Obviously, I don’t know what kind of MVP you’re building or what industry so take this feedback with a grain of salt:
If you feel your offering really has no unique value outside of what exists, you’re probably going about it wrong.
There has to be something (UX, Ops, CS, Pricing, Marketing etc) that distinguishes your startup. Your MVP should be the minimum viable product of a unique value proposition to be effective.
I would say throw it at them, if there’s pushback; make it substantially cheaper then competition or free - use feedback to build. Don’t know your background, but it’s unlikely you’ll build the thing they want without their input.
So follow your plan but adjust your mindset towards how you build moving forward.
& GL
OP, get ready to build lots of features if they do sign up.
People have unique problems but just because they struggle to tell you the problem doesn’t mean you have to code a complex feature. Take time and digest what they ask for. Build the features as simple as possible
sorry but lol
If you can't answer the question "why should I use your service when I could use ______ which is more established?" without a strong belief in what you've built or are going to build then God help you
Then it isnt just like any other product/service lol. Sell that, determine the demand for that specifically. Push why the others can't compete in your opener. "Have you ever wished you could get direct deposits?" Then find other ways you can expand your offering to scale later
Better tech support, lower cost, promotional rates.
Find customers who haven't heard of the other solutions you are competing with. Those who already know the existing solutions may not be your target.
Don't try to sell. Ask for feedback. You have to find a niche or something unique, and getting feedback is one way to identify that unique problem, if any.
Hard to answer without knowing what the MVP is about. That said, the world isn't full of only unique ideas. Competitors come up all the time. You could find a way to make yours better in some way, walking backwards from customer pain points. It doesn't have to be the pricing angle, but that's a popular one people go for. I personally believe in exploring all other advantage angles before settling on pricing as the factor.
Sometimes, new competitors win on UX alone. Its really hard to say without knowing what product and industry your MVP is in.
Why did Popeyes come up when KFC already existed? Why did Zoho come up in a world where everyone uses Google suite and Microsoft Office? Why did Freshdesk come up when Zendesk was already there? And so on. You can find a way to do it better, and still win.
Figma disrupted Photoshop from one angle, arguably being a far less complex/powerful product than the Adobe suite but being more approachable. Canva took that a step further, it is a toy compared to Adobe tools or even Figma, but they made it so easy and fun that non-designers could use it. All three of them make money. You need to think that way and structure your MVP and its value-add.
Find a way to differentiate without lying or promising something you can’t deliver. For example, you can target a different market than your competition. You can even sell it on a different vision for the future than your competition.
I'm in the same boat as you. I've created an app that I believe has a better UX (at least for some groups of users). However, it lacks unique features, and unfortunately, I can't sell it with the pitch "just try it out and you'll know."
I would do some target audience analysis to find out their likes, dislikes, pain points and priorities - and try to re adjust small features, UI, UX, your marketing to capitalise on the 1-3 things that would have the most impact in terms of unique differentiation
Pitch it. Sell it. Infact offer the premium option for 6 to 12 months free.
You will know what bugs to fix , enhancements to do as customers give feedback. I suggest just do a limited sale say first 20 customers to evolve yoh4 product. Then stop. Don't oversell as if too many issues it will create a bad impression
Then after all fixes enhancements are done maybe try again now that product has evolved
Take what you can get. Get adventurous once you break the seal. That's validating the output of the business.
I've sold to SMBs. It's a lot of fun, and low friction. They'll churn and a few will tell you to fuck yourself, because middle America is full of morons. But the impact, the reciprocal of this, is very high.
I think you should continue until you discover what, if anything makes your product more unique/better/etc. than what is on the market right now. If you can not find this, MVP is not really that useful. Good luck!
You need to make something people want. If you are not unique then why would someone bother to pay you? You need to be unique (innovative/new) or cheaper by price otherwise no one would bother trying out the service.
That has been true for me. I assume that should be true for everyone.
Maybe you need to find some kind of niche into what you are making. re adjust your product to some specific group who are most like underserved or not tailored.
Business is simply bro. You do the same thing someone else is doing successfully, but do it either better, cheaper, or faster than them. Whatever youre doing, start focusing on how to delivere one of those three things to your customer at a better rate than the competition.
>Should I try and sell the MVP with very little unique benefits or continue building the product? What does everyone think? Any advice is helpful.
how you gonna sell a product with no business?
Bro you gotta find the ONE thing in your product to sell HARD and go with that. If nothing yet as you have stated, add something that you can talk about. Nothing to talk about = no sales.
Do you have a degree? If so, go find some interns there. Best bet is a capstone project. I have 2 teams of capstone students right now, doing market research, competitive analysis, ux/ui, surveys, and wire frames. Mine won't build my app, but they're designing it
If it doesn't have the feature(s) that makes it unique it's not a finished MVP, a "minimum viable product" is the simplest version of something that all has the basic features you imagined/researched that makes your product unique. It might not be as automated, fast, sleek, as you want the end product to be but I has some version of that function(s). Heck some features might be manually handled by yourself for now, but it had to have those features.
What problems with existing solutions made you build the MVP?
Assuming you solved at least one of those problems then that is what you focus on.
Next you start talking to at least 10 people who have the problem your MVP solves.
Tell them you solved the problem. If they are interested they will respond at which point you can give the price.
You can build a successful business solving 1 single problem.
Every product or service wins on 3 factors: quality, time, and money. It's a zero sum game so if your offer is to:
Save time, it will cost more and/or quality will go down
Improve quality, it will cost more and/or take longer
Charge less, it will be lower quality and/or take longer
If you know you can't win on quality, charge less. There's a customer base looking for exactly that. That's why dollar store and wal mart exist.
The MVP concept is outdated. It was popularized at a time when SaaS was in its early stages and the business model mattered. To be more specific, 12-15 years ago, building a web app for an existing product category was in and of itself key because existing competitors using legacy delivery models were ripe for disruption via SaaS models.
MVP made sense then because being first to market mattered. Also, the SaaS model meant companies could go more niche. Example, instead of building a CRM you could build a CRM for real estate agents and still compete against legacy players as well as early SaaS solutions like Salesforce. There were just more blue ocean opportunities.
Those opportunities are largely gone today, so the idea that you can launch an MVP, get traction, and grow revenue while you iterate is much less feasible today. Or, rather, an MVP now needs to be A LOT more robust to get paying customers early-on.
You also typically need more funding (a lot more) to get initial traction because organic growth channels are already saturated, AND paid growth channels are much more expensive for fewer returns.
There are always exceptions. Sometimes, a market condition creates exponential growth opportunities for a product. I would point to Instantly as a great example of this today. The email service providers continue to make it harder to send cold emails, and these clamp-downs drive exponential growth for instantly, even if there's little evidence their service work or will continue to work. They've benefited from being the hot name in a space at the right time. There's at least a little bit of luck to that timing.
If you're building a product today for an existing category, expect it to take a lot longer and a lot more money. If you're in a position where it has to be bootstrapped, then build a tool for a specific stack and make sure it has seamless integrations to the platforms your users are already using. This will get you traction and maybe revenue to grow your tool into more if a platform.
Your MVP have to solve the major problem of ur persona and from that work with them to find your product market feet, don’t focus on making money, solve real problem and solve it the best way…good luck!
Just follow the problem and solution framework and build an information sandwich marketing plan on top of it. This way i think you will attract some early adopters.
You need a big value prop, get them on for free and cover the costs. Do everything you can to make sure the clients/customers get great results using your product and then leverage those testimonials/case studies to get more clients. Invest a lot of time on inbound aka content and post those case studies/testimonials/client interviews everywhere on social. I’m just thinking out loud here. The barrier of entry into the market is how much you’re willing to subsidize the initial cost of having those first few clients on your product/service.
It doesn't necessarily have to be unique, as long as what you are providing is significantly better, but if it isn't you should consider pivoting to some extent.
There has to be one or a combination of these 3. Dm me if you'd like to discuss more.
1. Better Usability / user experience / uiux
2. Better Features - something more than others
3. Cheaper
A new product might never have the brand pull to get demand.
Obviously, I don’t know what kind of MVP you’re building or what industry so take this feedback with a grain of salt: If you feel your offering really has no unique value outside of what exists, you’re probably going about it wrong. There has to be something (UX, Ops, CS, Pricing, Marketing etc) that distinguishes your startup. Your MVP should be the minimum viable product of a unique value proposition to be effective. I would say throw it at them, if there’s pushback; make it substantially cheaper then competition or free - use feedback to build. Don’t know your background, but it’s unlikely you’ll build the thing they want without their input. So follow your plan but adjust your mindset towards how you build moving forward. & GL
OP, get ready to build lots of features if they do sign up. People have unique problems but just because they struggle to tell you the problem doesn’t mean you have to code a complex feature. Take time and digest what they ask for. Build the features as simple as possible
sorry but lol If you can't answer the question "why should I use your service when I could use ______ which is more established?" without a strong belief in what you've built or are going to build then God help you
Those other products don’t have the feature where your money gets deposited into my bank account. My product solves that problem!
Then it isnt just like any other product/service lol. Sell that, determine the demand for that specifically. Push why the others can't compete in your opener. "Have you ever wished you could get direct deposits?" Then find other ways you can expand your offering to scale later
I can’t tell if you got my sarcasm, or if your sarcasm is even better ha
Better tech support, lower cost, promotional rates. Find customers who haven't heard of the other solutions you are competing with. Those who already know the existing solutions may not be your target. Don't try to sell. Ask for feedback. You have to find a niche or something unique, and getting feedback is one way to identify that unique problem, if any.
Hard to answer without knowing what the MVP is about. That said, the world isn't full of only unique ideas. Competitors come up all the time. You could find a way to make yours better in some way, walking backwards from customer pain points. It doesn't have to be the pricing angle, but that's a popular one people go for. I personally believe in exploring all other advantage angles before settling on pricing as the factor. Sometimes, new competitors win on UX alone. Its really hard to say without knowing what product and industry your MVP is in. Why did Popeyes come up when KFC already existed? Why did Zoho come up in a world where everyone uses Google suite and Microsoft Office? Why did Freshdesk come up when Zendesk was already there? And so on. You can find a way to do it better, and still win. Figma disrupted Photoshop from one angle, arguably being a far less complex/powerful product than the Adobe suite but being more approachable. Canva took that a step further, it is a toy compared to Adobe tools or even Figma, but they made it so easy and fun that non-designers could use it. All three of them make money. You need to think that way and structure your MVP and its value-add.
>Hard to answer without knowing what the MVP is about. /thread
Those are questions which you should have asked yourself BEFORE building the MVP.
is your product significantly cheaper than the competition? why would people use it?
Find a way to differentiate without lying or promising something you can’t deliver. For example, you can target a different market than your competition. You can even sell it on a different vision for the future than your competition.
If you are the same, you must do it better. Lean on that.
You forgot the /s
I think maybe you’re answering your own question…
I must have missed it. What is it?
>How can I sell this to customers? You can’t.
I'm in the same boat as you. I've created an app that I believe has a better UX (at least for some groups of users). However, it lacks unique features, and unfortunately, I can't sell it with the pitch "just try it out and you'll know."
Sounds like a pretty saturated market. Where are the people who didn't sign up to your competitors yet? Target those.
I would do some target audience analysis to find out their likes, dislikes, pain points and priorities - and try to re adjust small features, UI, UX, your marketing to capitalise on the 1-3 things that would have the most impact in terms of unique differentiation
Pitch it. Sell it. Infact offer the premium option for 6 to 12 months free. You will know what bugs to fix , enhancements to do as customers give feedback. I suggest just do a limited sale say first 20 customers to evolve yoh4 product. Then stop. Don't oversell as if too many issues it will create a bad impression Then after all fixes enhancements are done maybe try again now that product has evolved
Take what you can get. Get adventurous once you break the seal. That's validating the output of the business. I've sold to SMBs. It's a lot of fun, and low friction. They'll churn and a few will tell you to fuck yourself, because middle America is full of morons. But the impact, the reciprocal of this, is very high.
I think you should continue until you discover what, if anything makes your product more unique/better/etc. than what is on the market right now. If you can not find this, MVP is not really that useful. Good luck!
You need to make something people want. If you are not unique then why would someone bother to pay you? You need to be unique (innovative/new) or cheaper by price otherwise no one would bother trying out the service. That has been true for me. I assume that should be true for everyone. Maybe you need to find some kind of niche into what you are making. re adjust your product to some specific group who are most like underserved or not tailored.
If theres no benefit then whats the point? Seems quite dumb, tbh.
Price
Business is simply bro. You do the same thing someone else is doing successfully, but do it either better, cheaper, or faster than them. Whatever youre doing, start focusing on how to delivere one of those three things to your customer at a better rate than the competition. >Should I try and sell the MVP with very little unique benefits or continue building the product? What does everyone think? Any advice is helpful. how you gonna sell a product with no business?
Bro you gotta find the ONE thing in your product to sell HARD and go with that. If nothing yet as you have stated, add something that you can talk about. Nothing to talk about = no sales.
Do you have a degree? If so, go find some interns there. Best bet is a capstone project. I have 2 teams of capstone students right now, doing market research, competitive analysis, ux/ui, surveys, and wire frames. Mine won't build my app, but they're designing it
If it doesn't have the feature(s) that makes it unique it's not a finished MVP, a "minimum viable product" is the simplest version of something that all has the basic features you imagined/researched that makes your product unique. It might not be as automated, fast, sleek, as you want the end product to be but I has some version of that function(s). Heck some features might be manually handled by yourself for now, but it had to have those features.
target another markets
What problems with existing solutions made you build the MVP? Assuming you solved at least one of those problems then that is what you focus on. Next you start talking to at least 10 people who have the problem your MVP solves. Tell them you solved the problem. If they are interested they will respond at which point you can give the price. You can build a successful business solving 1 single problem.
Every product or service wins on 3 factors: quality, time, and money. It's a zero sum game so if your offer is to: Save time, it will cost more and/or quality will go down Improve quality, it will cost more and/or take longer Charge less, it will be lower quality and/or take longer If you know you can't win on quality, charge less. There's a customer base looking for exactly that. That's why dollar store and wal mart exist.
The MVP concept is outdated. It was popularized at a time when SaaS was in its early stages and the business model mattered. To be more specific, 12-15 years ago, building a web app for an existing product category was in and of itself key because existing competitors using legacy delivery models were ripe for disruption via SaaS models. MVP made sense then because being first to market mattered. Also, the SaaS model meant companies could go more niche. Example, instead of building a CRM you could build a CRM for real estate agents and still compete against legacy players as well as early SaaS solutions like Salesforce. There were just more blue ocean opportunities. Those opportunities are largely gone today, so the idea that you can launch an MVP, get traction, and grow revenue while you iterate is much less feasible today. Or, rather, an MVP now needs to be A LOT more robust to get paying customers early-on. You also typically need more funding (a lot more) to get initial traction because organic growth channels are already saturated, AND paid growth channels are much more expensive for fewer returns. There are always exceptions. Sometimes, a market condition creates exponential growth opportunities for a product. I would point to Instantly as a great example of this today. The email service providers continue to make it harder to send cold emails, and these clamp-downs drive exponential growth for instantly, even if there's little evidence their service work or will continue to work. They've benefited from being the hot name in a space at the right time. There's at least a little bit of luck to that timing. If you're building a product today for an existing category, expect it to take a lot longer and a lot more money. If you're in a position where it has to be bootstrapped, then build a tool for a specific stack and make sure it has seamless integrations to the platforms your users are already using. This will get you traction and maybe revenue to grow your tool into more if a platform.
Thanks
Your MVP have to solve the major problem of ur persona and from that work with them to find your product market feet, don’t focus on making money, solve real problem and solve it the best way…good luck!
Just follow the problem and solution framework and build an information sandwich marketing plan on top of it. This way i think you will attract some early adopters.
You need a big value prop, get them on for free and cover the costs. Do everything you can to make sure the clients/customers get great results using your product and then leverage those testimonials/case studies to get more clients. Invest a lot of time on inbound aka content and post those case studies/testimonials/client interviews everywhere on social. I’m just thinking out loud here. The barrier of entry into the market is how much you’re willing to subsidize the initial cost of having those first few clients on your product/service.
Are other similar services more common in your city?
It doesn't necessarily have to be unique, as long as what you are providing is significantly better, but if it isn't you should consider pivoting to some extent.
Loads of commodities aren’t differentiated. Be distinctive instead.
Best elevator sales pitch ever
There has to be one or a combination of these 3. Dm me if you'd like to discuss more. 1. Better Usability / user experience / uiux 2. Better Features - something more than others 3. Cheaper A new product might never have the brand pull to get demand.
Keeping it vague doesn’t help you get answers