{"id":7866,"date":"2020-03-17T10:50:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T14:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=7866"},"modified":"2022-04-14T18:22:39","modified_gmt":"2022-04-14T22:22:39","slug":"how-to-build-an-mvp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-build-an-mvp\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Build an MVP\u2014and How NOT To (Lean Startup)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Figuring out how to build an MVP? Just as important as building a great MVP is figuring out how NOT to build one. Learn the key MVP strategies from Lean Startup here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Review of Minimum Viable Products<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The critical question you need to answer for your startup is: what is the <strong>MINIMUM product you can build to get reliable data on your hypothesis<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How NOT to Build Your MVP<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Note that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>The MVP is NOT the smallest product imaginable.<\/strong> It needs to be <em>enough to test your hypothesis<\/em>. Sometimes this can actually mean a functional product. Sometimes it can just be a web page. It really depends on your hypothesis.<\/li><li><strong>The MVP is NOT an excuse to ignore all quality problems.<\/strong> Some quality issues really make a difference to the customer. Let\u2019s say you build an engaging <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/video-mvp-lean-startup\/\">video MVP<\/a> like Dropbox\u2019s example above, but it takes 10 seconds to load. In response, users bounce away from the page without ever hearing about your product. If you ignore this error, you\u2019ll infer the wrong conclusion \u2013 that users don\u2019t want your product \u2013 when in fact they never learned what your product does in the first place. You need to design your MVP to make sure it reliably tests your hypothesis.<\/li><li><strong>The MVP is NOT an excuse to \u201cjust launch and see what happens.\u201d<\/strong> Your MVP should be tied to direct quantifiable hypotheses, like \u201c10% of all visitors will sign up for the beta,\u201d or \u201c1% of all active users will pay at least $5.\u201d If you don\u2019t have these hypotheses set in stone, 1) you\u2019ll design a faulty MVP that doesn\u2019t lead to productive learning, 2) as you collect data, you\u2019ll fall into complacence (\u201cwell, only 2% of visitors signed up, but that\u2019s still pretty good.\u201d)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">MVP Mistake 1: You Will Almost Always Overbuild Your MVP<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When you figure out how to build an MVP, you will always be tempted to overbuild. Your pride as a professional inhibits you from releasing low <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/obsess-over-quality\/\">quality work<\/a>. You envision a world where your product is commonplace, and you can\u2019t bear to build something that\u2019s just 2% of that final vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But keep this in mind: <strong>If you do not know who the customer is, you do not know what quality is<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words, you may spend hundreds of hours polishing a high-quality feature that no one wants.<strong> If no one wants your MVP, can you really say it\u2019s high quality, or that it even matters?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In contrast, if you produce a barebones MVP and customers tell you something is low quality, then that\u2019s valuable data on what you should focus on next. Your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/early-adopters-model\/\">early adopters<\/a> care primarily about the core of what you\u2019re offering; without bells and whistles, a promising idea will still show great metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">MVP Mistake 2: Why You Will Launch Your MVP Too Late<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, you\u2019re likely to launch an MVP too late because you suffer from common fallacies. Here they are, and here\u2019s how to deal with them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>You\u2019re afraid that a competitor will steal your idea<\/strong>. In reality, there are too many good ideas in the world and not enough good people or time to execute on them. As Eric suggests, just <em>try<\/em> to pitch a product manager or venture capitalist to work on your idea \u2013 it\u2019s not going to happen. They have an abundance of ideas to work on and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/not-enough-time-in-the-day\/\">not enough time<\/a>. You\u2019ll more likely find early on that no customers actually want what you\u2019re offering. Keep this in mind as you figure out how to build an MVP.<\/li><li><strong>You\u2019re afraid that you\u2019ll lose your \u201cfirst mover advantage\u201d if you go public earlier.<\/strong> In reality, if you make it big, competition will come after you, no matter what. And if you aren\u2019t able to fend them off in the long run, you\u2019re dead anyway. (See how live streaming app <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/qz.com\/632017\/its-official-meerkat-has-lost-the-live-streaming-battle-to-periscope\/\" target=\"_blank\">Meerkat got crushed by Twitter\u2019s Periscope<\/a>, even though Meerkat had a sizable time lead. Your only long-term winning strategy is to learn faster and be better than competition, and waiting doesn\u2019t give you any advantage.<\/li><li><strong>You\u2019re afraid that a minimally-featured product doesn\u2019t showcase the full potential of your vision,<\/strong> and customers will reject the MVP when they would otherwise have loved your product. Look at it this way \u2013 if customers don\u2019t respond well to your MVP, you can figure out why. If it\u2019s because the MVP\u2019s missing a critical feature that was part of your vision, you can build it in and re-test. You don\u2019t lose much. But if you find that a core part of your vision is mistaken, your MVP will help you find out earlier. You have much to gain and less to lose.<\/li><li>If you do fear that a prematurely negative result will make you lose hope, you can promise ahead of time that no matter what happens in the MVP, you will not give up hope until a certain number of iterations or time point. Use this to figure out how to build an MVP.<\/li><li><strong>You\u2019re afraid of a bad reputation from a bad MVP that will cripple your brand<\/strong>. In reality, your MVP is unlikely to gain so much attention that this is going to matter in the long run. But if you\u2019re worried about it, just launch the MVP under a different brand. You\u2019ll still be able to test and learn, without any negative consequences transferring over.<\/li><li><strong>You\u2019re afraid of legal intellectual property or patent risk<\/strong>, since showing your product to the public can complicate patenting your idea. This is a legitimate concern for some companies, and you should consult a lawyer.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I consider the MVP the most important concept of this Lean Startup summary. You will almost always launch far later than you should have. It will be scary to put something out there that you\u2019re not fully proud of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But as LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman says, \u201c<strong>if you\u2019re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you\u2019ve launched too late<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Be bold, and savor learning. Don\u2019t be afraid about being wrong or embarrassing yourself. You will thank yourself later after you build your MVP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Question: What is the MVP to test your hypothesis? Write a general description. Now force yourself to simplify \u2013 what can you throw out until you get to the absolute essential minimal product needed?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Figuring out how to build an MVP? Just as important as building a great MVP is figuring out how NOT to build one. Learn the key MVP strategies from Lean Startup here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7889,"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-7866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-lean-startup","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Build an MVP\u2014and How NOT To (Lean Startup) - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Just as important as building a great MVP is figuring out how NOT to build one. 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