MVP Roadmap: 5 Steps Guide on How to Build a Successful MVP

An MVP is the simplest version of your product that still solves your core user problem. 

But before you start building, the most important question to ask yourself is "Do I fully understand the problem I am trying to solve?"

If you don't, then even your MVP, which is the simplest version will also fail. 

Without a clear vision of the problem you are trying to solve, you will end up building something no one wants to use.

MVP Problem Solving Analogy

Imagine your hair is on fire! Yes, your hair is currently on fire.

The person next to you has a bucket of water.

How easy it would be for that person to sell you the bucket?

Super easy!

Why?

Because he has a product that addresses your problem perfectly.

This is what you want your MVP to be for your customers. 

Okay, but how do you do it? How do you make sure your MVP does not fail? Where do you start?

Start with an MVP roadmap.

source: upsilon

An MVP roadmap is a step-by-step process that helps you build a product with the core features that solve a specific problem for users.

Step 1: Discovery and Research

The first step is all about laying the groundwork.

This is where you get to know your users, your competitors, and the problem you are solving. 

We understand that jumping straight into MVP development isn’t practical. Here’s what you need to do first.

Conduct User Research

The very first step would be understanding your users, like really understanding them. What are their problems, pain points, and frustrations?

A good way is to start conducting interviews. Just chat with potential users. Ask them about their experience, what they are struggling with, and what they wish was different.

If interviews are not possible, try surveys to get data from a large group of potential users.

In both the approaches, you will collect real insights, and not assumptions.

Analyse Your Competitors

Next, you look around to see who is your competition. What are they offering? How are they trying to solve the problem?

You don't have to reinvent the wheel, but understanding what is already out there will help you position your product in a unique way. 

Maybe you find a gap you can fill, or maybe you just need to offer a better experience.

Define Your Ideal Customer

Now that you have talked to people, gathered insights, and know your competitors, it is time to define who your ideal customer is.

Who are you building this product for? What do they look like? What do they do? Where do they hang out? What is their day-to-day life like?

Your goal is to picture them so clearly that you can almost see them in front of you.

Are they busy professionals looking to save time? 

A student looking for convenience on a budget?

Your ideal customer profile should include:

• Industry: Identify the specific industry or sector your product serves.
• Demographics: Age, gender, income level, education, and location.
• Psychographics: Interests, hobbies, values, and lifestyle choices.
• Pain Points: Specific problems or challenges your product aims to solve for them.
• Buying Behaviour: How they make purchasing decisions and their preferred shopping channel.
• Usage Scenarios: Context in which they should use your products.

Nail down these details, because it will help you make decisions later on about design, features, and messaging. 

The clearer you are, the easier it is to build a product that truly resonates with them.

Validate Your Product Ideas With Potential Users

Before diving into the actual product, take your ideas to a small group of potential users and get their feedback. Even though you conducted the research with users initially, it is always better to get a final feedback before going into the product phase.

This is kind of a reality check. 

Do they actually like your idea? Does it solve a problem they care about? Would they use it?

You are basically testing the water here. If they are excited, you know you are on the right track. 

If not, you can pivot or adjust before committing to building the product.

Some of the ideas to test your MVP idea are cold calling customers, collecting feedback through surveys, setting up a landing page to assess demand, and trying pre-orders or crowdfunding.

Read in detail about Validating Your MVP Idea.

Step 2: Planning and Strategy

Alright, now that you have the research and insights, it is time to get strategic.

Planning is key because you don’t want to start building your MVP just to realize halfway through that you missed some important parts.

Define the Core Value of Your MVP

Your MVP should not be everything to everyone. Instead, it should focus on the one thing your product does really well.

What is the core value you are providing?

Is it time-saving? Is it stress-reducing? Is it more productive?

Your core value should clearly define why users should use your product.

Prioritize Features that are Essential

You have got a lot of ideas swirling around, but remember, less is more for an MVP. 

Pick the features that are absolutely necessary to solve the problem you are addressing.

Learn which features should be on the "must have" list for your product.

You differentiate between the must-haves and leave the nice-to-haves for later.

The Pareto principle:

20% of the causes produce 80% of the consequences, and the remaining 80% of the causes produce only 20% of the consequences.

Applying the Pareto principle to the MVP feature list would mean that 20% of the features will bring 80% of the benefits to your customers. 

MVP = Essential + Simple

There are multiple techniques on how to prioritize the MVP features, we covered them in details in a separate article.

Determine MVP's business model

Your business model will determine how is your MVP going to make money.

Will your product be ad-supported or will it be available one-off, or will customers need to sign up for a monthly (or annual) subscription?

These are the choices you’ll need to make as you build out your solutions and find a business model that works for your startup.

Even if you’re in the early stages, you should have an idea of how this thing will bring in revenue. It doesn’t have to be set in stone, but it should be realistic and aligned with your target customers.

So, where do you start?

First, think about what your ideal customer would actually pay for.

Since your MVP is solving a real problem you need to figure out how much are the customers ready to pay for a solution to that problem.

Let’s go over a few common models that work well for startups:

• Subscription - This is perfect if your product offers ongoing value. Think of apps people use regularly, like productivity tools or a fitness app. A small monthly fee can add up nicely over time.
• Freemium - Give the basic version away for free, and charge for premium features. This works well if you want to build up a user base quickly and then monetize the power users who want the extra perks.
• One-time Purchase - Maybe your MVP solves a very specific problem, and people only need to buy it once. Great if you have a straightforward tool or product that does not need regular updates or extra features.
• Marketplace Model - If your MVP connects buyers and sellers, you can take a commission on each transaction. This works for platforms that match two types of users, like a job portal or a service marketplace.
• Ad-Supported - If your target customers are cost-sensitive, but you are expecting a high volume of users, ads might be the way to go. It is not for everyone, but for some products, this can be a good option to consider.

Once you have an idea of the model that best fits your MVP, think about scalability. 

• Can this model grow with your product?
• Will you need to pivot as you add more features and users?

Having a business model in your mind from the start gives your MVP a real direction and helps you avoid the "build first, figure out the revenue later" trap.

Set KPIs and Success Metrics

Though the business model is about revenue generation, before that, you need to set early goals (KPIs) for your MVP and define the success metrics.

What do you want to achieve with your MVP?

More users? Higher engagement? Maybe you are aiming to get a certain number of sign-ups or reach a specific retention rate.

Set clear, measurable KPIs so you know your MVP is in the right direction. It will help you to focus and aim at specific metrics.

Some KPIs are universally valuable.

User Acquisition Cost (UAC), Conversion Rate, Churn Rate, Retention Rate, Active Users, Feature Usage, Time to First Action, and Net Promoter Score (NPS).

Then there are success metrics. They are different from KPIs, and are benchmarks for long-term success and help you evaluate overall product growth.

Success metrics are indicators that will tell you when your MVP has achieved product-market fit. Some of the examples of success metrics are:

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), Number of Paying Users, Monthly ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), User Ratings and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), Download Rate, Return on Investment (ROI).

Dive deeper into our MVP KPIs and success metrics on our latest article. 

Wondering how long your MVP will take to build?

Use our free MVP time and cost calculator to get a tailor-made estimate.

Estimate MVP Development Costs & Time

Step 3: Wireframing, Prototyping, and Designing Your MVP

You have got your research and strategy down, now it is time to be creative, it is design time.

You have worked through all the previous steps. 

• You have clearly identified the problem you want to solve.
• You know exactly who your ideal customer is.
• You have selected the essential must-have features for your MVP.

But your MVP is not user-friendly. Although users want to use it, they struggle to find what they need and sooner or later they stop using your product.

It is believed every $1 you invest in the UX, you will get $100 in return.

Ask yourself "How can I make the product easy to use and visually appealing?"

But don't overcomplicate it. 

Just make sure it aligns with your brand and the target audience.

We tackled the topic of how to approach MVP design process in our latest articles. 

Step 4: Develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Now it is time to get down to actually building the MVP. You take everything you have so far and start turning it into a product.

Building your MVP is about creating a working product that includes only the must-have features.

Setup the Technical Stack

You first need to choose the right tools and technologies.

What frameworks, libraries, and tools are you going to use? Do you need a backend or is it more of a front-end app?

Pick technologies that align with your goals, budget, and timeline.

Read about the how to choose the right MVP tech stack in detail here. 

Develop the Core Functionality

It is time to start coding. Start building the core features. Remember, nothing extra, just those essential features that will solve your user's problems.

You also need to consider about:

• Scalability
• Reliability
• Maintenance
• Talent Availability
• Community Support
• Complexity of the App
• Security

A few tips by our experts for the development phase.

Tip #1

Our advice is to trust the expertise of your MVP development team.

Technical experts often have strong opinions, and too much research on your end could end up leaving you more overwhelmed than informed.

Tip #2

Since so much depends on choosing the right tech stack, double-check the decision with at least a few other tech experts.

Tip #3

One of the best ways to lower the cost of developing an MVP is by leveraging third-party tools and APIs.

Instead of building every feature from scratch, you can integrate existing solutions for functionalities like payment processing (e.g., Stripe), email notifications (e.g., SendGrid), or authentication (e.g., Firebase).

These tools are reliable, cost-effective, and save you time, so you can focus on your product's core value.

MVP Development Services

Looking for a reliable and easy-to-communicate MVP development team?

Talk to Zorica, Our MVP Expert

Test Your App

Before releasing your MVP, it is absolutely critical to test it thoroughly.

Here are 3 basic types of testing:

1. Functional Testing

Verify that all features work as intended. 

Does the login process work? Are users able to complete key tasks without errors? 

Do it over and over again.

Give it to other people, your spouse, friends, family members, and everybody you know.

Make sure they can use your app flawlessly. 

2. Test Across Devices and Platforms

If your MVP is accessible on multiple platforms like web and mobile, test its performance and compatibility across different devices and operating systems.

If something works in your web app, that doesn’t mean it going to work on mobile devices. 

3. Gather Feedback from Early Testers

Involve real users or beta testers in the QA phase. Their insights can reveal usability issues or areas for improvement you might have overlooked.

Step 5: Launch, Monitor, and Iterate, Iterate, Iterate...

The big moment arrives. Once your MVP is tested and polished, it is time to launch. 

But the work does not stop after launch, in fact, this is where the real learning begins.

Launch the MVP to a Select Group of Users

You don't need to release your product to the world right away. 

Start with a soft launch or a limited beta version. 

This will help your MVP with a smaller and more controlled group of users.

It also gives you a chance to address any issues without the pressure of a massive launch.

Monitor KPIs to Understand User Behaviour

Once your MVP is launched, keep a close eye on how users are interacting with it. 

Track those KPIs we defined earlier. It will make sure things are on track.

Now you will be aware of what is working and what's not.

Once Again, Collect Feedback

The time for feedback has come again. This time post-launch.

Don't rely only on data from your analytics, it is better to get direct feedback from users. 

Understand directly from the user what they don't like about your product. Gather real time insights to improve. 

Analyze the Feedback and Metrics 

Take a step back and analyze the feedback and metrics you have gathered. 

What are the patterns?

Are people dropping off at a certain point?

Is there a certain feature they are asking repeatedly?

This analysis is going to shape your next steps.

Decide Whether to Pivot, Persevere, or Scale

source: RubyGarage

Finally, based on the feedback and metrics, you got to make a decision.

1. Do you need to pivot and change your approach?
2. Are you on the right track and just need to tweak a few things?
3. Or is the product ready to scale?

This is where you make the big decision about the future direction of your product.

The core of the MVP iteration process is the build-measure-learn loop.

Conclusion

Take it step by step, stay focused on the core value, and remember that iteration is your best friend. 

Every step you take is about learning, improving, and getting closer to the product your users need.

By following a proper MVP roadmap, you can save time, money, and effort while gathering valuable user insights that can help shape your final product.