Plus X Innovation provides hands-on support and a powerful ecosystem to help founders innovate and accelerate hundreds of innovative products and services each year. By Natasha Kingdon
A successful business doesn’t just come from a great product, a successful business comes from delivering the kind of product that the market is hungry for.
However, many startups and founders begin with their own idea and simply focus on building the product that is in their head. They spend time and money trying to perfect the product without considering the needs of the customer they actually want to sell to. When they launch, and the demand isn’t there, it often transpires they never spoke to their ideal customers to understand if the product or service is something that was in demand.
If you don’t validate your business idea before committing, you end up running the risk of failing and wasting significant resources - be that time, money, or effort.
So how do you know what the market is hungry for? How can you refine your offer so that you know it is more likely to be profitable and in demand? And how can you do it without breaking the bank?
What does MVP mean?
MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product. Think of it as a stripped-back version of the product that allows you to collect as much insight into your target audience as possible, with minimal cost and effort.
The purpose of an MVP is to test the idea or concept with real users, using only minimal investment to gather valuable insights and learnings about the customers and the market. This helps to validate any assumptions, refine your product, and gauge market demand - without the high costs to the founder.
Enter the lean startup methodology
A core part of the lean startup methodology, a tried and tested set of tools and processes used by successful founders across the globe, is the MVP.
MVP testing can drastically reduce the risk that comes alongside starting a business, and can help founders validate their ideas quickly and cost-effectively.
What are the benefits to MVP testing?
There are many benefits to MVP testing. The key one for founders is being able to test a new idea without high cost. You can fail fast, but with less risk, and save a lot of money in the long run by avoiding the cost of failure, as well as high consultancy fees.
You can get fast, validated feedback from real users that will help improve your product and help you identify, with data, where pivoting in the development process would be more helpful.
How do you build an effective MVP?
1. Identify the core problem your product is solving
Clearly identifying the core problem or pain point that your target audience is experiencing is critical. By honing in to this problem, you ensure that your product is addressing a genuine need in the market which, in turn, will also help you to communicate the value of your product to potential users and investors.
2. Develop a simple prototype or mockup
Being able to give a visual version of your product is invaluable for allowing potential users, investors, and team members to see what you’re envisioning and provide feedback based on something tangible. This step helps validate the concept and identify potential issues before investing in full development.
3. Set your MVP’s success metrics
To measure the effectiveness of your MVP, it’s crucial to set clear, measurable goals. These metrics will help you determine whether your MVP is resonating with your target audience and if your business idea has potential.
4. Get out there and test with your target audience
Getting out into the ‘wild’ and testing the waters with your target audience will provide you with critical insights into product demand, identify improvements, as well as validating any assumptions. This will ultimately help you to understand the viability of your idea and clarify your product-market fit.
What’s your next step?
MVP testing helps the founder make informed decisions on their idea, without breaking the bank. By taking these first steps to creating your own effective MVP, you too could benefit from understanding market demand, customer needs, and scalability potential.
The lean startup methodology, customer discovery, and MVP testing is at the heart of the latest innovation programme at Plus X Innovation - Stage-One Pre-Accelerator, starting this September. Plus X provides the tools and support you need to drive innovation and growth, and help you with the first steps in your journey as a business founder.
Check out our website for more opportunities and innovation programmes that are designed to help you start and scale your business:
www.plusxinnovation.com/programmes
