Product Development (MVP) made simple!

Goal: Build a "Minimum Lovable Product". Not just a "Minimum viable product"

Typical ideology: Build Lean. Ship quick. Learn fast. Build better.

"Typical product development lifecycle" - what the world has taught us:

Remember the "Waterfall Model" from the good old days?

Since then product development lifecycle has evolved so much with the introduction of Agile and Design Thinking methodologies putting the user and their pain points first.

But let's be honest, we as first-time founders bootstrapping our business, do not have enough money, time and resources to go in the way of what is called "Enterprise-level" to build and launch our product.

We’re not going to lie - building a great product requires a balance of good ideas, hustle, a realistic approach paired with visionary thinking, a great team, and a little bit of luck.

Here is the LEAN version of the MVP Development process that addresses customers' problems and generates immediate value. You can also generate revenue for the alpha version to add all the bells and whistles (features) further down in your development process and offer a more mature and sophisticated solution to the identified problem.

Let's approach in a phased manner.

Phase-1: Learn

Phase-2: Build

Phase-3: Launch

Phase-4: Learn to Iterate

The LEAN MVP Building process

Remember the goal again is to build a "Minimum Lovable Product"

*** Tools and resources to assist you to "get there" ***

Phase-1: Learn - WTF are we Building!

1. Know your customers and their problems

Start by scheduling interviews with your target customers. Ask them four fundamental questions:

1. What do they want?

2. What are their problems?

3. What are they currently doing to solve those problems?

4. How do they imagine their life improving with a better solution?

Customer Interview Script Generator - Customer Development Labs

Updated] July 18, 2018Here's an example: Use this template... As a starting point. Add & edit questions as necessary. As a place to store the notes from your interviews. To share with your teammates so you're all asking the same questions.

https://customerdevlabs.com/Script/

Customer Interview Script Generator - Customer Development Labs

The Ultimate List of Customer Development Questions

I've had a few requests for this post. I've compiled all of my favorite customer development questions into one place! I'm sure I've missed some great questions. Please let me know your favorites in the comments sections and I'll continually update this post.

https://mfishbein.com/the-ultimate-list-of-customer-development-questions/

B2B Customer Discovery Interview Questions for B2B Entrepreneurs

For the writing of Lean B2B, I consolidated all the questions B2B entrepreneurs need to answer during the problem interview phase when doing early B2B customer discovery. It's important to have a plan and follow an interview script to gather consistent data points on all your prospects (you can read more on customer interview code of conduct here).

https://leanb2bbook.com/blog/b2b-customer-discovery-interview-questions-the-master-list/

B2B Customer Discovery Interview Questions for B2B Entrepreneurs

26 Resources to Help You Master Customer Development Interviews

I hope you enjoy reading this blog post. If you want my team to just do your marketing for you, click here. "Get out of the building!" How many times have you heard lean startup evangelists say that? Steve Blank often comments "There are no facts inside your building."

https://neilpatel.com/blog/26-customer-development-resources/

2. Prioritise problems and map out different solutions

Set up principles driven by the identified problems. These principles will enable you to stay focused on your solution and not be dragged by the fancy stuff around.

Design Principles FTW

05 Jan 2021 Try out Random Design Principle! It's a site that gives you a random principle from our vast collection. It's a great way of exploring different principles and to get inspired to dig deeper. Try at randomdesignprinciple.com

https://www.designprinciplesftw.com/

Prioritise your features using the RICE framework. Feature prioritization is a crucial component as well as shedding light on what features your product team will prioritize in the MVP. Basically, the minimum viable product is what your early adopters will get and test.

RICE Prioritization Framework for Product Managers [+Examples]

Prioritization is a perennial challenge when building a product roadmap. How do you decide what to work on first? If you've put the effort into brainstorming new ideas, finding opportunities for improvement, and collecting feedback, you'll have a solid product roadmap full of good ideas.

https://www.intercom.com/blog/rice-simple-prioritization-for-product-managers/

RICE Prioritization Framework for Product Managers [+Examples]

Prioritization & Roadmapping Tool | airfocus

Stay updated with product development and launch activities all from one place. Integrate easily with planning tools like Jira, Trello, Microsoft Planner, Azure DevOps, GitHub, Clubhouse, Asana and so much more.

https://airfocus.com/

3. Define your MVP and set a milestone

Minimum viable product refers to the basic core features that create immediate value for your user with minimal costs on your end.

Start with a cupcake | Inside Intercom

The quicker you can get feedback on what you're thinking the better your idea will be. Usage is oxygen for ideas. The above drawing is adapted from a Peter Merholz presentation, and shows two ways to plan out baking a wedding cake.

https://www.intercom.com/blog/start-with-a-cupcake/

How to really define an MVP

MVP is one of the terms that seems to generate a lot of traction during an Agile transformation. It seems people are happy about trying to do 'just enough' to accomplish a goal. But, for companies with a fixed mindset the term can get quickly abused.

https://www.emergn.com/articles/defining-good-mvp/

Also, get the Business Model and pricing strategy done. This is put you in a great position before your start building. Determine your budget and don't forget to take the time considered to build into consideration. You as a founder are responsible for the financial health of your business. remember most products take between 6 - 24 weeks to build depending upon the complexity and the problem you are solving.

The Cost of Building MVP for Startups [from Scratch] | SpdLoad

Bringing your vision to life is the best thing that can happen to you. And when it comes to financial benefits, that is like a cherry on the cake. There are many of us who are unable to bring our ideas to life just because of some bad mistakes we made in the beginning.

https://spdload.com/blog/cost-of-mvp/

Phase-2: Build - Let's lay the foundation for a great business!

4. Gather your team and understand their skillsets

Communicate your vision of solving this great problem or a job to be done by building your amazing startup.

Old but Gold:

5 Stages of Team Development

Business owners, managers, and entrepreneurs are often viewed as team leaders. If something fails, you may blame yourself. If it succeeds, you'll receive the praise. Whether you are leading your entire company or a smaller project group, you have a huge influence on team development and performance.

https://toggl.com/track/stages-of-team-development/

Work on;

Role expectations - clearly define roles and responsibilities

Psychological safety - your team and you can achieve more

Health check - check-in daily with your team and be their "big brother" or "supportive sister" not their boss

5. Brainstorm solutions with your team and finalise your build

Get all the documents and processes right;

Prototyping

Usability testing

Product requirements documents

Roadmap for next 12-18 months

Round-Robin Brainstorming: Allowing Everyone to Contribute

Imagine that you've gathered your team together for a much-needed brainstorming session, focusing on the most effective way to market your organization's next product release. Bill, the most talkative and forceful member of your team, immediately asserts that TV and online media are the best platforms to use.

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/round-robin-brainstorming.htm

6. Onboarding Flows

Our friends at onboarding.study put together amazing resources to understand, analyse and implement how 200+ SaaS companies use onboarding to have better adoption and retention rates. Learn more 👇

220+ User Onboarding Examples - Onboarding Study

Do you want to optimize user onboarding processes for your SaaS business? Come up with new ideas that will drive user activation? Or learn how others do it? Browse through the best product onboarding examples and gather inspiration for your project.

https://onboarding.study/flows/

220+ User Onboarding Examples - Onboarding Study

And more on in-app onboarding tactics;

Learn user onboarding - Onboarding Study

Learn how each of the UI elements fits into the whole picture and discover tactics used by the best performing SaaS products out there. Understand the basics and build solid foundations for creating your own onboarding strategies. See what analyses you can carry out (and how) to define the key actions you want new users to take.

https://onboarding.study/learn/

Learn user onboarding - Onboarding Study

7. Get pilot partners / paying customers organised

Reach out to the people you interviewed during your customer and problem discovery. Ask them to try out your solution and set up your feedback loop.

How to Price Your Minimum Viable Product

Let's talk about how much you should charge customers for something when you're not totally sure what that thing is yet. A startup has to get its pricing right or the product will be dead at launch. The problem is, there aren't a lot of hard and fast rules for pricing a brand new product.

https://jproco.medium.com/how-to-price-your-minimum-viable-product-b27d955bf460

Customer Focused Sales - Table of Contents

We outline how salespeople can differentiate themselves and their offerings by directly appealing to customer needs, steering away from the delivery of one-way presentations and toward having mutual, goal-oriented discussions that lead to optimal solutions for the customer. Chapter 1 - What Is Customer-Focused Behavior?

https://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/customer_focus/toc.html

Phase-3: Launch - It's the next level!

8. Define your delivery plan and success criteria

Three core qualifications for any product:

The first value (measured through activation)

Consistent value (measured through usage retention)

Commercial value (measured through revenue)

The Definitive Guide to Project Success Criteria * Girl's Guide to Project Management

I get asked about project success criteria a lot - in fact, it's one of the most searched terms on this site. So I thought it was about time that I pooled all my resources into one definitive guide to project success criteria. Let's start with a definition of project success criteria.

https://www.girlsguidetopm.com/the-definitive-guide-to-project-success-criteria/

Delivery Plan:

How to create simple, powerful project plans | Team Central

What is a project plan? A project plan is the outcome of the project planning process, where a project manager decides, prioritizes, and assigns the tasks and resources necessary to complete a project. Project plans will name the members of a team, what tools and materials are needed, and what steps must be taken to achieve success.

https://www.atlassian.com/work-management/project-management/project-planning/project-plan

9. Organise your workflow and go-to-market strategy

Since building products requires a lot of flexibility, fine-tuning and constant communication, it is incredibly important to find the right tools that will keep your workflow on the same page at all times.

Product Launch Checklist:

What is a good product launch checklist?

Feature definition: Ensure that engineering teams have all the prioritization, sizing, and documentation needed to start building. UX / UI design: Provide designers with the UX research, wireframes, and specifications needed to start crafting. Engineering: Build the key features, most likely in a series of sprints.

https://www.aha.io/roadmapping/guide/release-management/what-is-a-good-product-launch-checklist

We recommend you have product planning software in place to track literally every step of your product and company building.

Product Roadmap Software | ProductPlan

ProductPlan is a roadmap platform that aligns your team so you can build what matters. Create custom roadmaps in just a few clicks. Share unlimited roadmaps to keep the team in sync. Empower your team to make the right strategic decisions. Prioritize initiatives that support your company's objectives.

https://www.productplan.com/

Process for Developing a Go-to-Market Strategy:

9 Steps to Build a Go To Market Strategy (Framework and Examples) | Planio

It's probably safe to say that every company wants to grow. Yet while growth can come from wildly different sources, they all share one quality: Without a solid strategy, you're going to spend a lot of time spinning your wheels and not getting anywhere. Nowhere is this more true than when you...

https://plan.io/blog/go-to-market-strategy/

The Proven Process for Developing a Go-to-Market Strategy

When you're unveiling a new product, the last thing you want is to launch it without a proper go-to-market (GTM) strategy. Without proper planning, it's impossible to know if you're chasing the wrong audience, are too early or too late to a given market, or targeting a market that's too saturated with similar solutions - and you don't want to run the risk of wasting time and resources on launching an unprofitable product.

https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/gtm-strategy

10. Launch!

The moment! Look back at what you and your team have achieved. Build relationships with your first customers aka Early Adopters.

Kat Mañalac - How to Launch (Again and Again)

YC Partner Kat Mañalac presents on how startups should think about launching and why you should do it repeatedly.Transcript and lecture slides here: https://...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xU050kMbHM

qatestlab.com

https://qatestlab.com/resources/knowledge-center/alpha-beta-gamma/

Building and launching, the indie way

Build

Benchmark existing products and solutions and evaluate them to your identified niche

Follow discussions in startup/founder Communities

Build your landing page to collect interest

Use it at least for one month to generate interest and validate

Build JUST one feature and have a public roadmap

Invite “focused” users to beta test your product and build a continuous “user-feedback” loop

Keep sharing product updates with your user community to get feedback

Improve according to the feedback

Pre-Launch

Pre-launch to validate “customer” interest

Note: Beta users do not translate to paid customers in most cases until you solve their problem and deliver 100X value

Launch on startup/founders communities and increase your visibility by promoting on marketplaces/startup directories

Note: If SaaS/Micro SaaS, do not launch until your reach 1K MRR

Create Copywriting

Create a pre-order waiting list (Optional)

Promotional Pricing	$
Regular Pricing	$

Highly Recommended: Run a lifetime deal for 1-3 months to cover future development and customer acquisition costs

Business Validation: How to Presell a Product

"Really ensure that you're not playing business. A lot of people, what they do is they read an article on Tim [Ferriss]'s site, and then they're like, 'Well, I put up a thing on Craigslist and I bought ads.' But what's your actual business?" How long should it take to get your first sale?

https://www.growthramp.io/articles/business-validation

Business Validation: How to Presell a Product

Launch

Launch on Gumroad

Launch on Product Hunt

Note: Not recommended if you are building in stealth

Promote

Post on Facebook Groups

Post on your Twitter profile

Quote tweet to Twitter Communities

Promote by replying to and supporting influencers’ tweets and other founders

Post on Linkedin

Post on Discord

Publish in Reddit forums

This should give you a basic idea to get some traction. Obviously, have your magic touch!

Phase-4: Learn to Iterate - We are all eyes and ears!

11. Post-Launch Metrics Evaluation

Back to the board to learn what went well and where can your product improve. get all your post-launch analytics and key metrics organised.

Ensure product launch success by utilizing the post-launch stage

As product marketing managers (PMMs), I am sure when you hear the words "product launch", it automatically rings a bell. It reminds you of all the excitement and effort that accompanies you when trying to bring a product into the market.

https://productmarketingalliance.com/how-to-ensure-product-launch-success-by-utilizing-the-post-launch-stage/

Post Launch Analytics:

StackPath

https://www.enginess.io/insights/post-launch-strategies-digital-project

We as founders are always in iterative mode.

www.intercom.com

https://www.intercom.com/blog/launch-mode-vs-iterate-mode/

Build - Measure - Learn feedback Loop

The Build-Measure-Learn Feedback Loop: Creating Real Value by Testing Ideas

In a flash of inspiration, one of your team members has come up with a dazzling idea for a new customer service product. It's fun and innovative, and you know that it's got the potential to make your life easier. In your excitement, you feel certain that other people are going to love it just as much as you do.

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/build-measure-learn.htm#

3 common mistakes most founders fo when building their MVPs

1. Building an MVP without understanding your startup's Unique Value Proposition.

If the app you are building is 'another Uber' with no clear point of difference, it's going to be virtually impossible to convince the market to ditch Uber to use your app. Your UVP (unique value proposition) is the problem you are trying to solve. Your MVP is your proof that you can solve it. Your UVP will be your key marketing message to attract users to your app.

2. Spending too much time and money on building your MVP

Keep version 1.0 of your product simple. A mistake we see all the time is founders spending too much time, effort and money building lots of bells and whistles on their MVP. If the feature/ functionality is not a core part of your UVP it may be a good idea to cut it from your base model design. You should iterate your product based on customer feedback and data and not your own assumptions/bias.

3. Custom building everything

There is a lot of awesome third-party software out there ready to be leveraged by our founders. Don’t spend excess time, effort and money building your own payment gateways, calendar bookings and database management systems. Integrate your MVP with Stripe, Calendly, Airtable or whatever third-party software you can use to make your MVP a reality. You will save a lot of development time and money and will also provide your users with a more stable, bug-free experience.

Happy Founding!

Page Contents

🚛 Let's simplify the product development process. "Typical product development lifecycle" - what the world has taught us:The LEAN MVP Building process Phase-1: Learn - WTF are we Building!1. Know your customers and their problems 2. Prioritise problems and map out different solutions 3. Define your MVP and set a milestone Phase-2: Build - Let's lay the foundation for a great business! 4. Gather your team and understand their skillsets 5. Brainstorm solutions with your team and finalise your build 6. Onboarding Flows 7. Get pilot partners / paying customers organised Phase-3: Launch - It's the next level!8. Define your delivery plan and success criteria 9. Organise your workflow and go-to-market strategy 10. Launch!Building and launching, the indie way Build Pre-Launch Launch Promote Phase-4: Learn to Iterate - We are all eyes and ears!11. Post-Launch Metrics Evaluation 3 common mistakes most founders fo when building their MVPs 1. Building an MVP without understanding your startup's Unique Value Proposition.2. Spending too much time and money on building your MVP 3. Custom building everything