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Start-ups are filled with energy and radiate positive vibes that make you feel uplifted and believe that everything is possible. And you can tell why - the people who create them are the strong believers that really have the potential to change the world with their ideas.
However, enthusiasm alone does not do the trick of making complex and groundbreaking ideas manifest. To bring a beautiful unicorn from a dreamland, start-up founders should attract enough financial resources, stay within budget/time frames, and present a product or service of the highest quality. Although each of these vital start-up survival points can seem difficult to achieve, there is a way to make it less stressful and more gradual - start-up MVP.
In this article, we will dive into the concept and tell you:
- What is MVP;
- The major benefits MVP carries for start-ups;
- Tips on how to create a software start-up MVP.
What is start-up MVP?
Basically, MVPs are the product prototypes of a new age. Like the old-fashioned prototypes, MVPs show the feasibility of the product’s idea and convince investors that they will benefit from putting their money on it.
With all the technologies around, the concept of a product prototype has shifted a lot and brought the term MVP into play. Now, it’s more related to the software products. Minimum Viable Product also refers to the software development paradigm that is used to create mobile and web applications or other software with a minimal set of features. MVPs are used to present the product to investors and early adopters faster and then continue adding new features, while the business is on the go.
Benefits of MVP
The MVP development approach has found more popularity among start-ups than any other type of business. This popularity comes from software MVPs’ specificity and a plethora of benefits this kind of project delivery brings to start-ups.
Fast project launch
As MVP includes only the basic features of your start-up application, it won’t take long to deliver it. Quick time-to-market allows you to test your ideas and get your first income at an early stage of your start-up project development. The average MVP software development project takes only 3 to 6 months. In addition, MVP release is an essential milestone that can mark the beginning of the next investment round, making your product more mature and attractive to investors.
In this case, Felmo is a great instance of a start-up project that flew and attracted around $10 million during the second investment round, after their MVP release. Lars Giere, the start-up's founder, had the idea to bring vet services online or right to clients’ homes. To make the idea work, he needed to build a mobile application and turned to Akveo start-up software development company. Having professional app developers and the best cross-platform app development technologies behind their back, Lars & Felmo's team got a complete and functional MVP in 6 months, ensuring the quality of their start-up mobile app. Currently, the start-up scales up and expands its staff.
Lower expenses
You don’t need an army of developers and spend a fortune to build an MVP. A compact team of seasoned start-up software developers will be enough to create quite a performant MVP and test your start-up idea in action. Also, MVP allows you to save money on app rebuilding because you will add functions and design your application hearing clients’ feedback.
Early incomes
If you need a web or mobile application to get to customers online, an MVP can help them connect with your services and start bringing you an income from the start. To be able to make an order for your service, customers won’t need a special UI design and advanced functions. However, it is important to provide your customers with an excellent user experience. That’s why it’s wise to start investing in further start-up application development to take roots in the hearts of your customers with an excellent UI/UX and performance.
For example, the Uber mobile application was an MVP in its early stages. It had a plain design and the only function was to connect a taxi driver with a client and display their location. Being released fast, the Uber MVP brought the start-up its first income and customer base earlier.
Reduce risks
Building an MVP helps you avoid difficulties down the road. It makes clearer the vision of your product and streamlines the implementation process due to the customers' feedback and workflow testing. With that, you won’t need to feel around or exercise a hit-and-miss method. In this way, your start-up software development process becomes more predictable, so you can also improve your budgeting and time management.
Reassure investors
MVP is a strong argument during your project presentation to investors. Vivid slideshows and pitching are all important, but if you have something tangible to support your words with, it makes your speech much more persuasive. You can present your MVP even with the initial demand analysis that will prove the feasibility of your project’s idea in the long term.
Get the early feedback
MVP allows collecting user feedback at the early stages of the app development process. It enables you to adjust the app’s elements, while it functions rather than remaking the code of a fully-fledged solution. Rebuilding an app’s core elements is extremely daunting and requires additional resources. With MVP and the proper attention to your customers’ feedback, you can save money and make your start-up raising process more pleasant.
Tips on how to build an MVP effectively
After igniting your urge to create an MVP for your start-up, we’d like to give you some tips on how to organize this process. They will help you to make the maximum profit from your MVP and avoid the unnecessary hustle.
Plan your MVP development process
It is crucial for your start-up's successful launch to know the exact release date. Detailed planning can give you an accurate date so you can build your promotion campaign and jumpstart your project in the best way. After the release, you’ll need to create a thorough timeline for the expansion of your app’s functionality.
A thorough project delivery plan with a timeline and milestones on it will become some sort of a start-up game playthrough. If the plan is based on factual information, you will stroll through the valley of the dead start-up ideas harmless, jumping over all the booby traps.
Choose the right tech stack
Another crucial aspect of a start-up software MVP development is the technologies and programming languages. Depending on the specifications of your solution, you can choose from dozens of trusted development frameworks, libraries, databases, and 3d parties. For instance, you can leverage React or Angular for web app development. React Native or Flutter will be a great option if you’d like to create a cross-platform mobile app to work on Android and iOS as well.
Again, your project requirements and budget frames define the tech stack you choose. Speaking of project requirements, you should keep in mind the early post-MVP period of your solution development. It is crucial for you to leverage the technologies that will provide you with seamless scaling, 3d party tools integrations, custom designs, and complex features as your start-up expands into a stable enterprise.
Hire a start-up software development company
You can find companies that offer special conditions for start-ups. Faster development process, you won’t lose your time on hiring individual developers and team-leads because mature and professional start-up software development companies accompany you on each stage of your start-up software development including discovery phase, MVP creation, further solution development, and post-release support.
Partnering with professional developers frees you from the whole world of concerns that come up when you take the MVP development process organization in your hands. Choosing a tech stack, creating a project delivery timeline, and overall app development process management becomes the responsibility of a software development company. Therefore, you will be able to focus on other essential tasks like building your brand, creating business development strategy, etc.
In conclusion
Here you go! With a clear understanding of MVPs’ benefits and tips on how to establish your MVP development, you are ready to set off your own project. If you need some additional guidance on the process or wish to discuss your case with our start-up MVP development experts, book a call with us. Akveo start-up software development company provides a full spectrum of start-up MVP development services including web/mobile apps development, start-up consulting, QA, cloud, post-release support, and design services that are truly amazing.
In addition, we offer a free/discount discovery phase for start-up projects to help our clients get into the process and test the viability of their ideas in regard to the latest technologies. Akveo company has an affiliate software start-up UI Bakery and 5+ years of hands-on start-up and enterprise-grade software development experience. We create custom MVPs and fully-fledged applications from scratch for different industries and have a number of great success stories with our partners.
Meet our start-up development expert, Eugene. He helps start-ups to make a product discovery, choose the right tech stack, and build a software development team that will create your software on time and within your budget.
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By developing a custom Retool application, we streamlined the lead generation process, significantly reducing manual data entry. The application enabled employees to manage inbound deals efficiently while automated workflows for email parsing, notifications, and dynamic reporting enhanced operational efficiency. This allowed Afore Capital's team to focus more on building relationships with potential founders rather than on administrative tasks.
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