Minimum Viable Product, or simply MVP, has got the attention of every business owner and developer of present times. Be it a marketplace website or mobile application, MVP is where people are focusing nowadays. But why this transition? And why so quickly? Why, the sudden wave?
Questions of these sorts and many variations are rampant on the internet. And they all converge at one point: why is MVP the right choice for online marketplaces?
It’s the Early Bird That We Need
MVPs are a great way to grab your early adopters’ attention. As you analyse their activities on the app, you start getting insightful information as on what all do they want in the app. MVPs help you pave a path for a successful product.
Early adopters are known to give honest feedback voluntarily. Take their reviews, feedback and suggestions seriously. Doing so will help you progress towards a greater, more efficient app that will be liked by masses.
Better Than a Demo
The biggest drawback of a demo is that it is a dummy. It’s only a kind of a rundown, kind of a tutorial. But it doesn’t work for real.
An MVP, on the other hand, will have the bare minimum structure ready to be used by your audience for actual purchases. An MVP gives you something to start, something that can scale. Above all, it’s practical and not just, well, a dummy.
Focuses on Business Objective
The basic purpose of an MVP is to build something that works as per your business goals. Sure, it won’t have all the fancy features or design elements. But will have all you need to kickstart your dream venture. It’s the first version, the working version. This is the founding grounds of your startup, and it does exactly what you want it to.
Better Risk Management
Whether it’s about budget or time constraints, MVPs are always a workaround. They are created in a more time and cost effective manner in comparison to their full-fledged counterparts.
At the same time, an online marketplace MVP will help you see if you are moving in the right direction in an early stage. You will be able to make tweaks to it before it’s too late. As a wise man once said, “A stitch in time saves nine.”
Better Value for Money
MVPs can be created using fewer resources in terms of time, money and manpower and help you get the wheel rolling. As a result, you are able to juice out more from your vision and objectives. Uber, Airbnb, and many such big names once started as MVPs. Do you think they were not sure about their business model? No.
As a matter of fact, all these businesses knew they will go big, and they didn’t waste time creating a comprehensive app. They wanted to start ASAP, and an MVP was all they needed to mark their presence in the ecommerce world.
Conclusion
All the MVPs are based on a couple of assumptions, but none of them are castles in the air. The first assumption they need to make is that people will like their business idea. And that’s it, everything else is left on MVP, the trial run.
In case a business idea fails, MVPs will help you contain the collateral damage to a minimum. There’s no reason why startup owners shouldn’t invest in them. If you can find a reason, do mention in the comment section, we’d like to hear you out.
