How To Plan Your MVP (Minimum Viable Product) in 5 Simple Steps

Summary

This video outlines a five-step process to create a successful Minimum Viable Product (MVP) without wasting time or resources. The steps include defining clear objectives, identifying core features, choosing the right MVP approach (human automation, no code, or full code), creating a realistic development timeline, and launching the product strategically. The creator emphasizes avoiding feature bloat, validating ideas early with potential users, and iterating based on feedback. A phased launch strategy is also discussed, offering insights into how to build a product that fits the market.

Takeaways

• 🚀 MVPs should focus on proving or disproving hypotheses before building a full product.
• 💡 Clearly define your MVP's objective and ensure it solves a problem, not just simplifies an existing product.
• 📊 Set success metrics, but understand that they're not absolute. For example, a 50% retention rate for 6 months might indicate reasonable success.
• 👥 Engage in conversations with early adopters to validate interest and refine your product before investing in development.
• 🔍 Prioritize core features for your MVP based on feedback from early users. Focus on solving a clear problem rather than feature bloat.
• 👩‍💻 Consider different MVP approaches: human automation, no-code tools, or full-code solutions depending on your technical skills and product requirements.
• 📅 Create a realistic development timeline and track your progress to avoid delays and keep accountability.
• 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Focus on one-on-one conversations with potential customers, especially when entering niche markets like real estate or CRM.
• 🔧 For some products, like an email service for realtors, you can test your hypothesis using existing platforms without writing code.
• 🎯 Use a phased launch strategy to gather feedback, iterate, and improve your product gradually before scaling to a broader audience.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of the video?

The main purpose of the video is to walk viewers through a five-step plan for creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to avoid wasting time, money, and energy on an idea that no one is willing to pay for.

Why is defining the objective of the MVP crucial before building it?

Defining the objective is crucial because it helps clarify the hypothesis you are trying to prove or disprove, ensuring you build something relevant rather than wasting time on unnecessary features.

What are the two example applications used in the video to illustrate MVP creation?

The two example applications are 'Bump CRM,' a simplified CRM, and 'Postcard,' an email service provider (ESP) for realtors.

What success metrics should be established for an MVP?

For 'Bump CRM,' success might involve getting buy-in from 10 to 40 users and seeing if 50% of them stick around for six months. For 'Postcard,' a success metric could be having conversations with 100 realtors and getting at least 10% interested in the product.

How should founders determine the core features of their MVP?

Founders should focus on identifying a subset of features that solve the primary problem for their early users, avoiding feature bloat. This might involve feedback from Early Access users to prioritize features that are critical to the product's functionality.

What approach does the video recommend for creating the MVP, especially if the founder is not a developer?

The video recommends one of three MVP approaches: human automation (no code, using people to perform tasks manually), no-code tools like Bubble or Airtable, or full code if the founder has the necessary technical skills.

Why is creating a development timeline important when building an MVP?

A development timeline helps founders stay on track, providing a realistic schedule to avoid endless tinkering. It also helps measure progress, keeping them accountable for each milestone.

What is the recommended approach to launching an MVP?

The video suggests using a phased launch, starting with Early Access users to get feedback and iterate, before rolling it out to a broader launch list of 500 or more users in stages. This helps improve the product and fix bugs before wider release.

What is the difference between Early Access and a beta launch?

Early Access involves charging users once they start getting value from the product, while a beta is typically free and used for testing. Early Access focuses on real feedback from paying customers.

What is the key takeaway for founders when creating an MVP?

The key takeaway is to focus on solving a problem with a minimal set of features that proves or disproves a hypothesis. Founders should avoid building too many features or spending too much time developing something that users may not want.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 The Importance of Defining Your MVP Objective

This paragraph emphasizes the importance of not rushing into building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) without a clear plan. It introduces the five-step process to create an MVP effectively, avoiding wasted time and resources. The first step is defining the MVP’s objective clearly, which is crucial to validate your product idea. Two example apps—Bump CRM and Postcard—are introduced to illustrate different MVP approaches and how defining success metrics can help measure progress. The paragraph also hints at the importance of having a launch list and concludes with a focus on clarity before execution.

05:00

📊 Establishing Metrics and Validating Hypotheses

This section dives into creating success metrics for an MVP. Using the two example apps—Bump CRM and Postcard—hypotheses are formed around key assumptions about their target audiences and functionality. For Bump CRM, the goal is to get buy-in from 10-40 people and test retention, while for Postcard, the goal is to engage 100 Realtors, with a 10% conversion rate as a guideline. The paragraph stresses that these metrics are not hard and fast rules but directional guides for founders to decide whether to move forward.

10:02

⚙️ Outlining Core Features for Your MVP

This paragraph focuses on determining the essential features for the MVP, prioritizing them based on user feedback and product vision. For Bump CRM, the challenge is to identify a common feature set that serves early access users without overcomplicating the product. If no commonality is found, it may be necessary to pivot or expand the user base. For Postcard, the recommendation is to avoid building an entire product upfront. Instead, founders should create a minimal version of their offering using existing tools like MailChimp, acting as a consultant to deliver value without extensive coding.

🔧 Choosing the Right MVP Approach: Code, No Code, or Human Automation

The fourth step is about selecting the right MVP approach. Founders are encouraged to choose between human automation, no code, or full code, depending on their technical skills and the problem they aim to solve. The paragraph advises against using full code unless absolutely necessary due to its high risk and cost. Instead, founders should lean into human automation or no-code solutions like Bubble or AirTable to quickly test their hypotheses without extensive development work.

⏳ Setting a Development Timeline for Your MVP

This step underlines the importance of creating a clear development timeline, whether for software or other tasks related to building an MVP. Setting milestones and tracking progress keeps the project on course and prevents delays. The paragraph describes how the author used Excel sheets to manage and separate planning from building, allowing for better focus when developing the product. Establishing a clear project plan ensures that founders know whether they’re on schedule or falling behind.

📅 Launching Your MVP: The Phased Approach

The final step discusses launching the MVP through a phased approach, starting with early access users and gradually scaling to a larger audience. The author shares their experience with launching Drip, explaining how the process was spread over five months to gather feedback, iterate, and improve the product before a full launch. This method allowed for manageable growth and the discovery of product-market fit. Founders are encouraged to charge early access users once value is established, avoiding free trials or lifetime access.

📈 Finding a Marketing Channel Post-MVP

This closing section touches on the next steps after launching an MVP—finding the right marketing channel. The author briefly mentions their book, 'The SaaS Playbook,' which lists 20 marketing strategies companies have used to scale. It also teases an upcoming interview with a founder who helped grow a SaaS business from under $1 million to over $10 million ARR, offering further insights into scaling strategies.

Keywords

💡Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

An MVP is a basic version of a product designed to test a business idea with minimal resources and functionality. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of creating an MVP to avoid wasting time on a product that no one wants. The MVP helps validate hypotheses about whether a product will meet market demand, as demonstrated through examples like 'Bump CRM' and 'Postcard.'

💡Hypothesis

A hypothesis in the context of product development is a testable assumption about what a product will achieve or how customers will react to it. The video emphasizes defining hypotheses as the first step in building an MVP. For example, 'Bump CRM' tests whether users will switch to a simpler, cheaper CRM with fewer features, while 'Postcard' tests if Realtors would use a specialized email marketing tool.

💡Core Features

Core features refer to the essential functionalities that an MVP must have to meet its objectives. The video advises founders to prioritize these features based on their vision and user feedback. For 'Bump CRM,' finding a common set of features required by early access users is crucial, while for 'Postcard,' the video suggests avoiding feature bloat and focusing on solving the core problem for Realtors.

💡Early Access

Early Access refers to giving a select group of users access to the MVP before a full public launch. These users help validate the product’s features and usability. The speaker mentions testing 'Bump CRM' with 10-40 people and monitoring how many stay with the product over six months to assess its viability.

💡No Code

No Code refers to building an MVP without writing any custom code, using platforms like Bubble or Airtable. This approach is suggested for non-technical founders in the video, particularly for 'Postcard,' where the speaker recommends building the solution on top of an existing email marketing platform like MailChimp to minimize time and effort.

💡Human Automation

Human Automation involves performing tasks manually that would typically be automated in the final version of a product. The speaker suggests this approach for MVPs, as it helps test hypotheses without the need for coding. In 'Postcard,' for instance, tasks could be handled by virtual assistants or consultants rather than automated systems during the MVP phase.

💡Development Timeline

A development timeline is a structured schedule that outlines the phases and milestones for building an MVP. The video highlights the importance of setting a timeline to stay on track and avoid endlessly tweaking the product. The speaker recommends using tools like Google Sheets to plan out and monitor the progress of tasks.

💡Phased Launch

A phased launch is the process of gradually rolling out a product to a growing user base over time. The speaker describes using this approach for his SaaS app, starting with a small group of early access users and progressively opening it up to more people. This method helps collect feedback and iterate on the product before a full release.

💡Product-Market Fit

Product-Market Fit refers to the point when a product satisfies the needs of its target market and gains traction. The video discusses how reaching product-market fit involves iterating on the MVP based on user feedback during the phased launch, and it's crucial for the long-term success of a SaaS product like 'Drip,' which the speaker uses as an example.

💡Marketing Channels

Marketing channels are the methods through which a product reaches its target audience. The video mentions that after building the MVP, it's essential to find effective marketing channels to grow the product. The speaker refers to 20 marketing strategies listed in his book to help SaaS companies find their audience and grow from early traction to a more sustainable business model.

Highlights

It's easy to get lost in building an MVP that no one wants, wasting time, money, and energy.

Five-step plan to create an MVP to avoid wasting resources.

Step 1: Clearly define the objective of your MVP and the hypothesis you're testing.

Example MVP: CRM that's cheaper and easier to use but with fewer features.

Example MVP: Email Service Provider (ESP) focused on realtors.

Set success metrics: For CRM, get buy-in from 10-40 users and aim for 50% retention after six months.

Step 2: Outline core features and prioritize based on user feedback and vision.

Step 3: Choose the right MVP approach - human automation, no-code, or full-code.

For ESP MVP, don't code anything yet; use an existing platform like MailChimp to test the concept.

An MVP isn’t just a simpler version of another product, it's about solving a problem and testing hypotheses.

Step 4: Create a development timeline and stick to it to avoid unnecessary delays.

Track progress with a project plan in an Excel or Google Sheet to stay accountable.

Step 5: Launch the MVP in phases, starting with early access users for feedback and iteration.

Charge early users after they've started to derive value from the product.

Find a marketing channel that works for your MVP, based on the product and target audience.

Transcripts

it's easy as an early stage founder to

get lost in the process of building a

minimum viable product your MVP you can

spend weeks if not months building

something that no one wants so in this

video I'm going to walk you through my

five-step plan for creating your MVP by

following these steps you can avoid

wasting your time your money and your

energy toiling away on a SAS idea that

no one is willing to pay for and if you

stick around till the end I'll show you

how I'd roll the MVP out to your launch

list and yes you should have a launch

list while ensuring that you don't learn

through the people on that list in the

process I've talked a lot about MVPs on

this channel I have a video or two

dedicated to MVPs so I'm not going to go

into why you should consider building an

MVP in this video I'm just going to dive

into the five steps the first being to

clearly Define your MVP's objective you

don't want to go in guns blazing and

just start building something before you

do that you want to clearly Define what

hypothesis or hypotheses you are trying

to prove or disprove by launching this

MV

and in this video we're going to look at

two example apps that we're going to

walk through all five steps with so one

hypothesis might be I'm thinking about

building a CRM but I'm going to make it

cheaper and easier to use so a

hypothesis might be will people who

currently use a CRM switch to mine if

it's cheaper if it's easier to use but

maybe it only has a third of the

functionality and throughout this video

we'll call this idea bump CRM at bump

crm.com our second example is an email

service provider or email marketing

platform but I'm going to say ESP email

service provider for this video that is

focused on Realtors so the hypothesis

might be do realtors care enough about

email marketing that they would sign up

for an ESP that is focused specifically

on their vertical and we're going to

call this one postcard at ostc guard.com

so if we were to establish some success

metrics for your MVP so you can help

decide look it's not hard and fast it's

not black and white it's not if you hit

this number you definitely are for sure

validated and if not you're not but what

about some guidelines some metrics so

you have an idea if you should continue

to build and launch this MVP so for bump

CRM which is the horizontal CRM with

limited feature set your true MVP at

this point is probably having

conversations and getting Buy in from

somewhere between 10 and 40 people and

I've talked about those numbers why 10

and 40 in a prior video so I'm not going

to go into it here but for the sake of

this video Let's just say you already

have 10 people who are champing at the

bit to use a simpler perhaps less

expensive CRM your next step would be to

figure out which subset of features to

build and then of course to start coding

but the metric here would be how many of

your 10 Early Access folks actually try

it when given access and how many stick

around and use it for even a few months

I think even a 50% success rate of

people who stick around for 6 months is

pretty reasonable at this stage your

success rate is going to be low but of

course it does depend on the space and

your app and your price point and you

there's a lot of things you can get

right a lot of things you can get wrong

at this point so that's where it can be

hard to put hard and fast numbers on

these things but you want to look for

stuff that is directionally correct and

then for postcard which is the ESP for

realtors I'd be looking to have

one-on-one conversations whether via

email or phone or Zoom or whatever with

say 100 Realtors to pick a nice round

number and to get at least 10% of those

to be super interested in trying out the

product step two is to outline your core

features it's to determine the essential

features needed for your MVP and then to

prioritize these features based on your

vision of the product how important you

think they are and your user or Early

Access feedback so so for bump CRM this

is probably the hardest step of all

really digging in with your 10 Early

Access customers to figure out your

feature set is exactly what I'd be doing

here so I'd spend a ton of time and

honestly if you can't find a subset of

functionality that most of your users

need you either need to bail on the idea

altogether or find more Early Access

customers cuz you're trying to find a

commonality if across all 10 users the

vend diagram is you need 100% of the

feature set of Salesforce then bump CRM

doesn't work cuz you can't build 100% of

the features of Salesforce it's just too

big so in this case you're looking for

that subset of Early Access folks who

need the same shared subset of features

which look it's not going to be black

and white it's going to be cloudy it's

going to be muddy I get it there's a lot

of signals but you just have to do your

best being a Founder is making hard

decisions with incomplete information

and going out and finding as many Early

Access customers as you can that only

need that small subset whether it's a

third or 20% or 40% you get the idea

that's the key at this stage and for

postcard I'm sure you're thinking well

here we go I get to figure out the sub

set of features that I need to build to

become an ESP and that's wrong I would

not write a line of code here I would

not build an ESP I would figure out

exactly what I want to offer to Realtors

whether it's custom pre-built email

sequences some kind of done for you

service a widget that installs on their

website and is preconfigured to collect

leads whatever you decide the packages

for this product I'd be looking to then

build that out with zero code on top of

an existing platform probably MailChimp

if you want to know the truth when I say

zero code I don't mean no code I mean

you literally just build it in their

platform you almost act as a consultant

and you build out the things you

promised on an existing ESP a minimum

viable product is not just a simpler

version or a version with less features

of another product MVPs are about

solving a problem and looking at

hypotheses so in this step you're

looking to avoid feature bloat and focus

on delivering a clear solution and as I

mentioned in our how to create an MVP

video which you should watch next if you

haven't already you probably don't need

to design and build polished account

deletion billing all kinds of things you

can leave out of your MVP and we'll link

to that video of course in the

description step three I've already kind

of jumped to this but it's to choose the

right MVP approach I recommend using one

of three MVP approaches the first is

human automation this is where you write

no code and you have humans doing the

work behind the scenes in the case of

postcard that's pretty much what I'm

talking about you're doing the

automation or you're hiring a virtual

assistant or a consultant to do the work

you're not trying to make money at this

point you're just trying to prove Pro or

disprove the hypothesis then there's the

no code approach and this is where you

take bubble or air table or softer or

some other no code tool and you slap it

together with bailing wire and chewing

gum and you kind of build a Franken

product potentially it doesn't have to

be amazing or scalable but again you're

trying to prove a disprove a hypothesis

and finally full code this is where you

get in as a developer or if you have to

hire a developer and you build out that

minimum viable product in this step you

have to decide which approach aligns

best with the problem you're trying to

solve and how you can best prove or

disprove that hypothesis so you probably

want to match it up with your own

technical skills so if you're not a

developer you probably want to pick a

problem in the first place that can be

solved with human automation or no code

lean into your strengths or your assets

if you really need a full code MVP and

you're not a developer it's a very risky

and very expensive proposition step four

is one that most people skip but it's to

create a development timeline and I

don't mean it has to be software

development I mean just the schedule for

building out the MVP most people don't

do this and I think it's critical you

want a realistic timeline for building

this and you want to stick to it as

close as possible even if you're not

fully correct you know if you're on

course or if you're way off with no

estimate you just spend the next 6

months tooling around because that's

what we do as makers personally I like

to set a deadline for each phase and

Milestone and I track my progress in a

Google or an Excel sheet so that keeps

you accountable and it lets you know

when you might be dragging your feet

when I used to work nights and weekends

on my products I had a running task list

and one thing I did separate from the

building was the planning so I sat down

and said what is everything that needs

to be built in order to get this product

shipped ready and to get it shipped and

I would make a huge list of that just a

project plan again I would use an Excel

spreadsheet or a Google sheet but what

that did was it separated the planning

from the building because then when I

sat down to build I didn't have to think

oh what comes next there was just a list

that I knew to dive into and I always

knew whether I was on schedule or behind

schedule and once you have all that you

get to work in a minute I'm going to

tell you how I'd release my MVP into the

world but first I want you to know that

applications for microcom masterminds

are closing soon I've talked a lot on

this channel about how important

masterminds have been to my

entrepreneurial success but finding the

right Founders to join up with can be

really hard so over the past few years

my team at microcom has successfully

handm matched over 1,000 Founders into

Mastermind groups by looking at your

Revenue your team size your strengths

your goals and several other data points

to make sure your peer group is the

right fit collectively all the

Mastermind folks we've matched have more

than $150 million in ARR so once you're

matched you'll also have access to our

mentorship series a three-month program

where you can connect with some great

minds in sales Business Development

marketing and more if you're looking for

accountability honest feedback about

your business and the opportunity to

make new friends that care about your

success you should head to microcomp

mastermind.com and apply by June 12th

that's microcom mastermind.com all right

let's get back to launching your MVP so

step five is to launch and when I

launched my last SAS app and this is how

I would do it today is I used a phased

launch so this is down the line when you

have a launch list it's not your 10

Early Access people but let's say you

have 500 or 5,000 people on an email

list what I did cuz I think I had about

3,400 if I recall first I would show it

to the people in Early Access you get in

conversations with them you get feedback

you iterate you're improving the product

You're Building features and of course

you're squashing what few bugs that you

have and I call this early access I

charge for it it is not a beta I don't

do annual or lifetime comps at this

point I want people who are really

interested in paying for the product and

what I used to tell them is you can use

it for free for now until you start

getting value and then I'm going to

start charging you $ x a month in my

case it was $49 a month so you start

charging people as soon as they are

willing to pay so this phased launch

took five months when we rolled drip out

was my email service provider I built 5

months to roll out to 3,400 people a few

hundred at a time every two weeks I

remember I started with 1 to 200 just to

try to get a feel for can we build fast

enough to keep up with these people and

then I started launching to five or 600

people every 2 weeks towards the end we

were building frantically between the

the groups of folks we were letting in

and realistically it led us to find

product Market fit over the next several

months once you have your MVP you're

going to need to find a marketing

channel that works in my book The SAS

Playbook I list the 20 marketing

channels I've seen companies use and in

an upcoming video I'll be chatting with

a microf connect member who broke down

10 of the strategies he tried while

helping ass SAS grow from less than a

million to over 10 million in ARR make

sure you're subscribed to this channel

so you don't miss that chat