Methods to rapidly get an MVP to market quickly via in-expensive and incremental approaches

Dry wallet MVPs are used to confirm purchase interest without having to invest capital in product production. The MVP effectively offers the product for sale, including pictures, descriptions and means of purchase but at point of sale the customer is notified that the item is out of stock. By using an ecommerce or other online purchase system a venture team can track interest, and collect marketing and contact information from interested users that choose to provide it, in advance of paying for product manufacturing. You can also run dry wallet tests in real life settings (i.e by stocking store shelves with empty boxes). Be sure to get contact information to follow up with interested buyers about their experience and why they were interested in purchasing.

Test the willingness of customers to pay without actually charging them

The Wizard of Oz MVP calls on members of the venture team to manually perform the tasks that the site or product intends to have as an automated function. The team becomes the "man behind the curtain" replicating technology in order to validate it before investing time and energy in implementation. In a Wizard of Oz MVP, a small group of users is asked to engage in a beta test of the product. The users believe they are interacting with the technology but are actually engaging with humans behind the scenes who are manually running the service. This type of MVP is best used to test a specific hypothesis, making each MVP a specific experiment that is long enough to get feedback and information but not so long as to hamper the iteration cycle. These MVPs are not about technology or efficiency but about understanding the use case of a specific aspect of a product or service.

Building a prototype where humans act as the backend infrastructure

Crowdfunding MVPs are a great way to gauge market interest in your venture. By pitching to the crowdfunding world you can see quite literally whether people are willing to pay for your solution. Over the past 10 years several companies have used crowdfunding platforms to validate and fund their products - with some using them multiple times as they expanded their product catalog. A crowdfunding MVP means having your research sorted and a strong pitch that you want to share with the world. Often crowdfunding is used for physical designs like Internet of Things devices and fashion or lifestyle products but video games and apps are also funded. If you have a physical device, then a prototype example is also useful to illustrate your solution to potential buyers.

Use crowdfunding platforms to validate demand before building the product.

Piecemeal MVPs use existing market tools strung together to simulate the end use of the product. If This Then That, Mailchimp, Google Tools and other automation products can be combined to create a piecemeal experiment. Though an MVP created this way can seem like a good ongoing solution it's important to remember that MVPs built by putting together multiple products can get glitchy so this is a short term test product. Use your piecemeal MVP to learn what you need to understand the user experience and keep moving!

Leverage existing tools to simulate your final offering

Single feature MVPs are minimum viable products that are meant to test the single most important aspect of the product or service offering. They are meant to validate your product's most critical offering and to dig into how your user is interacting with your solution and whether or not it is solving the right problem in the right way. Single feature MVPs confirm the main hypothesis of your venture and can inform your decision making process going forward.

MVP that tests the most critical feature first

Tools to help you organize the building of an MVP helping you get the offering to market quickly while minimizing cost

A feature roadmap is a tool that startups and businesses can use to determine which features or products to release to validate their business idea with the least amount of resources and time. The roadmap is a plan that outlines the necessary features of an initial version of a product with just enough features to test whether or not the product may be successful in the market. It is a visual concept that details which features are to be released in phases with the first released features being the most critical to gaining customer uptake and feedback.

Chart out the features of your product to guide its development

Agile product development is an iterative approach to developing products that emphasizes flexibility, collaboration, and efficiency. It involves breaking the project into smaller cycles or iterations, with each iteration reviewed and critiqued by the project team. There are many agile frameworks and practices out there, so teams should use whichever methodology that works best for their needs.

Build your MVP efficiently and with focus on the user

Methods to launch the MVP in a controlled, scalable manner while maximizing user feedback opportunities

A user panel is a group of target customers who are selected to provide ongoing feedback pre and post launch of the MVP. This group can be used to test new features before they are launched to get immediate user feedback and to identify any changes or bugs. The panel can also provide guidance on the product roadmap and feature backlog by providing opinions on which features are most valuable to them.

Get ongoing MVP feedback from a core group of target users

A soft launch is a strategy that involves releasing a product or service to a limited audience before the scheduled official launch. The goal of a soft launch is to test the product or service and gather valuable user data and feedback before making it public. A soft launch is typically done with little or no marketing and is like a rehearsal of the offering's performance in the market. Types of soft launches include: geographically restricted - where target customers in certain areas get first access or user based - where a certain user segment gets first access.

Controlled public launch to ensure you balance scale and feedback

Journal studies are most appropriate for getting daily feedback from users about their interaction with a product or service. Journal studies reveal insights about habits, behaviours, usage frequency, scenarios and user motivations. Journal studies can be broad or targeted but they are conducted away from the venture team as users interact with the product in day to day life. Observations are self-reported in a journal but often a framework is provided by the team conducting the test to ensure that the study is targeted enough to address the specific areas being investigated.

Journals or logs to capture long-term user engagement and feedback

Solution-exploration interviews are 1:1, semi-structured conversations with users to get their feedback and reactions to your solution. They typically involve exposing the user to a version of the solution at varying levels of fidelity (e.g., a concept statement, a mockup, a clickable prototype, MVP etc.)

Interviews conducted with users to get feedback on your solution.

This is a methodology to test the functionality of your solution, done by observing users as they attempt to use your product.

You can do this physically with real objects, or digitally through apps etc.. You can also moderate usability tests, where you’re actively asking questions and giving guidance. Or you can run an unmoderated usability test, where you give someone a list of actions and record how they preform them with a pre-written list of critical questions they are asked to answer. 

No matter what approach you take, your goal is to understand how someone would use your solution and the ease of which they are able to complete their goals.

Structured tests to evaluate the user-friendliness of your solution.

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