{"id":7858,"date":"2020-03-17T10:49:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T14:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=7858"},"modified":"2022-04-12T21:51:23","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T01:51:23","slug":"video-mvp-lean-startup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/video-mvp-lean-startup\/","title":{"rendered":"Video MVP: What Is It? (The Lean Startup)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is a video minimum viable product? How do you build one, and have it test your Lean Startup hypotheses? Learn the key tips here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Intro to the Video MVP<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The critical question you need to answer is for your business: what is the MINIMUM product you can build to get reliable data on your hypothesis<\/a><\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This product is termed the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and is one of the most important concepts in Lean Startup. This is the product that is the bare minimum to test your hypothesis. Unlike normal product development, you are NOT aiming for product perfection \u2013 you\u2019re merely trying to start learning as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The value hypothesis<\/a> is key to most startups \u2013 \u201cdoes anyone want what we\u2019re building?\u201d The typical wrong route many entrepreneurs make is to simply build their full product, then wait for results. Here\u2019s the problem \u2013 every extra feature you add before testing means wasted time<\/strong>. You might be pointed entirely in the wrong direction. Building features nobody wants means more wasted time before you test and find out you\u2019re in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Video MVP<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before building a functional product, you can simply make a video MVP simulating what the product does. Even without using the actual product, watching the video will give enough info for viewers to decide whether they want the product shown.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is what Dropbox did at its beginning with a video MVP. If you haven\u2019t heard of it, Dropbox is a file syncing software that synchronizes your files across your devices. If you upload a Word doc to your Dropbox folder on your laptop, you can then access the same doc on your work computer or your phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a super-complicated product to build, and also hard to describe in words. In 2007, Dropbox\u2019s founder, Drew Houston, had built an early prototype, but it wasn\u2019t fully functioning, and it wasn\u2019t ready to handle a massive number of users. But Drew still wanted to test whether people wanted his product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So he recorded a video of his prototype, demonstrating its main features and use cases. At the bottom of the video was a form to join the waiting list for the private beta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drew posted this video to Hacker News and Digg, and the response hit a nerve. It drew hundreds of thousands of views and grew their beta waiting list by thousands. Without having to release his product, Drew was able to prove that people truly faced a file sync problem, and Dropbox was the solution. He could now move forward and actually build the product with confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch the actual original Dropbox explainer video from 2007 here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isn’t that neat? Without any engineering time, without building an actual product, you can gauge interest for your product with just a Video MVP!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is a video minimum viable product? How do you build one, and have it test your Lean Startup hypotheses? Learn the key tips here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[78],"class_list":["post-7858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-lean-startup","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nVideo MVP: What Is It? (The Lean Startup) - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is a video MVP? How do you build a minimum viable product with just a video? 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