Time flies, doesn’t it?
One year you get a business idea, the next you sell your product to Amazon or Apple for a lot of money—I mean, a lot of money. That’s why speed is so important; you need to move fast, ship fast, and validate fast.
With that in mind, let’s talk about Minimum Viable Products, or more specifically, building a successful one in 5 weeks.
I know what you’re going to say:
“5 weeks is pretty long for building an MVP. You should have it done within 1 week.”
Sure, but sometimes you want to build more than just a neat contact form and a product interest survey. You could show your idea to investors, pitch the idea to some venture capital fund, or crystallize your vision based on a working proof of concept.
A combination of all three is exactly what we had to deal with at STX Next.
One of our clients wanted to execute their idea for a fintech platform. The concept behind the product was simple, but powerful:
We all agreed to start with something simple and learn-by-doing as we went along. The challenge was real, since our entire team had only been with the company for a while. The first time I saw the other guys was 2 days before the project kicked off. Really!
So there we were, a team of 3:
The goal was set, as was the deadline, and I felt like the Squirrel Man, having made the jump and hoping to hit the target. Dorian Kominek of Quality Assurance backed us up in the third sprint, but initially we were on our own.
Boy, did the time fly… but we made it! Finished on schedule and within the planned scope. The MVP is on production, it works, and we’re validating the solution with the first alpha users.
“But how?” you may be asking. “How did you do it?”
Well, let me tell you. Here are my 5 simple—dare I say, agile—tips for building a successful MVP in 5 weeks.