In the current world where business is done with much competition and speed, it is imperative that startups work on the lean approach in the development of their products. One of the most helpful ways of doing this is through MVP development. MVP software creation is the process of creating a minimum viable product that is a basic version of the product which has only the necessary set of features to prove the product’s concept in the market.
In this article, we will be explaining the MVP development process in detail so as to help you build MVP software and bring your product idea to life efficiently.

What is MVP Development and Why Is It Important?
Now, let’s quickly refresh our memory on what MVP is and why it is so important in today’s world.
An MVP (minimum viable product) is a product which contains just the features necessary for it to be used by the first set of users in the market and provide feedback for the subsequent versions of the product. The MVP development process helps to check an idea in the marketplace with less effort and costs. You don’t jump straight to building a complete product, but instead come up with a simplified version that you can present to actual users.
The purpose of using MVP is to minimize the time and costs spent, to get real users’ feedback, to check the product-market fit, and to make correct decisions on further product development. To startups and other companies, MVP software creation is a valuable technique that will help you to develop a product that people need and would be willing and able to pay for.
Step 1: Define the Problem and Your Target Audience
The first and one of the most important stages of the development of the MVP is to identify the problem that your product is going to solve. Most startups suffer from the problem of starting development without a clear understanding of the problem or the audience.
To start, ask yourself: What is the issue your product is going to address? Who do you want to reach? What is currently being done to address the problem and how does your solution help to build on the current practice?
At this level, one should not even consider the addition of features but to concentrate on the basic problem. Once you have a clear problem and a well-defined audience, you will know what aspects are important to incorporate in your minimum viable product development.
It is, therefore, vital to have a clear understanding of user’s pain points and needs when creating MVP. Here, the aim is to design a product that gives value and does so with the least amount of resources possible; this means that you must focus on addressing a single issue for your target audience.
Step 2: Conduct Market Research
After the problem and audience have been identified, it’s time to gather market information. This is important because, by doing so, you will be in a position to come up with a product that will be of value to your target market as well as be unique in the market. MVP software creation is better to be grounded on data rather than on assumptions.
First of all, let us focus on the analysis of the competitor’s products and the solutions they provide. Find the market needs and find out how your MVP can be beneficial in this case. Also, get to know your audience’s tastes, patterns, and anticipations in terms of the content they consume.
When conducting market research, you will be able to know what the users want, how they engage with similar products, and if there is a market for your solution. This information will come in handy when creating your MVP and make sure that it meets the needs of real people.
Step 3: Prioritize Features for the MVP
After identifying the market, it is high time to decide on the features, which you are going to implement in the minimum viable product development. The most important thing about MVP is that it should be minimalistic – include only the essential features that would help to solve the main issue.
First of all, one should generate a list of all possible features and then reduce it to the list of necessary ones. These are the features that are critical to the solution of the problem that you are trying to solve and are necessary to test your hypothesis. Any of the features that are considered to be the ‘luxury’ should be left out for the subsequent phases.
The process of feature prioritization is one of the most critical aspects of the MVP development process, but it’s hard to avoid the temptation to over-engineer the product. The purpose is to release your product to the market as soon as possible but without compromising the users who are using it in the initial stage. This way, you will be able to make your MVP clean and simple but with all the necessary features to meet the basic requirement.

Step 4: Design and User Experience (UX)
Although the MVP is a simple version of your product, it doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice the design and usability of the product. In fact, MVP software creation should emphasize usability and user’s interest. Still, your MVP should be aesthetically appealing and easy to navigate despite the fact that you are going to offer your users a limited number of features.
You should emphasise the clarity and simplicity of your design. The user interface should be intuitive and help the users realize the value of the product and accomplish their goals with maximum ease. The more effortless the process, the better the chances of getting valuable feedback from the users and keeping them engaged.
A good design does not have to be complicated and one should avoid making it so. It just has to guarantee that users are able to interact with the product and its primary value proposition without any hindrance. At this beginning stage, the positive user experience will enhance the possibility of positive feedback and user engagement.
Step 5: Build Your MVP
Now that you have your design and core features ready, it is now time for the development process. This is where you actually get into the process of creating your MVP. Remember that you need the product out there in the hands of users as soon as possible, so you will want to keep things simple and focus on an agile development process.
When working on the MVP software development, it is crucial to create a product that will contain only the necessary features and at the same time has the potential for further expansion. Here, it is advisable to adopt the agile approaches since they enable you to be flexible and change as you get more information. This also goes a long way in preventing any delays that may not be necessary and hence aid in a better development process.
When creating the MVP, it is crucial to concentrate on quality, simplicity and the ability to scale up when working on the product in-house or with the help of an external development team. The aim is to develop a practical and expandable platform that can be further improved according to the real users’ feedback.
Step 6: Test Your MVP
When you have developed your MVP, it is now time to launch it. Testing is an important aspect of the MVP development process and it is crucial since it helps to confirm the functionality and usability of your product.
The functional testing needs to be performed to make sure that the core functionality does not contain critical issues. Further, user testing is useful to get the feedback from a group of early adopters who are willing to use the application. In this way, it is possible to understand where users face difficulties, where they get lost or where they may benefit from adjustments.
It is very important that you always consider user feedback in the testing phase of the website. Since the main goal of MVP is to prove the idea, the information received during the testing will become the basis for further improvements of the product.
Step 7: Launch the MVP and Gather Feedback
After the testing phase it is time to release your MVP to the public. The launch phase is definitely the most important phase, since it helps the company to get the feedback from real users, and thus to confirm or disprove the hypotheses.
The key message for you is that as you launch your MVP, ensure that you get as much feedback as possible. Ask the users about their experience, what they got from the product and if there is any aspect that needs to be changed. Also, the following metrics should be tracked: user engagement, retention, and feature usage.
This is a feedback loop that shall assist you in improving on your product and direct the future growth of your product. The more you know about the users, the more you can design your product to fit into the users’ needs and wants. Just a quick reminder that minimum viable product development is a cyclical process, and that means it is okay to tweak the product and make improvements based on what the users have to say.
Step 8: Plan for Future Development
The last stage is to look at the feedback that has been received to plan for the future development. After you have established your product concept and the problem areas, you can now start adding new features and expanding the product in line with the users’ requirements.
Based on the feedback which you have gathered, decide which features are to be included next and how to enhance the user interface and usability. As you keep on enhancing your product, always consider the element of scalability. Make sure that the architecture of the product is scalable to accommodate for more users and further features in the future.
Adhering to this feedback-based approach, you can go from an MVP to a product that meets market needs and users’ expectations.
Conclusion
The MVP development process is crucial for start-ups and enterprises that need to test the hypothesis, reduce the chance of failure, and build products that meet the consumer’s needs. This way, by working only with the core features and getting the feedback from the actual users, you will be able to meet your audience’s expectations while minimizing the resources spent on the development of your product.
By following this step-by-step guide, you will be able to create MVP software that is not bulky, streamlined and highly capable of expansion. Thus, with a proper MVP, you can launch the product in the market, collect the valuable feedback, and set the stage for future success.
Yes, the idea of MVP is to be able to make changes fast. After the launch, the feedback from the user should be used to add or remove features as may be necessary.
It is possible to evaluate the success of the application based on the parameters like the number of active users, the rate of user retention, the feedback, and users’ willingness to pay for the product.
The best technologies vary with the project that you are undertaking. Most of the time, the rapid and simple to implement frameworks or programming languages are employed for accelerating the MVP development process*
If you don’t have a technical background you can accelerate the MVP software development and minimize the risks by engaging a technical partner or an agency.
If the MVP fails to deliver, then you need to analyze the user feedback, review the business model or product strategy and change what is necessary.