MVP Software Development 2022: Overview & Target Market Tips for SMEs

It is such a huge waste of money for businesses to invest in a product and then figure out it will not receive adoption in the market. An MVP could be a much safer choice. Many tech tyrants such as Dropbox, Uber, Figma, etc have won the market with the launching strategy of an MVP.

In this article, we provide some tips and models for enterprises to target precise markets, reduce threats and save costs in MVP building projects. Besides, models in the strategy of MVP development and the report of CB Insights are also mentioned.

How to define MVP meaning in 2022

Eric Ries, the father of the term MVP, has given out the definition "The version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort.”

More specifically, an MVP (Minimum viable product) is a basic, launchable version of the product that supports minimal yet must-have features (which define its value proposition). The MVP concept can be considered to be “minimum essentials” which means the product already has the most fundamental features to meet the customers’ needs. 

This version of a brand-new product enables a company to gather precious insight and feedback, reviews from customers for the suitable adjustment of marketing strategies, and final coding toward a full-fledged product. 

In short, MVP appears to be a sneak peek before a perfect final version officially comes out.

MVP benefits to businesses

MVP software development has made its own name in enterprises, companies, and organizations thanks to a wide range of strong points. Let’s see the reasons why SMEs had better make use of MVP in their product development progress. 

In brief, MVP software is created to enable faster time to market, collect users’ reviews, appeal to early adopters, and attain product-market fit from early on with a budget-friendly amount. With an MVP, an enterprise can find the right audience, pull the ideas based on experience, and save time.

MVP software - a tool for businesses to test the market

It is admitted that a traditional product launch requires a more extended development life cycle than MVP software. The relative simplicity of MVP software means developers have less to build and test. Therefore, the shorter the development cycle is, the faster the product can approach its customers and penetrate the market. 

A faster version to appear on the market can bring back a host of advantages as follows: 

- Collect valuable feedback from the customers, then have data to build a complete customer journey for optimizing UI/UX

- Have an advantage over other rivals to be the sooner of taking off, which is beneficial for brand building 

- Recognize the early customers who can be the loyal 

Lack of market understanding leads to mistakes only made up by money. Here we have a chart showing the main reasons why startups hit failure based on an analysis of 101 Startup Postmortems. The illustration also points out that most startups collapse because their products do not fit the market’s demand, which means they lack market insight and do not see customers. 

In other words, a prototype to check up on the market is extremely important so that companies can have the most exact estimation about the market and their product and decide the potential rate of the version when officially launched. 

How SMEs minimize risk with MVP Software

A failed product can be a massive waste of time, money, effort, and investment. It also can cost the brand and image of the company if the product receives much negative feedback. An MVP will be an option to minimize those threats. 

An MVP in software development launch cycles enables teams to focus on a more manageable customer base and set realistic expectations. An MVP can help deliver information on the essential features that customers truly need via insightful feedback. This is also an effective way to be cost-saving for SMEs when they know the right track to develop and adust the products in a more customer-centric way. Not a coin is wasted on needless feature development. MVP is a first and foremost investigation of companies into the practical market. 

A visual aid to call for investment

How can your company convince the stakeholders that a product is potential when it does not even go public? An MVP can be a good way. 

If the product seems to come out to the market with positive adoptions from users, business leaders are somehow more confident about the outcome of the final official full-featured product. Therefore, they can evaluate the product potential and call for more investment. Investors are easier to be persuaded if they can see the practical statistics from an MVP because MVP reflects almost honestly the market reaction to the newborn product. 

Methods of targeting the market in MVP software building

How to sell an MVP of a heater in the equator area? It seems like an impossible mission. The product will fail if the company cannot choose the right market. A report from HBR Consulting shows that 85% of 30,000 new product launches failed because of poor market segmentation. Here we provide the tactics for a successful MVP launching of your company. 

The strategy to analyze competitors for the best effect of MVP software

Competitor research is essential to determine the potential market. The overlapping between MVPs or products in the market is inevitable no matter how unique your idea could be. Therefore, defining the key selling points and the niche will create a strong base for your MVP. 

Besides, taking a close look at the strategy and the movement of competitors provides your business with lessons of market penetration. 

To find this out, the companies need to research the competitors, evaluate their strong points and weaknesses, and figure out their target audience and what they are offering to them. The businesses can go ahead with the same target market their competitors chose, or they can concentrate on a group that their competitors might have overlooked. 

Look at the image above as a reference. There are 4 basic options for any startup to successfully compete in a given industry: cost leadership, differentiation, cost focus, and differentiation focus.

Tactics to categorize types of the target audience in terms of geography

Once the startup has found the right customer base for the MVP, the next task is to focus on geographical segmentation. This is an effective strategy used by businesses to get familiarized with the location-based attributes that comprise a specific target market. Analyzing the location of the ideal customer base can be a real game-changer while on the route to building an MVP.

Bonus, keep in mind the top 5 questions to direct the strategy of developing an MVP. 

- What is the impact of the climate?

- What are the most common languages used?

- How do cultural factors impact life?

- What is the local retailers' role in your MVP?

- How can you encourage engagement?

MVP software development and advice for SMEs

Building MVP with outsourcing software development companies 

A software MVP is often released early in the development process before any final design and coding have been done. This allows for changes based on user feedback and ensures the final version closely fits what people demand. Instead of racing to do the final back-end stuff, build an MVP for a market checkup in advance. Building an MVP purely depends on the feature set, design complexity, and human resources involved in the process, typically around 3-5 months. 

Your MVP journey can be get started with the following steps:

- A thorough market research

- What value does your product offer

- Clarify your user flow

- Prioritize features that help your audience

Hiring an IT outsourcing company for collaboration in your MVP development project is also a good choice. The cost of IT service in some famous IT outsourcing countries such as Vietnam, China, or India is reviewed to be lower with the same performance quality. This is a key point to be considered, especially in an economic uncertainty like today. 

A leading IT outsourcing partner in Vietnam like Adamo Software provides clients with dedicated teams, and intensive working progress at a reasonable price to make sure your MVP development goes on track smoothly. There is no need to take time for setting up an in-house department of developers, the IT outsourcing teams can even reduce the money and unnecessary process with professional innovative 

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