Between September and November last year, I worked with two amazing minds from the Stanford University to design - from scratch - the MVP for their application.
Here are the 5 key concepts that made this possible:
Move fast
Iterating - getting content out there is the main goal of an MVP.
I like to think of projects like that as the perfect representation of the Pareto principle, it’s really easy to reach 80% of the MVP, but aiming for any additional % is going to cost you exponentially more time and resources.
“If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” - Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn
Pick a style & stick to it
It doesn’t have to be the best. It should act as a guideline, having clear design decisions helps for:
- Brand position & recognition
- Looking professional & reliable You want people to trust you, and to remember you & what you do.
Focus on 1 or 2 core features
No need to do it all, we’re testing the waters.
People remember ChatGPT, people remember Google. They rarely remember “the feature that allows them to interact with their database in real-time and without any code”
Instead, make your features marketable, by crafting one or two great features, making them simple to use, lovable, and, most importantly, memorable.
Keep it coming… but for later
When trying to build fast, the last thing we want is noise. Keep ideas and considerations in a list for post-launch:
- Dark theme
- 50+ custom icon sets
- Advanced data display, etc.
Consider your audience
Assume the least possible about your audience - “They will know what to do”, no. Not always. Make it simple for them. They’ll like you more for it.
Simplicity and speed often lead to success.