How To Build An MVP

March 9, 2021
Stephen Ajulu
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Do you have an idea? Don’t know programming? Do you want to test it? Today i answer all these questions and help you build your minimal viable product of your idea and test it’s performance in the actual market for FREE!

Yes, you heard me, free. Whether it’s an app or a website, whether you know how to program or not! Today with the tips and programs I’m about to share with you, you will be able to see if your idea is viable by testing it in the real world.

Let’s begin!

First, for those who don’t know, an MVP in full is basically a Minimal Viable Product/Project.

This is how Wikipedia defines it: A minimum viable product (MVP) is a version of a product with just enough features to be usable by early customers who can then provide feedback for future product development .

It has just enough features to be usable by your target customers.

Now, let me show you how you can go about making yours.

1. Define your idea on a piece of paper

To first be able to take out some features that aren’t immediately needed and build, you need to first define what your idea is, it’s features, the target market, what does it solve, why are you building it, what are it’s core features, which features are less needed.

After answering all those questions, create a priority list of the features it should have and give them a priority value between 1 to 10 with 1 being highly prioritized and 10 being less.

For example, I am building a custom signature MVP where one can get a custom signature like the ones(one is white for my dark mode users while the other one is black for my light mode users) below.

Here’s my feature priority list

  1. Cool captivating header (8)
  2. a showcase of the signatures I have done (10)
  3. Use cases of signature logos (10)
  4. Custom hoodie option show case (5)
  5. newsletter (3)
  6. why signature logos are awesome (9)
  7. potential place to put it (5)
  8. custom options that can be selected (6)
  9. ordering process (10)
  10. price + addons (10)
  11. order page/form (10)

Now seeing as mine is a simple idea of getting a custom signature logo, I am allowed certain privileges e.g. adding more features

And so with that we move to the next step

P.S: I am actually building my MVP as I write.

2. Researching potential competitors and outsmarting them

Now here all we need to do is google(duckduck go) our idea, learn and research our competitors, what do they have, what do they do, how do they do, can we borrow features and make certain things better. I already did my research and found 1 competitor, don’t start comparing yourself/mvp with their complete product, just learn, feel free to add more features and add priorities because at the end of the day, once the MVP is successful there won’t be a need to build a fresh, just build on top and implement what you learned.

3. Finding a platform for your MVP

Remember when i said you could build your MVP for free? Here’s where that free line is thoroughly tested.

There platforms such as Carrd, Webflow, Bubble and others. The best way to find yours is to google for platforms. Even a free 14 day trial is enough for a test run. For landing pages, I suggest Carrd or Webflow. For more advanced ideas with a back end requirement, i suggest a No-Code platform such as Bubble.io. Bubble provides tutorials, you can easily learn in a day. Better yet, if you aren’t a dev you can build your whole idea there. So search for a platform that provides what you want. For me a simple landing page with a order form is enough, if the one i pick doesn’t provide order forms, then I connect it with something that does. So I’m going to use Carrd.co, bought a pro plan sometime back for 15 dollars or 1,700 Kenyan shillings. It’s a good investment because it helps me build an MVP within a day. But you can sign up for a free account.

4. Building 🛠

Now here i won’t say much, experiment to your hearts content. Try everything and anything that catches your eye. I can’t really show you how build your MVP but I can help you build your MVP, i am offering free consultation to the first 3 people who request it. Email me → alunje73@gmail.com, to the rest. I offer consultation for 10 USD or ksh. 1,000 per day. Before emailing me kindly do the above steps except 3 and 4.

5. Tweaks and Sharing

Now you have a test MVP, view it and interact with it. If there’s anything you’d like to add, add it. Do some minor tweaks and repeat preview, interact and test. Once you are done, first share with family and friends, accept their criticism and thanks but don’t listen to them if they say the idea isn’t practical or anything that suggests you give up. Leave that to the market. Once all your family members know about it. Share to the rest of the world, share, share and share. Add relevant hashtags, share it day and night! And add a way for people to review.

6. Market

Once the MVP is out to the public, and your are receiving good reviews, it’s time to go into marketing, I’ll explain marketing on another post, but basically use Facebook Ads.

7. Build it further

Now, build it into a real company/product/service and work hard to maintain, advance and market it.

I’ll share my custom signature logo mvp progress

Learn More About MVPs| Digitalya

See Also