A minimum viable product (MVP) is crucial for bringing a new product to market efficiently. By focusing on core functionalities, an MVP allows startups to quickly validate market assumptions, gather vital feedback, and iterate without heavy initial investments. Ready to start your MVP journey? Let’s dive into the building process, ensuring a streamlined approach while steering clear of common pitfalls and focussing on our lessons learned.

Before you start building an MVP

Market validation

The first step is validating the market for your product. It's essential to confirm demand before diving deep into development. Engage actively in conversations with potential customers to refine your ideas. This foundational feedback shapes your proof of concept – a simplified version of your product that encapsulates its core value proposition, setting the stage for your MVP. 

Strategic product planning

Creating a strategic product plan is the next critical step. This involves mapping out the user experience, technological components, architecture, and future expansions. Keep your focus on vital features, as overloading with too many elements can derail your initial efforts. Effective prioritization and budget management are key to keeping your development on track.

Steps in building an MVP

At Dashdot, we build an MVP using four steps, which we'll explain through concrete examples from a case we worked on with Moonbird.

1. Define the core: Determine the absolute essence of your solution, based on the problem you're trying to solve. Keep it as clear and simple as possible.

In the case of Moonbird, the core functionality is quite simple: a list of breathing exercises that users could start on their device. The focus was enabling users to choose and initiate the right type of exercise based on their specific needs, ensuring the app provided the essential functionality that users required most.

2. Prioritize features: Focus on core features that address primary user problems. Balance each feature's impact against its cost and development time. We use a backlog to list features and technical tasks, estimating their complexity and time investment in 'T-shirt sizes’ from (XS to XXL).

For Moonbird, once we established the core breathing exercises, we prioritized essential features like user in methods and user registration. These features are necessary for the app’s basic operation, even though they don’t directly enhance the core experience. Beyond these essentials, we identified "nice-to-have" features that, while appealing, didn’t significantly contribute to the core usage. By focusing on what truly mattered, we ensured a streamlined and effective development process.

3. Draft the product plan: Collaborate through workshops to synchronize functionalities, technical choices, and user experience. Include several functional and technical workshops, and don’t overlook specific ones like security.

We integrated the different elements into a cohesive product plan with Moonbird. We evaluated customer needs and desires, distinguishing between confirmed requirements and assumptions. The product roadmap ensured our focus stayed on meeting customer needs while identifying areas needing further validation.

4. Development: Conduct development cycles in short sprints, such as two weeks. Each sprint should include planning and review meetings with clients to discuss progress, deliverables, and upcoming tasks.

At Moonbird, the technical approach involved creating a POC to evaluate and refine technical choices. This included ensuring seamless communication between devices and the mobile app, developing comprehensive app functionalities, and managing the backend cloud system for data collection. This iterative process enabled us to continuously refine our solution while upholding high development standards.

Working closely with founders Stefanie and Michael, we delivered a cost-effective, user-friendly MVP that included a companion app and a robust backend system.

Common pitfalls

Developing in isolation without validating new features can lead to a product that misses actual user needs. Keep your feedback loops active and regular to refine features and avoid wasting resources. The team at Moonbird continued to engage with customers post-launch to gather feedback, enabling continuous improvements and bug fixes. By maintaining close communication, Moonbird addressed issues directly, assisting customers in resolving problems and enhancing the product. This ongoing dialogue has been crucial in ensuring that the product effectively meets their needs.

Lessons learned

Based on our experience, here are key lessons learned from developing an MVP:

1. Less is more: In the early stages, minimal functionality is often sufficient to gather valuable user feedback.

2. Concierge approach: Not everything needs to be automated from the outset. Manual processes can provide deep insights into user requirements and preferences.

3. Request feedback: Customer feedback from the earliest stages ensures your product meets their needs and avoids developing in isolation.

4. Flexible product plan: Your product roadmap should be adaptable to feedback, market changes, and iterations.

5. Quick market entry: The goal of an MVP is to test swiftly with real users, gaining early insights to prevent overinvestment in unnecessary features.

   

Want to get started?

We guide our clients through establishing a robust technological base. Our expertise extends beyond development to aligning the product with a strategic market approach and audience targeting. Whether clients are starting from a basic prototype or expanding an existing product, we provide comprehensive support to ensure a solid foundation for the product’s market success.

Building an MVP is a strategic process that requires careful planning, prioritization, and constant interaction with potential customers. By focusing on core functionalities, validating market assumptions early, and being flexible with your product plan, you can create a successful MVP that sets the stage for future growth and success.