After coming up with the idea for Rate It, my mind was going in a hundred different directions thinking of all the possible features I could add to the product. I love to dream about all the possibilities, but if I wanted to bring something to market, I needed to pare it down and define the minimum viable product (MVP).
What is MVP?
Before I go through my process of defining the MVP for Rate It, let me give a quick background on what a minimum viable product is and why it matters. The MVP is the bare minimum set of features required to take a product to market. That doesn’t mean additional features won’t come later, or that the product will be so bare-bones it fails to solve the customer’s need. It’s the sweet spot between effort and value, and it varies from product to product, but the smaller the MVP, the smaller the scope, and the quicker the time to market.
The real value of an MVP is getting to market as soon as possible. Going to market exposes the product to real users, which is the only true test of a product’s initial assumptions. Many real-world products have gone to market, been used and evaluated, and turned out to have real value different from what was initially thought. That market feedback can then inform a quick pivot in product strategy.
A prime example is the evolution of Instagram, as detailed by ENEB’s article “Strategic pivoting: how Burbn turned into Instagram.” The app began as Burbn, started by Kevin Systrom in 2010 as a web app that let users check in to locations, make plans with friends, and share photos. After going to market, Systrom realized the app was too complex and most users were just utilizing the photo-sharing feature. Systrom decided to strip away the excess features and pivot to a photo-sharing app. The startup then added filters and released it to the App Store and the app became Instagram.
Defining Rate It’s MVP
Knowing the importance of releasing an MVP, I, like Systrom, had to tamp down my ambitious product vision and settle on a single feature that was the core of the product. After reviewing my initial product strategy, my biggest differentiator and the core of the product was the rating tiers. Sharing ratings with others was secondary.
Therefore, I decided my MVP would simply be a local list of categories and ratings where users could customize the rating tiers for each category. Eliminating the sharing functionality from the first release significantly reduced the complexity. I did not have to worry about how users would join a shared category, manage user permissions, or members leaving a category. Additionally, I had planned on making the sharing feature a one-time in-app purchase. This, too, was complexity I didn’t want to take on for the first release. Had I added these features, it would have taken me twice as long to release the app.
Overall, the MVP of Rate It I landed on was the right scope. The first version of the app got to market quicker and I received invaluable feedback from friends and family. Ideas I had never thought of began to surface. Having a working app also led to better conversations with friends and family, who became a sounding board for the sharing feature I’d cut.