Author: Arul karuppannan

Startups and the zeal to solve problems with technology

The Indian start-up ecosystem is one of the most talked about phenomena in the tech business industry for the past half a decade. The likes of Flipkart and Dunzo have motivated millions of entrepreneurs to explore new possibilities of business by solving real-world problems that enhance the quality of life for a common man. While there are numerous ways to solve any problem, technology helps you solve them with utmost efficiency and sustainable long-term approach. It is one of the dominant forces which lead to the onset of app development companies rising to fame and essentiality. On average, an incredible 30,000 new mobile apps are submitted for review and hosting at the Apple App Store every month. It is a considerable number, and it says a lot about the importance of technology, the industry focuses on mobile applications and broadly convinces us for believing that mobile app development companies are vigorously active and they mean nothing but business.

What is the standard approach?

Irrespective of how well a start-up scales itself or tries to limit the focus of resource allocation, the ultimate objective of every start-up is to be as profitable as possible. The general approach which they take for being more profitable is to solve real-world problems with sustainable technology solutions via mobile apps within an optimum budget. So, the monetary aspect or the budget of any start-up leads us to a critical choice which every product-based start-up has to make. Whether a startup should go with MVP or EVP?

Quick Knowledge

MVP or Minimum Viable Product is a strategy of building products where the start-up launches a product just with all original features and functionalities that can help them stabilize and show up early in the market. It requires minimal resources and development of core services before a product enters into the market.

EVP or an Exceptional Viable Product is a finished product out of the finest and most advanced prototype which a product could witness. It requires a comparatively more massive amount of resources and also delays the launch or increase time-to-market for any product. The final product is fully cooked with all possible functionalities which are required to implement the whole elaborated idea.

What is the most important thing to note?

Startup incubated products in the form of mobile apps are subjected to the choice of strategy between MVP and EVP. It is essential not just to think but think it through; right till the end, launch and further evolution of the product.

When you look at it with a farsighted approach, it is easy to understand that both of these approaches of product development will require a similar amount of money when counted lump sum. It is just two different strategies of product development that make the start-ups shell out their budgeted resources with different approaches and at different points of time during the product development life-cycle.

Every start-up is advised to ensure that they have foolproof management of monetary resources before they pursue either of them. However, it is true that MVP will require lesser money in the initial phase, but the overall expenses until the project gets completely incubated will be more or less similar.

Here are the most critical points which every start-up consider before opting for MVP or EVP

Brand Visibility & Reputations

Business and politics are all about perception and reputation. Every business generally has a long-term approach to building a loyal base of customers who are willing to try and upgrade everything that their favorite brand offers. That is the kind of cult every company wishes to possess in this competitive scenario. To maintain the same, all the companies have customers who have a set impression of their favorite brand and also expects a certain level of quality and consistent innovation. For instance, Apple lost a considerable number of very loyal customers as they mellowed down on change since iPhone X and further. You might think that Apple is too big a company to be compared with startups, but the analogy remains valid.If you think your start-up already has such a base of loyal customers and huge followership, you should typically go for a proper Exceptional Viable Product. It will help you manage everything and roll out a product which matches or exceed the expectations of your loyal customers.

There are startups which are yet to get into the competition of building a base of such loyal customers, and the objective is to impress and convince the most probable customers merely. For them, Minimum Viable Product is also a good option as it will help you showcase the most robust functionalities and features in a quality driven mobile app. Fortunately, it happens in the early stages of a start-up product.

Contemporary competition and competitor profiling

All the start-ups are advised to use their market and domain research while choosing between a minimum viable product and an exceptional viable product. If your respective business domain has firmly stable dominant business leaders, MVP might put you under a dark spot of an unattended corner. Whereas, the famous ones steal all the limelight and your product might fail to reach the customers effectively.In such a scenario, it is always advisable to go all out and put all your eggs in one basket. You should go for an impressive, comprehensive exceptional viable product that leaves no stone unturned to impress your loyal customers and also build an excellent reputation for the startup.

Insight based approach

Your choice between the MVP and an EVP might also be governed by insights about your competitors and their expected time-to-market. It is essential to be the trendsetter and an early riser in every industry to capture the market more efficiently. If you think that it is critical to strike the hot iron with a hammer early on, despite having numerous persuasive reasons to go for an EVP, you may take the fast track route with an MVP and create a buzz in the market. It will also help you take the lead and handle the budget, timeline issues on a short-term basis.

Nature of Business Idea

Start-ups should also consider analyzing the nature of their business idea while making a particular choice. A mobile product idea may be only short-lived or is simply induced because of a temporary upcoming event/opportunity. You may rush with an MVP and not wait for somebody else to capitalize on the occasion by launching a similar product before you do.For instance, you may be looking to create election-dedicated news and content delivery mobile app product. Now, it becomes imperative for you to launch the product well before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in May. You should directly go for an MVP ruling out the possible choice of an EVP. This will be a great publicity incentive for your start-up.

On the other hand, if you look to build an application with a long-term approach and try to put out an EVP, it might be very late and the elections might either be gone, or they might be around the corner. There would be no time for you to market the app in an optimum budget.

Why are the choice between NDP EVP is critical for every start-up?

• A wrong choice between an MVP and EVP can lead to a diminished impact of your product in the market.You might require a longer route to publicize the product. There are potential risks of complete failure as well.
• If the wrong choice is made for an exceptionally large-scale project, this may lead you in a situation where you might not be able to reap optimum benefits of launching and fulfilling the business objectives behind the idea. Probably, you may not even be able to complete the project.
• There can be chances of newcomers who might take an imitator’s approach to build a product very similar to yours and much better then what you might end up rolling out. The world is full of resources, and business ideas are capitalized just like that. It will also make you bear a loss of market research and technology innovation as somebody else might impress the market before you.

Conclusion

Making the right choice between the two primary product development strategies is a critical part, but ultimately the technology and value creation should win. Although the possibility is very less if you out rightly focus on building a potential product, it is bound to succeed with either of the strategies. It might take longer to reap the benefits, but if you are hitting where it matters, the market will surely acknowledge the innovation and efforts.

The dilemma in choosing between these shouldn’t drag down your enthusiasm and commitment towards building the right product; instead, it is important to see such critical decisions as an opportunity to take the lead if your competitors lack. Moreover, the trend of SaaS products is growing at a rapid rate, making the right choice of product development strategy will become even more crucial. There is a considerable data-driven business research and management approaches hitting the arena. It might lead to the inception of efficient tools which can gather information about the present scenario of your start-up and efficiently suggest you which is the right approach.