Imagine how we used software less than a decade ago. We had to buy and install it on our devices.
But that seems like an old-fashioned thing today. Thanks to SaaS products!
SaaS products have revolutionized the way we use the software. According to a report by Finances Online, the SaaS market is expected to reach $623 billion by 2023. That’s a huge number!
Almost all SaaS companies start with a great idea. An idea that is destined to solve problems and revolutionize the way things function. But the trouble is many SaaS startups invest their time and energy into building a perfect product that fails to win customers.
Why so?
Well, that’s because their saas application development is based on certain assumptions, such as
- The product solves a problem and that too in an effective way
- The product is perfect for users to pay
- The product is better than competitors
So, if you are a startup founder, your first job is to prove or disprove the fundamental assumptions in the least expensive way. This is where Minimum Viable Product (MVP) comes into the role.
What is an MVP for a SaaS Development Company?
Minimum Viable Product, more popularly termed as MVP, is an early version of the SaaS product. It only has the core features. However, it is enough to offer value to customers.
Right from validating your startup idea to product launch to concept representation and cost reduction, an MVP is of immense value. Once the MVP is successful, you are ready to kickstart your startup with further product development.
Why use an MVP?
Instead of entering the market with a perfect product, it is better to run an MVP. That’s what today’s giants like Dropbox, Airbnb, IBM, and more did at their time.
One of the crucial advantages of an MVP is that it lets you test your SaaS product idea in the real market. Not only this, it even helps you save a lot of your efforts, time, and money. Moreover, you can –
- Determine if users need the solution that you are offering
- Identify risks at an early stage
- Predict demand
- Analyze user behavior
- Optimize product development and marketing
- Monetize product based on user needs
With an MVP in place, you actually understand if your idea will work in the real market even before product development.
Always remember, before you jump into product development, you must know – who needs it, what problems it can solve, and how it will help you earn money. This is what Mr. Siddharth Garg, the Founder & CTO at Quytech, talks about in his video. Click Here
How to plan an MVP for B2B SaaS Startup?
Successful companies like Facebook, Twitter, Oracle, and others built an MVP to validate their ideas. Their main focus was to determine what functionality captures users’ attention. So, here’s a simple MVP framework that helped them and can help you, too.
- Do Market Research
There are thousands of SaaS companies out there. Probably there’s a chance that someone has already provided a solution to the problem that you are working on. So, it is important to be aware of the key players in the market, their market share, and their positioning. As the business owner of a SaaS development company, it helps you learn the viability of the market. Moreover, competitor research aids you with growth prediction, market trends, and financial dynamics.
You can even run direct surveys, i.e., reach out to people in your social circle to know their opinion on your product. You can ask them questions like –
- How much would you like to pay to solve this issue?
- Have you faced any such problems?
…and more.
Market research helps you analyze who are your potential users, locations, and niches that your product could cover.
- Narrow Your Target Audience
Once you know that the problem exists, the next step is to crack your audience into segments. This helps you determine to whom will your product serve.
Let’s take the example of Trello. For a content writer, Trello is a tool for managing his content calendar. For a marketer, it will serve some other purpose. Similarly, a SaaS developer will view it in a different aspect. So, it is crucial to figure out your segment and then analyze the product from their perspective –
- Why would they use your product?
- What value will it bring in for them?
- Does your product help them cut down resources, time, or costs?
- What is the biggest customer pain point that your product will solve?
- Can your product be used for different target audiences?
- Define User Flow & Features
User flow defines the ways how users will achieve what they desire from your product. So, keep the user flow as simple as possible.
Next, you can plan the features for your MVP. Include those that are closely connected to solving users’ problems. For instance, if you are developing a fitness app, billing and subscription may not be required in your MVP. You can incorporate it in future iterations of your product.
- Build, Measure & Improve
Now you can build your MVP, i.e., a basic version of your product.
Once you release it in the market, keep an eye on all the data you receive. Measure the product usage, traffic, customer behavior, demographics, and other important metrics. This information can help you make informed decisions when you further consider the product into development.
Then, start gathering user feedback. Based on that, you can improve your product to meet customer needs.
- Pivot
If the feedback and data you collected indicate a positive response of the market for your product, prep up to reiterate your MVP. You might start the product development once again to offer users the product that your MVP lacked. To avoid the costs of pivot-related changes, you can opt to develop an MVP that has room for rapid and agile changes.
Wrapping Up
Don’t forget, building an MVP means enrolling in a learning process, where you learn more and more about your target audience. It provides you the confidence to serve better with subsequent releases of your product.
If you have an idea to kickstart your B2B SaaS startup, don’t skip building an MVP. Or, you can seek advice from tech experts at Quytech, CRM Development Company that has helped hundreds of startups pave the way to success.
Read other blog: https://www.quytech.com/blog/how-to-successfully-build-saas-product-from-ground-up
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