Hi. I'm Amy, the Founder and Chief Marketing Person here at the Launch Box. My mission is to help entrepreneurs and small business owners achieve their dreams by learning how to think more like a marketer.
Launching a new product or service is an exhilarating journey, but it comes with a crucial need for real, actionable feedback from your target audience.
And, if you’ve ever found yourself working endlessly on an MVP (minimum viable product), you’ve probably already learned that waiting too long for a polished version of something costs you valuable time and insights. So, how exactly do you switch from building a market ready product to getting customer feedback on an early version? And, when exactly should you do it? Those are big questions and while the answer is honestly different for every startup founder, the keys to success are to both do it early and do it often.
In this blog post, we'll explore eight effective ways to get your new business idea out of your head and into the hands of your customers for a test run. I’m personally partial to muttering Voltaire’s quote bemoaning perfectionism to myself multiple times a day, but perhaps one of the below answers will be the launch strategy that helps move you to create a rapid MVP.
“Perfect is the enemy of good” – Voltaire
From setting up a landing page to taking another look at your existing tech, here are eight answers to the question, "What are some tips for quickly creating and launching an MVP?”
Rapid MVP Launch Strategies:
Build a Landing Page
Use Low-code Tools
Ask ChatGPT to Write Code
Buy an Existing Unused Code-only MVP
Focus On the Core Features and Benefits of the Product
Read Customer Reviews and Surveys
Try an Evo Matrix
Leverage Your Existing Technology
Build a Landing Page
One of the quickest shortcuts to creating an MVP is to build a landing page. A landing page provides an opportunity for entrepreneurs to test their product or service idea without investing too much time, money, and effort into developing a working prototype.
The goal of a landing page should be to present the value proposition in such a way that it inspires visitors to take the next step. This can be done by gathering data from visitors, such as their email addresses, to help evaluate whether there is a viable market for the product or service.
Once enough data has been collected, entrepreneurs can move on to creating a prototype that provides a more detailed experience of what their minimum viable product would look like.
Michael Fischer, Founder, Elite HRT
Use Low-code Tools
Startup founders can use no-code or low-code tools to rapidly prototype and build their products. For example, programming platforms and website builders like Bubble, Webflow, and Carrd require little to no coding knowledge and can be a significant asset in the product creation process.
These tools provide a foundation to test out your product ideas without spending a lot of time and resources on hiring a development team.
Patricio Paucar, Co-Founder and Chief Customer Officer, Navi
Ask ChatGPT to Write Code
I'm building a super bare-bones MVP for a web app, and it has one complicated function. I already knew the logic behind the function but needed some help coding it up.
I asked ChatGPT to write code in JavaScript for the desired function. From there, I pasted it into a JavaScript tester and asked ChatGPT to rewrite it until the output was perfect. Overall, I expect that using ChatGPT to write code segments will save me a ton of development hours—and it's teaching me how to write code too!
Axel DeAngelis, Founder, Jumpcoast
Buy an Existing Unused Code-only MVP
With creating an MVP, getting started can seem like a daunting task. Just knowing where to begin can seem impossible, and having an initial foundation to work with can go a long way.
Consequently, I recommend buying an existing, pre-revenue micro-SaaS, just as an initial starting point. These are almost always code-only, providing a useful launchpad for further work.
A range of marketplaces exist for people who wish to sell their unused software, and you can purchase a relatively cheap MVP. Although your MVP is likely to differ significantly, it would surprise you how many common elements there are among all applications, i.e., a database, forms, billing, user accounts, etc.
From there, you can easily tweak the code to better reflect your original vision, giving you a great platform to get started.
Oliver Savill, CEO and Founder, Assessment Day
Focus On the Core Features and Benefits of the Product
This approach eliminates the need for extensive research and development, which can be time-consuming and expensive. Additionally, founders can consider using a prototyping tool to quickly launch an MVP for customer feedback.
Prototyping tools allow founders to quickly mock up a product and test its features and usability before committing to a full development cycle. Founders can also take advantage of the vast amount of open-source libraries, frameworks, and tools available online to quickly build an MVP.
These resources can often be used to quickly develop a basic version of a product or service, allowing founders to quickly validate their idea before investing a large amount of time and money into development.
Michael Lazar, Executive, ReadyCloud
Read Customer Reviews and Surveys
Creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is an important step for any startup founder to take in order to make their product successful. One shortcut that can be used to quickly [get in the mind of your customer] is reading customer reviews, doing surveys, and paying for user testing.
By doing so, startup founders can get valuable insight into what their customers want and need from their products in the most efficient way possible. As an inventor and CEO, I personally read all of our customer reviews and surveys, as it helps me to find potential improvements and the next MVP invention to launch for my family business.
Marc Werner, CEO and Founder, GhostBed
Try an Evo Matrix
Always setting priorities in product design is critical to creating an MVP in the shortest span of time possible.
For example, the EVO matrix sorts design features by how essential (E), how valuable (V), and how optional (O) they are to aid in the design process. Focusing on the individual features more closely, the most important ones become the must-haves, and those less desired can be cut in favor of a quicker delivery.
Alexandre Robicquet, Co-Founder and CEO, Crossing Minds
Leverage Your Existing Technology
There are many ways to go about it, but one of the quickest shortcuts is to use existing solutions. By leveraging existing technology, such as open-source libraries, cloud services, and APIs, a founder can quickly create a basic version of the product with minimal effort.
We often refer to this approach as "standing on the shoulders of giants," and it can save a founder time and money, allowing them to focus on the more important tasks of refining and marketing the product.
Ray Schultz, VP, Marketing, Liquid Rubber
