A lot of pre-product, pre revenue startup clients approach Calibrate to architect, design, and develop their first web or mobile app. One common theme we see among many of these ambitious co-founders is trying to launch with a larger feature set based on what they THINK their users will find valuable.
In scenarios such as this, our team always advises our clients to consider pairing back the feature set to an MVP (minimum viable product). We start this process by asking our clients “what are the critical features absolutely necessary to launch your product and start getting valuable feedback from the user base?”. Anything beyond that is speculation and unnecessary.
In the startup world (or even with products SMBs are launching), it’s imperative to get to market as quickly and cost effectively as possible to start establishing a POC (proof of concept) and collecting feedback; MVPs ensure that happens. Through collecting real user feedback, clients can prioritize and execute on their roadmap (aka new features) with FACTS (aka data driven insights) v. CONJECTURE (aka speculating on what users want).
A few tips to help narrow down features to arrive at an MVP are:
- Identify Core Problem: Focus on the primary problem your product aims to solve
- Target Audience: Understand the needs and preferences of your target users
- Essential Features: List all potential features and prioritize those that directly address the core problem
- Feedback Loop: Incorporate user feedback to refine and adjust features.
- Iterative Development: Build, test, and refine the MVP iteratively, ensuring only the most impactful features are included.