How to build an MVP people will pay for, in 5 steps

What is an MVP?

A Minimum Viable Product is the most basic version of a product that can be released to users while still providing enough value to gather meaningful feedback. Think of it as the "bare bones" version that includes only the core features necessary to solve the main problem.

Why should I build an MVP?

The reason you build an MVP is because you don’t want to waste months building a fully fleshed out product only to realize at launch that your product isn’t valuable and no one wants to use it. The MVP is your chance to test the waters with your product, gauge real interest, and determine if pursuing the full product is worthwhile.

With that out of the way, let’s jump straight into the 5 steps.

1. Look at all the problems you experience yourself, pick a painful one.

I recommend solving your own problems because it’s simply easier. If you try solving a problem you don’t experience yourself, you’ll always have to conduct interviews with others at every step of the process because you won’t know yourself if the solution is truly effective.

The upsides of solving your own problems are:

• Your own experience tells you how big the problem is and how much you’d like it solved

• You know when the solution is good enough since you’ll know if your problem is solved

• You can tell if the solution is valuable based on how it solves the problem for you

• If you solve the problem for yourself, you will be the proof it works

2. Talk to people who experience the same problem through DMs or surveys.

Okay, so you experience the problem, but you can’t be your only customer. You have to talk to other people as well to make sure they also experience the problem which will make it worth solving. This doesn’t have to be a difficult step. You just need to talk to your target audience to understand three things:

• How are they currently solving the problem

• How big of a pain is it to them

• How much are they willing to pay for a solution

A simple way to talk with your target audience, which worked for me when I was building my MVP, was posting on Reddit—specifically in my target audience’s subreddit. I asked for a moment of their time to give me feedback on my idea, and in return I offered them feedback on their projects (this helped a lot with getting people to respond).

3. Build an MVP that solves the problem.

Now that you've talked to people and received positive feedback on your idea and the existence of the problem, it's time to build the MVP that solves it. You want to focus on keeping it as simple as possible. It’s easy to get carried away with adding cool features, but your goal here is just to solve the one main problem and then get the product in front of users as fast as possible. By getting your MVP out quickly, you can start receiving valuable feedback that will help you improve it and let it take the shape the market wants and will pay for.

Here’s what to focus on when building your MVP:

• Solve only the core problem - nothing extra

• Get it out fast

• Make it easy to get user feedback

4. Share the MVP to the same people you talked to before.

Here’s the simple trick to getting your first users. You’ve already established contact with your target audience, they have the problem. Now that you have the solution, offer it to them for free in exchange for their feedback. Feedback is what’s most valuable for you at this stage as it will help you shape a better product and achieve product-market fit. So if it’s possible for you, it’s better to hold off on making money at this stage, and get more feedback instead.

5. Improve the MVP based on their feedback.

Now that you’ve gathered a substantial amount of feedback from your first users, you just use this and your own vision of your product to guide the continued building. The early stage feedback is very valuable, so gather as much of it as you can, and let it help you shape your product into something worth paying for. This is where the true product starts to take shape. You might also realize that your original plan wasn’t what people wanted, but thanks to building an MVP instead of a full product, it will be easier for you to pivot your product in the right direction.

Conclusion

These are the 5 simple steps you take to build an MVP people will pay for. If you would appreciate a structured process to follow with guidance along every step of the way, ai cofounder might be for you.