How to Build an MVP in 4 Steps

Building a minimal viable product is a great way to test your product in the market. To be successful, follow this roadmap.

A minimum viable product (MVP) is a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers while also providing feedback for future product development. Building an MVP is a great way to test your product in the market. Gathering insights from an MVP is often less expensive than developing a product with more features.

The minimal viable product has proven to be a successful method of product development and testing. Consider these winning examples:

• Dropbox started with a simple video that briefly explained the effect of the product that the makers wanted to launch. The video was very successful and gave Dropbox the valuable feedback that enabled them to validate their core assumptions.

• AdWords Express is basically a simplified version of AdWords which generates relevant ad copy for the customer. From the beginning, this process seemed to be automated, but when this product was being developed the back-end consisted of a group of students who were very quickly typing ad copy. When this experiment proved successful, AdWords Express was further developed, and the process is now fully automated.
• At RevelX, we helped BDR Thermea develop their boiler’s predictive maintenance feature as an MVP. It was successfully introduced into the market in 2017.

There are differing opinions about the best way to build an MVP. My experience at Google and currently RevelX has taught me which path works the best. I believe the best practice for building an MVP is as follows:

1. Know your customer and offer him something he is really waiting for. This is accomplished through Mom Test questions, the Value Proposition Canvas and – naturally! – talking to your customer.
2. Build an MVP using a Google design sprint. This is a 5-day program in which you build and validate an entire MVP for your intended customer group.
3. Improve based on a constant test and learn cycle. Ask the target group continuously for feedback and use that information to develop rapid iterations your product.
4. Launch and scale the %6&!@# out of it!

At RevelX, we know how to capture new market opportunities. One way to accomplish this is the minimal viable product. Do you want to build a new product or scale an existing one? Let’s talk!