As a , I build things full-time, whether it’s a , , or coaching founders to build tech products. For fun, I built an , , , , and , using my . product builder venture newsletter micro-products AI article tool event app Food app SaaS tracker sneaker app rapid MVP technique This post is one of my series that has been ranked on 🎉 You may also like my top-rated guides such as & & multi-Part Product Guide HACKERNOON DAILY TECHBEAT Test Willingness To Pay Create Monetizable Products Mistakes That Kill Monetization 🤔 Many builders make the mistake of using the for the wrong purposes, resulting in skewed validation feedback. wrong MVP types In this post, I'll explain the various types of MVPs, , and how to choose the right MVP type for your new idea, so you can of your MVP. when to use them improve the accuracy Stage #1: Problem Validation Before you start building your startup idea, it's crucial to know where you stand in your idea validation journey. If you're at the pre-MVP stage, your main focus is understanding whether the . problem you're trying to solve even exists To do this, you'll need to use an MVP that can help you you have about the market problem and customer pain points. validate the riskiest assumption 🧪 MVP to Use: Minimum Viable Test In this case, a would be the best approach. This involves setting up a prototype experiment to test your hypothesis before investing in the development of an actual product. minimum viable test This type of pre-product MVP is low-fidelity and a fully-functional product. doesn't require You can gather feedback on who is experiencing the pain points and whether they you're attempting to solve through interacting with your potential customers. care about the problem 🎪 How to Set Up the MVP Experiment? Let’s say you’re building a but you’re not sure if people are interested in buying secondhand furniture in your local community. marketplace for used furniture You can create an experiment by to validate customer interest and understand the supply and demand dynamics in the local community hosting a bazaar event This experiment can be done quickly and inexpensively, and it allows you to gather feedback on the potential market and . customers’ willingness to pay Once you have the results, you can make an informed decision about whether to proceed with the MVP website development or pivot to another idea that may be more viable based on the feedback. Stage #2: Solution Validation Once you've validated your problem hypothesis, i.e., customers have the problem, it's time to test your solution with early adopters. At this point, your goal is to figure out the most solution to fix the customer's problem. desirable, feasible, and viable So, how do you make sure that you're offering a solution that truly meets their needs? 🧰 MVP to Use: Concierge/Piecemeal MVP A concierge MVP involves the product or service to the customer as if it were fully automated. manually delivering Whereas piecemeal MVP involves offering a subset of your product or service to the customer while of the value delivery process manually such as customer support, shipping, etc. handling a portion Compared to minimum viable tests, these types of MVPs are and have higher usability. more functional This MVP technique enables you to test whether people resonate with the value proposition and find the solution you're creating . useful or not 🛍️ How to Set up the MVP Experiment? Let’s say you’re building a but you’re not sure whether people will prefer a solution that helps them personalize their styles or find the trendiest items. shopping app, To set up the concierge or piecemeal MVP experiment, you can combine different off-the-shelf solutions such as . no-code/low-code tools, APIs, or automation tools For example, you can create a manual process for personalizing styles through “free professional stylist consultation” for early adopters, or offer a limited selection of trendiest items on an MVP website and track the user engagement. The key is to offer enough value to early adopters while minimizing your startup validation costs so that you can with minimal investment. validate your solution Stage #3: Feature Validation So now, you have validated that a problem you’re trying to solve is valid, and customers think your solution makes sense. The next step is to identify and prioritize the key features of your solution that are most valuable to your customers. This is where the core features MVP comes in. 🎯 MVP to Use: Core Features MVP Core features MVP is a step up from concierge and piecemeal MVPs, and it involves creating a to validate with a larger audience. more functional and workable product Your goal is to build a minimum viable product that has all the essential features and functionalities that your target customers need, without adding any unnecessary features. It's important to keep in mind that the core features MVP is still a minimum viable product, and you should focus on with paid subscribers, customers, users, or members. gaining early traction 🚀 How to Set up the MVP Experiment? Let’s say you’re building an AI app that allows people to , i.e., a no-code web scraper app. monetize data without coding One way to create your core features MVP is to build a that allows users to scrape data from various website sources and extract it into a user-friendly format. Chrome extension As you validate that people are using these tools and finding the product useful, you can move on to , such as integrating your tools with popular software like Notion, Airtable, and Google Sheets, as well as data visualization tools. testing other features This will help you understand whether these features are valuable to your target audience and to add next. prioritize which features [1] Find me on / 👋 Twitter LinkedIn [2] Get my product-building teardown — 🚀 Join my newsletter Also published here

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Validate Your Startup Idea Using the Right MVP Techniques

Too Long; Didn't Read

Zoe Chew

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Validate Your Startup Idea Using the Right MVP Techniques

Too Long; Didn't Read

Zoe Chew

About Author

TOPICS

THIS ARTICLE WAS FEATURED IN...

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