goal of our work is to push the Software Development Strategy to a the next level.

+420 (234) 290 677
Orange Sputnik Offices Map

Get Quote for free

Get your recomendations on how to make
a fixed and predictable cost of a Development Team
for free.

Get your recomendations on how to reduce the cost of a development team for free.

More INFOGet Quote
TOP