Simon Jenner
Wednesday, 14 October 2020
Building your MVP can be overwhelming. But with these 7 steps, it doesn't have to be.
Posted in:
Startups
In order to build a strong MVP app, you need to find the perfect balance between what your potential users need and what you’re actually offering to them. A solid MVP will test your hypothesis whilst offering an opportunity to minimise errors and collect vital feedback from your target user group.
When you’ve tested your idea and the time comes to build your MVP, there can be a real overwhelm of information available, so we’ve put together 7 steps to ensure success.
Step 1: Build a roadmap
A well-designed roadmap can keep your MVP app schedule and ensure you hit deadlines, saving you both precious time and money. Its practical nature can help you anticipate obstacles and create contingency plans.
Remember, keep this roadmap separate to your lists of ideas, innovations and feature requests - these elements should inform what goes on your roadmap and be added in accordingly.
Step 2: Find your niche
Try to appeal to everyone, and you’ll appeal to no one. Find the crossover point between:
What your best atWhat your users wantWhat your users need
And you’ll find your sweet spot.
Step 3: Analyse the competition
If you don’t have your finger on the pulse in your competitive landscape, you’re going to be missing out on some serious learning opportunities. Monitoring your competitors can demonstrate what works in your industry and what doesn’t, the sentiment around your current products, and the methodology you need to use to succeed. Best of all, it’s free.
There are many free tools available to spy on your competition, covering everything from the quality of their content to the make-up of their audiences.
Step 4: Prepare your market
Though you have not yet started to build your MVP, it is never too early to start your marketing efforts. Open your social channels and begin to write content to introduce your brand to your market. Engage in discussions on forums and start to build an awareness of what you’re planning to do, so you’ll be one step ahead when you do release.
Step 5: Stick with it
Once you’ve created your first iteration of your MVP app, try to stick with it while you learn. It can be so tempting to keep tweaking as you go, but if you stick with it whilst you complete your testing period, you’ll learn so much more.
Step 6: Seek opinions
Chances are, you’ve sought opinions from your friends, family and colleagues, but it’s important to get advice from those who are completely unrelated to your project. Promote and, if necessary incentivise your surveys and conduct interviews with as many people as possible to get the widest perspective.
Step 7: Continuous improvement
Don’t forget the core of the Build-Measure-Learn framework. In order to build your MVP successfully, it takes a lot of learning, measuring, and critically improving. Keep the cycle going to build the best MVP app you’re capable of.
Need a hand? Learn to build your MVP with us, or we can build it for you.
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