ย #MVP #ProductDevelopment #StartupTips
Hey fellow entrepreneurs! ๐ I’m currently knee-deep in the exciting journey of creating my MVP for a platform that will link freelance graphic designers with small businesses in need of design services. ๐จ But with so many potential features swirling around in my head, it’s a bit overwhelming trying to figure out what should be essential to include.
So, I’m curiousโhow do you go about deciding what features are must-haves for your MVP, and which ones can wait for future iterations? Here are a few questions that I’m grappling with, and I’d love to hear your insights:
– What features will provide the most value to my target users?
– How can I prioritize features based on time and resources?
– Are there certain key functionalities that are non-negotiable for a successful MVP launch?
– How do you balance user feedback with your own vision for the product?
One possible solution that I’ve found helpful is to create a prioritization matrix, where I weigh factors like user need, feasibility, and business impact for each potential feature. This has helped me to narrow down my focus and ensure that I’m building something truly valuable for my users.
I can’t wait to hear your thoughts and strategies on this topic! Let’s learn from each other’s experiences and make our MVP development process as smooth and successful as possible. ๐ก #StartupJourney #EntrepreneurLife
1. Talk to potential customers. Understand their problems. Once you hear the same problems over and over again (typically after ~50 conversations), go to step 2.
2. Think about a solution for the most pressing problems. Describe the solution to potential customers. Try different descriptions, where you sometimes have some features in, and some features explicitly out. Understand together with them which of these would actually solve your problem. Donโt just ask them “will this solve your problemโ – you have to actually understand the problem yourself well enough so that you yourself can answer that question. Once you have found a description that consistently solves the most important user problem, go to step 3.
3. Use the description to manually solve the problem for one or two users and ask them to pay for it. E.g. in your case connect 2 freelancers to two small businesses, and take a few for this that is in line with what the platform should make you. This will both confirm that customers are actually willing to pay for this, and it will battle test what are the actually hard parts about the business (e.g. for this specific business, getting the network of small businesses might be significantly more important than any software you write). Once you have two paying customers, go to step 4.
4. In parallel, keep solving the problem manually for more and more paying customers, and build software to automate the steps that are hardest to do. At this point, it will be easy to identify what to focus on.
Goal of the MVP is to validate your hypothesis. Whatโs the smallest thing you can build that creates enough value for users to pay for it.
Choose a customer pain point or use case and just solve that one thing. Cut scope on any feature that doesnโt address that. At best it wastes your time, at worst it distracts users from the value your product provides.
Ship it, get feedback, if they pay for it, great! If not, add features.
It’s literally in the name; The Minimum that is Viable.
Your matching service could literally be a copy of craigslist, and you could have a version stood up this weekend.
Then see if anyone will pay to use it. If people tell you “no” survey them about why.
If you have not read Lean Startup, you should read it.
Engage with potential users early on. Conduct surveys, interviews, or beta tests to understand their needs and pain points. This will help you identify the most valuable features.
And Also start with the simplest version of each essential feature. Avoid adding any bells and whistles that don’t directly contribute to solving the core problem.
Find a niche thatโs not covered by Fiverr and Upwork, why would people use you instead of them? We can find very affordable work on those platforms and itโs largely used by SMBs.
Focus on the little important matters, by focusing on solving the primary problem with the most straightforward solutions, you ensure your MVP delivers real value and sets the foundation for future growth.
and if you need help with building, you can always find devs from rocktdevs, or turing to work with.