Minimum Viable Product or Multiple Facet Product? The Role of MVP in Software Startups

Abstract

Abstract. Minimum viable product (MVP) is the main focus of both business and product development activities in software startups. We empirically explored five early stage software startups to understand how MVP are used in early stages. Data was collected from interviews, observation and documents. We looked at the MVP usage from two angles, software prototyping and boundary spanning theory. We found that roles of MVPs in startups were not fully aware by entrepreneurs. Besides supporting validated learning, MVPs are used to facilitate product design, to bridge communication gaps and to facilitate cost-effective product development activities. Entrepreneurs should consider a systematic approach to fully explore the value of MVP, as a multiple facet product (MFP). The work also implies several research directions about prototyping practices and patterns in software startups.

From MVPs to Pivots: A Hypothesis-Driven Journey of Two Software Startups

“…In Software Engineering context, Nguyen Duc et al discussed the throw-away prototype and the evolutionary prototype as an MVP [17]. MVP is also considered as a type of boundary object in startup context [3].…”

“…Lean startup, a common methodology among entrepreneur, emphasizes the role of validating business ideas via building MVPs. It is also common that a pivot occurs after a series of MVPs are created [3,4]. Such a startup journey is also an artefact-creating process, given that major milestones for startups (namely: pitching events, first paid customer and fund-raising) tight to certain artefacts.…”

What Influences the Speed of Prototyping? An Empirical Investigation of Twenty Software Startups

“…Steve Blank emphasizes the goal of MVPs is "to maximize learning through incremental and iterative engineering" [2]. In the startup context, developers quickly and iteratively develop a software application to validate business ideas [12]. As such, the study of validated learning can be beneficial from Software Engineering (SE) concepts and practices, such as rapid prototypes and evolutionary prototypes [13][14][15].…”

“…In a multi-influenced context with funding, human resource and market concerns, it is crucial to understand how the speed of learning can be supported by prototyping activities and what are the influencing factors. In a previous study, we investigated how a prototype is built in software startups [12]. We found that prototyping activities as a core value of startup experimentation needed to be seen as a multifaceted phenomenon [12].…”

“…In a previous study, we investigated how a prototype is built in software startups [12]. We found that prototyping activities as a core value of startup experimentation needed to be seen as a multifaceted phenomenon [12]. In this work, we are particularly interested in the factors that slow down the learning process and those that speed it up.…”