3 min read

#4 – MVN – Success = Picking Up The Right Technology For Your MVP. See Why

It's time you understand how to influence the success of your digital product. And the variabile we'll be working with today is an intriguing one: technology stack.

I know – tech is hard, complex and requires that you know a lot of complicated languages that sounds alien.

And I can understand why you feel frustrated: there are so many technologies, partners and things that you need to choose for, you almost end up with analysis paralysis.

But when it comes for MVPs, there are just a few things you must nail to make sure that success is part of your future.

And the good part is, I'll break them down and explain them to you in this issue. So let's start.

Here's a list of items you must get from your software development partner, when it comes to building your first MVP:

  • Tech stack requirements
  • Server and infrastructure requirements
  • 3rd party services
  • Server & Network architecture diagrams
  • Software diagrams
  • Environment & delivery diagrams
  • Possible risks & how to mitigate them
  • Safety-net
  • Software development planning
  • Gantt chart
  • Tasks breakdown
  • Time & Cost estimate
  • Product maintenance roadmap
  • Proactive monitoring plan

Starting with with picking up the right programming language and technology stack and wrapping up with a full list of the best 3rd party solutions to integrate, a software partner will take care of all the needs of your product.

You must provide them with everything that you've built so far (starting with the Empathy Map and going forward with the Customer Problem Statement) so they can select the best technology for you.

Next, your MVP development partner should  provide you with the blueprint of a highly-scalable, maintainable and solid product architecture. This will include everything from server infrastructure to the connection of all components within the ecosystem.

Keep in mind that when you set-out to build an MVP, you want a solid foundation that you can expand on and iterate fast. There’s no great success without big risk. But the more prepared you are, the more likely you are to succeed.

This is why your development partner will assess, identify and prepare a plan to overcome possible risks when it comes to your project.

Once you know the ins and outs of your software project, all it's left is to get a meticulously crafted realistic delivery and development plan. This will allow you to understand the full extent of your MVP, both from a time perspective and a financial point of view. No surprises.

Keep in mind here that an MVP should not take you more than 1-3 months of development time. If it happens to get past the 3 months threshold, then you're not building an MVP anymore – so you have to chat with your development partner and restrict the features you want to release.

To ensure the success of your business & product on a long term, find out what you will pay for a 12-months maintenance plan that will ensure the well functioning of the ecosystem. This is how you keep evolving, stay secure and scale your business. Without preparing for the future, you’re preparing to fail.

So it is important to know the costs associated with running your MVP for one year – time in which you'll iterate & test your product-market fit.

From this point, Your MVP success lies in two things.

Building a BETTER PRODUCT

  • Gathering customer feedback & understanding how to provide more value through product iterations
  • Understanding what works and what doesn’t – so the product you build will solve problems, not create more

UNDERSTANDING your MARKET

  • Uncovering the long-term potential of your product
  • Developing a strategy to unlock that potential

To do both, you need metrics that capture qualitative feedback on the future prospects of your product.

To help you track your MVP’s success, here are some indicators that can lead you to summarizing insights, conclusions and results:

  • A/B TESTS that help you understand what functionality work
  • PLACEHOLDER EXPERIMENTS – lets you understand what new features are desired by the users
  • HEATMAPS – lets you see how users interact with your product
  • CUSTOMER SURVEYS – offers you the blunt truth about how your MVP performs
  • CHURN RATE - the percentage of customers who have discontinued their subscription in a given period
  • CUSTOMER ACQUISITION COST (CAC) - the average cost of acquiring a customer
  • MONTHLY RECURRING REVENUE (MRR) - the monthly predicted revenue a company can expect to earn
  • LIFETIME VALUE OF A CUSTOMER (LTVC): - the predicted profit from a customer over the whole of their time using the product
  • AVERAGE REVENUE PER USER (ARPU): - the average revenue received from each customer

If we put things side by side, here's Your MVP Development Checklist:

  • Define long-term goals
  • Define short-term goals
  • Identify the motivation behind it
  • Map out Customer Problem Statement
  • Design your Empathy Map
  • Set up your Customer Persona
  • Design Epics & User Story Map
  • Create Feature Canvases
  • Set up success indicators

The cool fact with this framework is that my customers that used it got an MVP faster and more cost-effective before jumping into the never-ending trap of losing money with software development agencies..

If you find yourself in the same position, don’t hesitate to give me a ping.

See you next week

Whenever you feel ready, there are three ways I can help you:

  1. Transform Your Idea Into a Digital Product with Me in a Maven Workshop (27+ Workshops conducted so far)
  2. Work With Me 1:1 and get over 15+ years of Product Development Experience & Strategy in 90 minutes.
  3. Hire My Team at CODESILK to build your digital product

Published by:

Alexandru Lamba