Written by Felix Heikka
This article will be a comprehensive guide to cover everything you need to know about minimum viable products (MVPs). This guide draws from our experience at Buildpad, where we've helped over 9,000 founders navigate this crucial phase of product development.
Whether you're a first-time founder or an experienced entrepreneur, you'll find what you need in this article to build an MVP that people actually want.
At Buildpad, we've not only guided over 9,000 founders through their MVP journey but have also applied these principles to our own success. Our platform reached $2,300 revenue within two months of launch, validating our approach to MVP development.
This comprehensive resource is made to serve both those who want a quick overview and those seeking detailed guidance. Feel free to jump to specific sections that address your current challenges:
A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is the simplest version of your product that can solve your target users' core problem. It's basically your product stripped down to its most essential function. The bare minimum needed to start delivering value and gathering user feedback.
Think of it like building a bicycle: Instead of creating a fully-featured motorcycle right away, you'd start with a basic working bicycle that gets people from point A to point B. You can later add features like gears, better brakes, or a more comfortable seat based on user feedback.
Key principles of an MVP include:
When researching minimum viable products, you might encounter several variations of the term. Let's clear up some common confusion:
Most viable product vs minimum viable product
Other common variations:
Remember: The official term is "minimum viable product" or MVP, popularized by Eric Ries in The Lean Startup.
Airbnb:
In 2007, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia were struggling to pay their San Francisco rent. They noticed all hotels were booked during a local design conference. Their MVP solution was remarkably simple:
Initial MVP:
Key MVP Elements:
Only after proving people would actually pay to stay in someone's home did they start expanding the concept.
Amazon’s MVP:
Facebook's MVP
The foundation for building a minimum viable product people actually want is solving a real problem. I know it sounds obvious but I see founders making the mistake over and over again of building a solution first and then looking for a problem that fits the solution.
To find a real problem to solve, here’s what you do:
Solve your own problems
Research the Market
1. Study Existing Solutions
- What's already available?
- What are their weaknesses?
- Where are the gaps?
2. Analyze Competition
- Who's currently solving this problem?
- What are they doing well?
- What are they missing?
3. Look for Patterns
- Common complaints about existing solutions
- Unmet needs in the market
- Trending problems in your industry
Validate the problem
What makes building an MVP different from a full product is its focus on determining its market fit. Focus on speed and essential functionality. Your goal is to create something that solves the core problem effectively, even if it's not perfect.
Key points to focus on when building an MVP:
Core problem solving
Launch fast
User feedback
There are many different ways to get your first customers so I’m just going to tell you exactly how we did it, and hopefully it can serve as a good example for you.
Here's our approach that got us our first 100 users for our MVP in two weeks:
We validated our idea through a Reddit post. The post was simple, asking for feedback on our idea and in exchange we offered to give the respondents feedback on their projects.
This worked well for us because our target audience was founders, and pretty much all founders can benefit from getting feedback on their projects. The formula here is simple: offer something valuable in return for feedback to increase your chances of getting responses.
The people who responded received an 8-question survey. This survey helped us understand how they were currently solving the problem, how significant the pain point was, and how much they’d be willing to pay for a solution.
We received a positive response, which gave us the confidence to build the MVP. Once the MVP was ready, we shared it with the same people who had previously given us feedback. They had the problem, we had already established contact, and now we had a solution to share with them. This is a simple way of getting your first customers.
To reach even more users, we made a launch post in their subreddit. Additionally, we posted a few times a week about the problem we were solving, provided valuable insights on how it could be addressed, and mentioned our MVP as a potential solution. If your product truly solves their problem, people won't mind you sharing it - they'll appreciate the solution.
This proven process helped us reach $2,300 revenue within two months of launch and now guides over 9,000 founders. Each step is crucial - skipping any can lead to wasted time and resources.
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Comprehensive platforms
An AI-guided product building platform that helps founders build products people actually want, by guiding them through structured phases from idea validation to successful product.
Design tools
Development tools
Communication tools
These are lessons learned from my own experience of building Buildpad and from analyzing data shared by our ,000+ founders who are building their MVPs on our platform.
Skipping idea validation
This is very common and it’s understandable as well. Builders want to jump straight into building without doing the boring part of talking to people and making sure they’re solving a real problem. I’ve made the mistake myself of not solving a real problem and then spending months trying to market the product with no success.
Generic solutions in a saturated market
This is another common one and it’s a recipe for near impossible marketing. Breaking through the noise is very difficult when you’re building the same product as everyone else. It is possible, but you’re making it a lot harder for yourself.
Not putting enough effort into marketing
Many are surprised by how difficult marketing can be. Some just prefer the building part. You spend months and years learning how to code to be able to build good products, and then you expect to spend a few days marketing and be a good marketer. Marketing is a skill like any other, and it takes time to improve. You have to put in consistent effort and do it over a long period of time.
Niche ideas
We see that people who solve niche problems tend to do better. They’re usually quite experienced in their niche so they know the problems intimately. They also face less competition and they know how to reach out to their target audience. Niche ideas usually come from experience and solving your own problems, which makes it all a lot easier.
Taking every step of the process seriously
Respecting the process and realizing that every step is crucial to it is a success factor. Even if you want to jump into building, you know talking to people first to validate the problem you’re solving will make the whole process easier for you. Some steps take time, but completing them properly will greatly increase your chance of success.
Solving a problem in the industry you know well
We often see that people with experience in their own industry have clearer goals and solutions. They already have channels to reach their audience, understand the challenges, and know what they’re doing because they’ve personally encountered the problem. We all have different life experiences so use this to your advantage and focus on helping people similar to you.
Building a successful minimum viable product isn't about creating a perfect product—it's about solving a real problem effectively. Through our experience helping 9,000+ founders at Buildpad, we've learned that success comes from:
Your MVP is just the beginning. It's meant to be the first step in a longer journey of building a successful product. Don't aim for perfection - aim for problem-solving effectiveness.
Build products that people actually want with Buildpad. Buildpad is a platform that helps founders go from idea to successful product. Here’s what you get:
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