How to Develop an MVP: Steps, Process & Practical Tips

Just like any other development, there are some proven steps, processes, and practical ways to have a successful MVP development. You may think: is it necessary to follow these regular steps, and what if I do it in my own way? But the fact is that these are the best ways to succeed in MVP development and save costs too. In simple words, if you know the route map, milestones, possible hindrances, shortcuts, and final destination, the journey will be smooth and successful.

The demand for MVP development is on the rise, and many businesses are planning to make use of it. But many of them are still not clear about where to begin and how the whole process will be. At the same time, many businesses have already gotten into MVP development and have gotten stuck in some stage, or things are going beyond the expected budget. That's why here we are going to see how to develop an MVP step by step.

Here we will discuss all the relevant things you need to know about MVP development, including how to develop an MVP, how to plan it, how long it will take to develop an MVP, how much time to develop an MVP, or how to develop a prototype for an MVP. This blog is the best guide for your MVP development and even beyond, for the major development project.

What Is an MVP?

Let's begin with a clear idea of what you are going to build. Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is the simplest version that you want to launch, meaning the mini version. In MVP, we add only the core features, and the purpose of an MVP development is to:

• Validate your idea
• Get user feedback
• Reduce development time
• Minimize risk
• Cut down the development cost
• Learn what works
• Scale wisely

So, in short, MVP development helps you to find whether your new idea is really a great one or not. When you have clarity on this, you can invest wisely and go ahead with the final development.

Benefits of MVP Development

You know, businesses are always counting on the benefits of each project they invest in. Do you know why MVP development is in high demand, and businesses prioritize MVP development in all their major development projects? It's simple, the countless benefits of MVP development include:

• Ensure project success
• Shortens development time
• Reduces development waste
• Helps discover product-market fit
• Saves money
• Eliminate reworks
• Helps to choose the necessary features
• Allows live improvements

If MVP is very beneficial for businesses, then businesses must make use of it. But the important thing is to develop it in the right process and steps. As a leading MVP development company with 100+ MVP development project experience, Fulminous Software is going to reveal how to develop an MVP in the next section.

How to Develop an MVP: Step-by-Step Process

Do you know why you need to know the MVP development steps and process? Because if you have knowledge of the MVP development process, you can set realistic budgets, set milestones, evaluate the success of each stage, and escape from all the possible mistakes of missing important MVP development steps.

For a clear understanding, we will divide the MVP development process into simple 7 steps and discuss what happens in each stage. If you want a perfect answer for how to develop an MVP, you need to know these steps:

Step 1. Define the Core Goal

When you introduce a new digital product, it should meet user demands in real life. So the first step in how to develop an MVP—you know the core goal of your MVP development projects. Otherwise, your project may move like a wandering ship in the vast ocean, which means defining the core goal of MVP development project will give you the right route map and take you on the right track.

If you have a scratch idea and need assistance to define the core goal, you can hire MVP development consulting services. Fulminous Software has a specialist team to give you guidance on MVP development.

Step 2. Understand Your Target Audience, Market & Competitor

The next step of MVP development is studying deeply about the users, market, and current business competitors. This is only possible with deep research, which can be easily done with the assistance of top MVP development experts. What if you skip this step? Just think what will happen when you are developing a dating app MVP focusing on Gen Z, and you don't know about the demands of Gen Z, marketing trends, and how leading companies work. That's why understanding users, the market, and competitors is important.

Step 3. Prioritize Features Strategically

As you now have clarity on the goal, users, market, and competitors, it's time to choose the features. Choosing the right features and prioritising them is one of the most important stages of MVP development. Because this single step can highly influence the cost and how long it will take to develop an MVP. You can use MoSCoW or other frameworks to prioritize MVP solutions to 3 categories:

• Must-have features (included now)
• Should-have features (include in next phase)
• Could-have features (include in future)

Not only for MVP development, but the process of prioritising the features decides the development of the full product also. An MVP development company with experience in various industries can help you with this step.

Step 4. Develop a Prototype for an MVP

Prototyping is another important step in how to develop an MVP effectively. Many businesses are not aware of how to develop a prototype for an MVP and why it is useful. This phase reduces much time to develop an MVP because it gives you a clear picture of how your MVP looks after development, and it identifies issues before real development begins. A prototype may include:

• Low-fidelity wireframes
• UI drafts
• Clickable mockups in Figma
• Visual layout of screens

In simple words, a prototype decides the user flow and design of your MVP. Top-notch MVP development agencies like Fulminous Software have specialist developers for developing prototypes for MVP.

Step 5. Build the MVP

Even though all the above steps are part of MVP development, the ultimate answer for how to develop an MVP is in this stage. Yes, then comes the main MVP development stage, where MVP developers turn your business idea into realistic digital products. This development stage may take more time than all other stages, but completely dependent on the project complexity. The development process includes:

• Setting up the architecture
• Coding core features
• Integrating essential APIs
• Building a simple backend
• Developing the front-end UI

Step 6. Test and Launch the MVP

Now comes the testing and launch stage, where top MVP developers test the MVP, fix all the issues, and launch the MVP in real-life scenarios. For a better full product development, it is necessary to test MVP at various levels and evaluate performance after launching on various platforms or real-world scenarios.

For example, if you want to check how your product deals with heavy traffic, the developers create a heavy traffic situation and evaluate the performance. All these are similar to that of a full product development. So you need to collaborate with experts in MVP testing and launch services.

Step 7. Collect Feedback & Iterate

Once you run MVP in real-life scenarios and various platforms, you can collect useful insights and feedback. So collect feedback and insights to improve:

• Performance
• User satisfaction
• User engagement
• Add new features
• Improve existing ones
• Fix issues
• Adjust product roadmap

This step may repeat a few times before getting into the full product. Because each time we are refining the product idea. Using these insights and feedback, top software development companies can help you begin the development of a full product.

How Long Will it Take to Develop an MVP?

The time needed to develop an MVP is one of the major concerns of businesses that get into MVP development services. Especially startups with limited time and cost always ask, "How long will it take to develop an MVP?" or "How much time to develop an MVP?" But the reality is that the time needed to develop an MVP mainly depends on the complexity of the MVP you want to develop. Here’s a realistic timeline:

MVP Type	How Long Will It Take to Develop an MVP
Simple MVP	4–8 weeks
Moderate MVP	8–14 weeks
Complex MVP	3–6 months

No matter how complex your project is, a leading MVP development company like Fulminous Software is proficient in delivering MVP solutions within your time schedule. Experienced MVP development agencies like Fulminous Software have bigger MVP development teams with multiple experts, and they follow proven strategies to speed up the MVP development services.

Tips to Speed Up MVP Development

In the current market scenario, if you lack speed in launching your new digital product, it’s an advantage for your business rivals, and they may launch a similar one before you. While accelerating the MVP development, there is a possibility of a rush that causes many mistakes.

But there are proven strategies to speed up MVP development without compromising the quality and eliminating all the pitfalls in MVP development. Only an experienced MVP development company can reveal the best practical tips to speed up MVP development and cast out all your concerns about how much time to develop an MVP.

• Stick to must-have features
• Use no-code or low-code tools where possible
• Reuse templates and UI kits
• Outsource to experienced MVP developers
• Keep the architecture simple
• Build prototypes early

These tips can speed up the overall MVP development, and the most important tip is to outsource the MVP development project to a team of experienced MVP developers like Fulminous Software.

How Much Does It Cost to Develop an MVP?

The costs of MVP development are another major concern of businesses. When it comes to the investment, many factors can determine the overall cost. A clear understanding of MVP development costs enables businesses to prepare a better budget for MVP development projects. The average cost to develop an MVP is:

• Basic MVP: $10,000 – $30,000
• Moderate MVP: $30,000 – $80,000
• Complex MVP: $80,000 – $200,000+

Tips to reduce MVP development costs

If you know how to develop an MVP, tie up with an affordable MVP development services provider, and follow strategies for cost-effective MVP development, the costs of MVP development will be minimal. A top MVP development services provider like Fulminous Software offers MVP development at the best prices, and we follow these tips :

• Begin with a clear budget
• Build only core features first.
• Use reusable templates.
• Choose an affordable tech stack.
• Keep scalability as a preference.
• Validate ideas using prototypes.
• Avoid perfection
• Focus on functionality

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Developing an MVP

Businesses, especially startups, rush into MVP development projects and miss the proper steps and methods. The excitement or concern about how long it will take to develop an MVP is the reason behind this rush. This may lead to some common mistakes while developing MVP, including:

• Building too many features
• Ignoring user research
• Overcomplicating the architecture
• Skipping prototypes
• Ignoring user feedback

Instead of saving your time, these mistakes increase how long it will take to develop an MVP. But these are easily avoidable mistakes with the assistance of a leading MVP development services provider like Fulminous Software. If you want to develop an MVP, always stay in touch with a top MVP development consulting company and take guidance in each step from strategy formation to post-launch upgrading.

How to Develop an MVP for Startups

Do you know that more than 72% of startups prefer MVP development, which shows how beneficial it is for startups? Yes, comparatively, startups are the major beneficiaries of development services. So, when we consider how to develop an MVP for startups, we have to consider the pulse of startups and the limitations they face.

In terms of resources and investment, they may have limitations. Also, most of the startups demand for fast launch due to business rivals. In such scenarios, only an experienced MVP developer can offer the ideal MVP solutions. Yes, a good MVP development company that can stay with startups beyond MVP development, throughout the development process. Key steps of MVP development for startups include:

• Validating the idea early
• Focusing on core feature
• Building quickly with low-cost tools
• Launching to small test groups
• Iterating continuously

If you are a startup looking to develop an MVP, the first thing you need to do is collaborate with an MVP development company that knows the limitations and strong points of the startup. For example, Fulminous Software is a leading MVP app development company for startups. If you want to know more about how we specialise in MVP app development, read this guide.

How to Develop a Prototype for an MVP

A prototype is one of the most important stages of MVP development. Prototyping in an MVP development gives you complete control over the design and what your final product may look like. Prototyping is the best way to eliminate rework, and it also makes development smooth. If you want to understand how to develop a prototype for an MVP, follow these 5 simple steps:

1. Sketch rough screens
2. Create wireframes
3. Build a clickable mockup in Figma or XD
4. Test the prototype with users
5. Refine based on feedback

As prototyping is a non-skippable step in MVP development, you need assistance from the top MVP development team with UI UX design specialists. Fulminous Software is one of the best examples of this. Fulminous Software has a strong MVP development team with 15+ skilled developers who know how to develop a prototype for an MVP.

Examples of Popular MVP Success Stories

All these are not imaginary theories. In real-life scenarios, there are many businesses that followed all the proper steps and tips in MVP development and succeeded. Here are some examples of leading businesses that used MVP development in the proper methods and witnessed drastic benefits.

Company	MVP Description	Benefits
Dropbox	Made a short demo video Showed how the product would work Tested interest before building	Saved development cost Quickly proved user demand Attracted early users and investors
Airbnb	Built a basic website Listed the founders’ apartment Checked if people would book	Validated idea at zero cost Confirmed real customer need Gained first paying users
Uber	Connected riders and drivers only No advanced features Tested simple ride booking	Fast launch Immediate user feedback Proved demand for on-demand rides
Spotify	Released desktop-only app Included only streaming Tested listening experience	Avoided building unneeded features Attracted music lovers quickly Showed strong market potential
Facebook	Started as a student directory Only for Harvard users Tested online social networking	Built a strong initial community Grew step-by-step to other schools Validated social connection demand

These examples show how businesses succeeded with clear ideas on how to develop an MVP. The inspiring stories of Uber MVP, Airbnb MVP, and Dropbox MVP are an encouragement for businesses like yours to make use of MVP development services and easily launch your business idea.

Fulminous Software: The Ideal Partner for MVP Development

Just look around, you may find many MVP development companies. But there are several unique reasons that make Fulminous Software special than all other choices.

• Understand Your Idea Clearly: The basic quality of an MVP Development company is to conceive the same idea as the client, and Fulminous Software is proficient in that.
• Builds MVPs Fast: Fulminous Software knows how to develop MVPs fast, and we always focus on maintaining professional standards to satisfy clients with delivery on the right time.
• Affordable for All Businesses: MVP development solutions of Fulminous Software are accessible for all businesses, and we even offer flexible packages to hire MVP developers at minimum hourly rates.
• Top Team: Fulminous Software has a strong and complete MVP development team with specialists in UI UX design, developers, project managers, testing experts, and post-launch support experts.
• Clear Communication: Fulminous Software guarantees there will be no deviation from the project plans, we stick to your digital product idea, and inform you of daily updates through proper communication channels.

• Strong Design Skills: The UI UX design team of Fulminous Software is well aware of how to develop an MVP and how to develop a prototype for an MVP, so the design of the MVPs will be the same as what your ideas say.
• Incredible Experience: The MVP development team of Fulminous Software has worked with businesses from various parts of the world, and developers have built advanced MVP solutions for them. This experience will be useful for your project.
• Flexible and Supportive: In each stage of the MVP development process, Fulminous Software is flexible to adapt to your feedback and adjust quickly. At the same time, our experts will be in touch with you and support you in modifying the digital product based on user-centric demands.
• Reliable and Transparent: Each activity of the MVP development projects at Fulminous Software will be transparent, and there will be no hidden activities or charges. This 100% transparency encourages you to rely on our company.
• Helps You Grow: When Fulminous Software helps you as an MVP development partner, our focus is not limited to giving some MVP solutions, but we deliver all the necessary support to help you grow your business.

If you want to choose the right MVP development team that gives advanced MVP solutions, contact us now and collaborate with our MVP development team.

Conclusion

Now you have a clear understanding of how to develop an MVP. Then let's begin the MVP development process with our leading MVP development company. Fulminous Software is a top-notch MVP development company with 6+ years of experience in developing affordable MVP solutions.

If you are stuck developing a new digital product or looking to launch a new digital product, Fulminous Software can assist you with both MVP development and major project development. Contact us now and get the best MVP solutions!

FAQs

Q1. What is an MVP in software development?

An MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is the simplest version of a digital product, meaning a mini version of your software, digital product, or mobile app. It includes only core features that are enough to validate the idea.

Q2. How long will it take to develop an MVP?

It's not possible to answer how long it takes to develop an MVP in a single sentence, because it varies for each project. But the general timeline is:

• Simple MVP: 4–8 weeks
• Moderate MVP: 8–14 weeks
• Complex MVP: 3–6 months

Q3. How much does MVP development cost?

Fulminous Software offers affordable MVP development services, and the MVP development cost can be between $10,000 and $200,000+. The factors influencing MVP development cost include platform (web, mobile, both), number of features, UI/UX complexity, and developer location and expertise.

Q4. Why is MVP development important for startups?

Startups often have limitations on resources, money, time, and teams. In such situations, MVPs help validate ideas before investing heavily. They also enable startups to test market demand, attract investors, reduce risks, iterate faster, and gather user feedback.

Q5. What features should be included in an MVP?

An MVP includes only the minimum and core features necessary to evaluate the performance of the software and validate the business idea.

Q6. How is an MVP different from a prototype?

A prototype is a visual or clickable representation used to test design and user flow, whereas an MVP is a functional mini version of the product that can be tested in real-life scenarios.

Q7. Can an MVP be scaled into a full product?

Yes. An MVP is the foundation for your full product. Once you gather insights from the MVP, you can refine and scale it into a complete product.