MVP

Collaborate with us to create a minimum viable product, a prototype we can use to gauge interest in the market, and see if our early idea is meeting the needs of our customers with minimum risk and investment.

MVP Instructions

Step 1. Begin with your digital story. Review your customer's background. Who is your MVP for? Describe your customer's journey. Describe where in the customer journey your solution will be offered?

Step 2. What is your plan? What is the product vision? How will this work? What does this product look like beyond the initial MVP? What are the top features to be tested in this MVP? How will these features be built and tested? How much will this cost, and what is the schedule?

Step 3. Finally. What are the most important findings? How can this MVP be improved? What have we learned? What should we attempt to learn in the next step? How can we measure progress?

MVP

An MVP is the minimum viable product, a prototype we can use to gauge interest in the market, and see if our early idea is meeting the needs of users with minimum risk and investment. With our MVP we can get valuable feedback we need to create an ideal product, saving time and money. Work in small 2-4 team member groups and start with your digital story. Then, collaborate with the team to complete the background, plan and results of the product and service. 

Group Size: 2-4

Materials Needed: MVP, Pens, Markers and Post-its 

Duration: 15-20 mins

MVP

The MVP is a planning tool for developing a minimum product or service to test an idea or business model. The goal is to find out as quickly as possible, in an iterative process, whether the solution solves the user's problem in a meaningful way.

  • Discover if the product meets the needs of the user.

    Discover how the product can be enhanced.

    Understand customer demand.

    Minimize the risk of investment in a solution.

  • Work in small 2-4 team member groups and start with your digital story. Then, collaborate with the team to complete the sections of the MVP

  • Step 1. Begin with your digital story. Review your customer's background. Who is your MVP for? Describe your customer's journey. Describe where in the customer journey your solution will be offered?

    Step 2. What is your plan? What is the product vision? How will this work? What does this product look like beyond the initial MVP? What are the top features to be tested in this MVP? How will these features be built and tested? How much will this cost, and what is the schedule?

    Step 3. Finally. What are the most important findings? How can this MVP be improved? What have we learned? What should we attempt to learn in the next step? How can we measure progress?

  • Take cues from Pitch Deck Presentations and use visuals.

    State the problem your company solves. Mention how many people and what group of people suffer from the problem your product solves. How does this group cope with the problem? How is this problem being addressed, and why does the problem persist?

    Talk about your problem in a way that is familiar with people's experiences.

    My Company [Name] is developing a [defining an offering] to help [target audience] solve [x-problem] with --[y-unique solution].

    Show the path to market by documenting benefits to the customer compared to other approaches by similar companies.

Interview for Empathy

Use to understand users' perspectives, needs, and emotions through meaningful conversations. An Interview for empathy helps us validate our persona problem and increase our understanding of their need for a solution.

Explorative Interview

Use to gain new insights, ideas, and perspectives about those experiencing the problem. An Exploratory Interview helps us to understand our target demographic so we can address their needs through our solution.

MVP

In the context of business and product development, MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product. An MVP is a strategy and approach used to develop and launch a product with the minimum features required to meet the core needs of early adopters or customers. It allows businesses to test their assumptions, gather feedback, and validate their product idea with minimal investment of time and resources.

The primary goal of an MVP is to quickly and cost-effectively deliver a functional version of the product to the market, enabling the team to learn from real-world usage and user feedback. By focusing on the core features and functionalities, an MVP helps to reduce the risk of building a product that may not meet market demand or customer expectations.

An MVP typically has the following characteristics:

Core features: It includes only the essential features and functionalities that solve the main problem or address the primary needs of the target audience.

Rapid development: The emphasis is on quickly developing and delivering the product to the market, often using iterative and incremental development approaches.

Feedback loop: The MVP is released to real users or customers who provide feedback, which helps the development team to iterate and improve the product based on actual user experiences and requirements.

Cost-effective: The development of an MVP aims to minimize resources and costs while maximizing the learning and validation of the product idea.

The concept of an MVP is closely associated with the Lean Startup methodology, which advocates for a build-measure-learn feedback loop to iteratively develop and refine products based on validated learning from the market.

It's important to note that an MVP is not a fully-featured or polished product but rather a minimal version that serves as a starting point for further development and refinement based on user feedback and market validation.