The MVP Mindset: How to Build, Launch, and Grow Your Product Fast

It is no surprise that the world is a very fast-paced place, meaning that every decision needs to be made correctly and quickly enough to take advantage of the opportunity. The balance between thinking, deciding, and doing is the goal of creating a perfect solution. If you are reading this, you probably have already thought about some kind of product and decided that you want to build it, so the last step remains – do it.

But, let’s start at the beginning. It’s easy to get caught up in overthinking. I’ll tell you a short story about myself. A long time ago, I was creating my first product, an Augmented Reality app for designers, and I came up with what I thought was a brilliant solution. I spent weeks thinking about how fantastic this solution was, adding new features on paper, and outsmarting every user on the way. Everything was planned perfectly, and I wasted almost all my excitement just for this plan. Suddenly, wild “what if” thoughts appeared! What became even worse, once I introduced this perfect plan to my very own early adopters: they told me that there was already something similar on the market that they were already using. And just like that, the opportunity was missed.

Of course, planning is important, but there’s a big difference between smart planning and over-analysing your idea. Research from the Journal of Behavioural Decision Making shows that overthinking can make us mentally tired and stressed, and even create some negative (and wrong!) thoughts, which can eventually lead to stopping all the actions we want to do. Simply, we are overloaded with bad thoughts about our great product.

Taking action helps us learn and improve faster than sitting around worrying about what could go wrong. Instead of getting stuck in “what if” scenarios, focusing on getting things done allows us to learn from real experiences and make better choices as we go. So, let’s focus on getting the product done, but smartly, in a loop, constantly.

Imagine (or maybe you do not need to) that you already found out what you would like to create. You have a clear vision of the solution! Congratulations! Perhaps, you would like to build a ready product with all the features packed. Perhaps, but we already figured out that it could be painful for both your wallet and mental health. So what are the options?

Thankfully, in product development, there is an idea called Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and it is all about taking action. An MVP is a simple version of a product that has just enough features to meet the basic or most important needs of target users and get feedback from actual users for a further think-decide-do loop. The goal is to get your product out there as soon as possible, learn what works and what doesn’t, discover opportunities, and make improvements based on real user feedback.

By focusing on what’s essential and launching quickly, an MVP helps teams avoid wasting time (and, of course, money) on features users don’t need. It’s all about STARTING simple, learning fast, and making improvements based on real opportunities provided by your users. This way, you’re always moving forward instead of getting bogged down by trying to make everything perfect right away. So why do you take the work on yourself when it can be done by real users? Let them do the “thinking” for you! And trust me, they can do this work perfectly.

What We Already Know About MVP

A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a basic version of your product that solves a key problem for your target audience with the least amount of features. Here’s what an MVP helps you do:

• Find opportunities: By starting fast, you can find a potential in your solution that you didn’t see previously. Also, you are ahead of the anticipated competition!
• Test your ideas: Quickly check if your product idea is something people actually want;
• Start a “conversation” with your target users: Find out  directly from your users what they like, what they don’t, and what could be better;
• Reduce needed resources: Save time, money, and your mind resources by focusing only on the most important features first.

After all, while thinking things through is necessary, overthinking can hold you back or even burn you out. The MVP approach is all about getting started, learning from real feedback, and making your product better over time thanks to the think-decide-do loop. Instead of waiting for the perfect moment or product, launch your MVP, “discuss” it with your users, and keep improving. It’s about taking action and making progress, one step at a time.

Yes, there is just one type of a minimum viable product – the one that fits your users’ needs. But no jokes here. Let’s take a closer look at this matter.

One MVP is not equal to another MVP. Every MVP is different because each has a different goal, target audience and market opportunities. To simplify things, we can say that there are two types of MVP: simple and full. The main difference is how quickly we need to launch the app. Let’s take a look at each one of them.

Simple MVP

One category is a simple MVP, and it’s all about getting to market as fast as possible. There could be multiple reasons behind this, for example, competition on the market with similar solutions, or you would like to target a specific period of the year (for example, summer time or the beginning of school), or you just want a quick test of a new feature on a certain  category of users.

Simple MVP is a fast and lean approach to product development, usually taking about three months to build. Here’s what a simple minimum viable product entails:

1. Quick Launch: The main goal here is speed, or as we can call it – Time to Market. By focusing on just the core features, you can launch your product swiftly. This way, you can start gathering user feedback on your product idea and learning from real-world usage as soon as possible.
2. Lower Costs: Because you’re only building the essentials, the cost of developing a simple MVP is relatively low. This makes it a great option for startups or teams looking to test a concept without a big upfront investment.
3. Basic Functionality: A simple MVP includes only the most crucial features. It’s a basic version of your product, meant to show the core value and check if your idea resonates with users.

Even though a simple MVP is just the basics, it plays a critical role in validating your idea. It helps you understand what your users really need and allows you to make informed decisions for future updates with a fairly low budget.

Full MVP

On the other hand, there could be a need for a full MVP. It is a more comprehensive version of your product. This approach typically takes about 7-8 months to develop and is more suited to situations where a richer user experience is needed right from the start. The reasons behind choosing a longer version of the MVP could be:

• More than one core functionality to test on one group of users;
• Competitors in the market are already working on a solution, but we want to provide users with something additional;
• Our potential users require more complex products packed with security features, payment systems, etc.
• And more!

Here’s what a full MVP involves:

1. Longer Development Time: With a full MVP development process, you’re looking at a longer timeline. Speed is not so important here. This extended period allows for the development of a more robust product with a broader feature set.
2. Higher Costs: More features mean more development work, which translates to higher costs. A full MVP often includes additional functionalities and a more polished user interface, aiming to provide a better experience from the get-go.
3. More Functionality: Unlike a simple MVP, a full MVP offers a more complete experience for the target audience. It covers more user needs and provides greater value, which can be crucial in competitive markets or where user expectations are high.

A full MVP is ideal when you need to make a strong first impression or when your market demands a more feature-rich product from the start. We can even call it a perfect shot!

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At its core, the goal of an MVP is to get the product out to users swiftly, enabling you to collect feedback early and refine the product through continuous improvement cycles. However, it’s important to manage expectations because customers often expect a full fledged product, even in its early stages. Words said, we need to know our users!

So how do we do all of that? How can we discover what to build and what is preferred by our users? You can find a useful step-by-step guide/cheat sheet below:

1. Define the Product Vision and Objectives

Probably you have already done it, but let’s give this step a proper description. Before starting the MVP process, it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of the product vision and the problem it aims to solve. This step involves:

• Identifying the problem to solve: Clearly define the pain point or need in the market that your product addresses.
• Defining the target audience: Determine who will benefit from your product and who your early adopters will be.
• Setting Objectives: Establish what you hope to achieve with your MVP concept. This could be validating business hypotheses, understanding user behaviour, or market testing.

Here we can use a tool called Lean Canvas, which will help us gather all the information above and even more! Got it? Great, let’s now check the market data to confirm (or not) our hypothesis in order to achieve product market fit.

2. Conduct Market Research and Competitive Analysis

Understanding the market landscape is vital to ensure that your product idea fills a gap or offers a unique value proposition.

• Market research: Gather data on the potential market size, trends, and user needs.
• Competitive analysis: Identify existing solutions and analyse their strengths and weaknesses.

We can gather all of that in a Product Strategy, which will be our action plan for the next steps to follow.

Please remember that data is just data, and we need to compare it with our intuition for further decisions. Or, on the contrary, to support your intuition with quantitative data. Both ways are good! If our intuition matches the market’s response  (the data), we are good at planning core features. Let’s go to step 3.

3. Identify Core Features for the MVP

Based on the product idea and market research (gathered in our Product Strategy), identify the core features that solve the primary problem. The MVP should focus only on these essential features, avoiding any non-critical or non-essential functionality.

For example, if our users would like to have a tool to collect all their ideas, probably we won’t power it up with the most complicated AI tool. Maybe we can create a simple notepad? Or maybe they need this AI tool, and it will be a core functionality? Who knows! Spoiler: users always know best!

• Prioritise features: Use techniques like the MoSCoW method (Must have, Should have, Could have, Won’t have) to rank features by importance. .
• Define the user flow: Outline the user journey, focusing on how users will interact with the core features.

We got the list of the essential features so we are ready to help you with creating your MVP design!

4. Design and Prototype the MVP

Create a basic design that reflects the core features and user flows. This step involves:

• Wireframing: Create low-fidelity wireframes to map out the basic structure and layout of the product.
• Prototyping: Develop a high-fidelity prototype using tools like Figma. This prototype should allow basic user interactions and navigation.

At this point, we do not need to create a Prototype for a simple MVP, and we can already jump to step 5 with our freshly prepared wireframes.

5. Develop the MVP

With a design in place, the next step is a successful MVP software development process. This involves:

• Selecting the technology stack: Choose the appropriate tools, frameworks, and technologies based on your team’s expertise and product requirements. For example, we can use React.js, React Native, or even some low/no-code solutions.
• Building the core features: Develop the MVP focusing only on the core features defined earlier.
• Testing: Conduct usability testing and QA to ensure the product functions correctly and meets user expectations.

6. Launch the MVP

Once the MVP is developed and tested, it’s time to launch it to a select group of early adopters (we can point them out thanks to market research).

• Soft launch: Release the MVP in a controlled environment, such as a closed beta or a specific geographical area.
• Marketing and promotion: Use low-cost marketing strategies like social media, community outreach, and content marketing to attract early adopters.

7. After MVP launch

After the launch, gather user feedback and measure the MVP’s performance against your initial objectives. Thanks to that, you will be able to suggest some improvements to your product.

• User feedback: Collect qualitative feedback through surveys, interviews, and reviews. Understand what users like, dislike, and wish to see in future versions.
• Analytics: Use tools like Google Analytics, Mixpanel, or Firebase to track user behaviour and key metrics (e.g., user engagement, retention, and feature usage).
• Improvements: Based on the opportunities you found after the first release of your product, you can figure out what to implement in the next iteration and future development.

The loop is closed here! Let’s update our Product Strategy with fresh data from our users, and create some improvements.

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If you want to get your MVP to market as quickly as possible, here are some strategies to help you move faster:

1. Focus on the Essentials: Prioritise the most important features that solve the key problems for your users. By concentrating on what matters most, you can streamline development and ensure your MVP delivers immediate value.
2. Set Clear Expectations: Make sure everyone involved understands what the MVP will include and what it won’t. This clarity helps avoid scope creep and keeps the project focused.
3. Add Features Gradually: Plan to add more features in stages after the MVP is launched. This way, you can continuously improve the product based on real user feedback and avoid overloading the initial development phase.
4. Product Strategy: Collect all your findings and future improvements in one place. Thanks to that, you won’t lose product vision from your sight and can plan ahead for upcoming improvements.

As you already read a brief above, the time it takes to build an MVP can vary widely depending on several factors. Let’s point out some of them below:

1. Preparation: What we already know and what we do not know impacts the time of delivery. If the research was done, the vision would be clear, we know our early adopters, our business model, budget, etc., and the time of creating MVP would be lower. If we need to do the discovery of all these factors, obviously, it can take some additional time.
2. Feature scope: The number and complexity of MVP features you want to include will significantly affect the timeline. A simple MVP with basic features (or minimum feature set) can be done in around three months, while a more comprehensive one could take up to eight months or more. Budget is also crucial here, as we need to figure out how to use it correctly and create the most value from it.
3. Team and skills: The size and expertise of your team also play a big role. A well-coordinated team with the right skills can speed up the process, while a lack of resources or experience can slow things down. It is great to choose a team that is familiar with the tools that will be used in the MVP.
4. Development process: Using efficient development practices for your minimum viable product, such as agile methodologies and continuous integration, can help keep the project on track and reduce the time to market.
5. External factors: Dependencies like third-party integrations or regulatory requirements can also impact the timeline. Being aware of these from the start can help you plan better and avoid surprises.
6. Trust and transparent communication: Having smooth open communication between team members can drastically reduce the time of delivery. Pointing out all obstacles and tackling them together can sometimes resolve all the issues instantly.