MVP Masterclass: How to Launch Your Startup Idea The SMART Way

The path from a cracking idea to a thriving business is, let’s be honest, a bit of a minefield. For tech entrepreneurs, one of the first, and arguably most vital, hurdles is hammering that initial concept into something real, something you can test in the market. This is an MVP – Minimum Viable Product. But what on earth is an MVP, really, and how can founders like you steer its development to give your venture the best shot at success?

Angelo Zanetti, the CEO of Elemental, popped onto “From Garage Growth” recently, dishing out some serious pearls of wisdom on the MVP game. Elemental, for those not in the know, is a web and software development outfit that crafts bespoke web and app solutions, offering consulting, e-commerce, SaaS development, and digital transformation for all sorts of businesses. They’re the go-to for highly customised web applications and slick, user-friendly websites that just work. Angelo’s own story, from an intern staring down the barrel of the .com bust to helming a 25-strong team, speaks volumes about the gritty, real-world graft of building a tech business from scratch. Elemental’s sharp focus on start-ups and scale-ups, as Angelo highlighted, means they’re right in the trenches, understanding the blood, sweat, and tears that go into launching new digital products.

Getting Your Head Around the Lingo: Prototype, MVP, and the Full Monty

Before you even think about how to build an MVP, you’ve got to understand where it fits in the grand scheme of product development. Angelo lays it out nicely and clearly:

• Prototype: Picture this as the architect’s drawing for your product. “A prototype is typically a set of wireframes that have been designed,” Angelo explains. These are essentially skeleton sketches of your screens, all linked up to show how a user might journey through your app or site. Users can click about and get a feel for it, but nothing works under the bonnet. “There’s no functionality that’s been developed at all in this stage,” he stresses. It’s your visual sandpit for playing with and refining how users will interact with your idea.
• Minimum Viable Product (MVP): Right now, we’re talking actual functionality, but this is key with an almost ruthless focus on the absolute essentials. Angelo nails it when he calls an MVP “the most leanest and minimal set of features and functionality to launch with so that users can basically test whether their idea or concept has got traction.” The magic words here are “minimum” and “viable.” It must work, it must deliver that core bit of value, but absolutely no “nice to have features or features that aren’t necessarily needed for launch.”

• Full-Fledged Product (or The Full Monty, if you will): This is your all-singing, all-dancing version. It’s loaded with advanced features, clever functionalities, integrations with other platforms, snazzy reporting systems, and automation. Crucially, as Angelo points out, “many of the features that are included in this version of the product have been validated that they’re needed.” They didn’t just get thrown in on a whim.

The Scoping Game: Why Less is Often Your Best Bet (Enter MoSCoW)

Let’s be frank: loads of founders, buzzing with their brilliant idea, imagine their product with every bell and whistle attached. “A lot of founders think that their platform… needs a whole lot of features. But in reality, it probably needs less features than they think,” Angelo wisely cautions. This is where getting your scoping right isn’t just important – it’s everything.

Angelo is a big fan of the MoSCoW framework for getting feature priorities straight (and no, it’s got nothing to do with a trip to Russia):

“By applying a Moscow framework,” Angelo elaborates, “teams like ours can focus on delivering the most critical functionality and features first, meaning we can go to market quicker.” And getting to market with something that works, quickly, is the name of the game.

Testing the Waters: Does Your Idea Float?

The whole point of an MVP isn’t just to get something “out there”; it’s to learn. “You’re trying to confirm that your MVP is adding value… solving a problem,” says Angelo. A lean, focused MVP lets you:

• Get Genuine User Feedback: Launching, even a basic version, gets your product into the hands of real people. This means real, honest feedback and data on how they’re using it (or not).
• Gauge Market Interest: Are people biting? High uptake and proper engagement? Brilliant, you might be onto something. Radio silence or users dropping off sharpish? “It shows you like, hey. You’re kind of on the wrong path,” Angelo notes.
• Pivot or Persevere (and Refine!): That feedback loop is pure gold. It’s what helps you truly understand if your grand idea is hitting the mark, and gives you the intel to “pivot and change direction if you need to or, you know, refine things to make the offering a little bit better.”

The Build Itself: Laying Solid Foundations

So, you’ve scoped your MVP. Now, how do you build the thing? While those no-code and low-code platforms might look tempting for a quick win, Angelo and his team at Elemental take a different tack. “We’re not really big fans of no-code and low-code platforms, and we prefer to build a solid MVP that forms the base of the project for years to come,” he asserts. Their method is about building something robust from the get-go:

1. Deep Dive & Discovery: Getting under the skin of the founder’s idea, challenging it, and thrashing it out in workshops.
2. Roadmap & Planning: Charting out what needs designing, what needs developing, and how all the bits will fit together.
3. Build, Test, Learn, Repeat: Developing the product, but constantly checking in with the client at key milestones for feedback, then tweaking and refining until the MVP is properly tested and ready for launch.

The Eternal Tug-of-War: Speed vs. Doing It Properly

The start-up world often chants the mantra of “move fast and break things.” But hold your horses. Angelo suggests a more considered approach. “We are not really big fans of launching platforms quickly that are full of bugs… you’ve got one real chance to engage with the user. And if their experience is bad… it creates a very bad first impression.” You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, right?

Elemental’s philosophy, judging by Angelo’s approach, is about smart development:

• Quality First, Always: Even if it’s just an MVP, it needs to be built properly, structured for future growth. “We prefer to do it, you know, structured correctly from the start.”
• Work Smart, Not Just Hard (Parallel Power): To keep timelines sensible without cutting corners on quality, things like interface design, backend development, and database planning can often happen at the same time, in parallel. “That way, you’re shortening the project’s overall time, and you’re still able to get to market fairly quickly.”

Launched! What Next? (Hint: The Work’s Not Over)

Getting your MVP live is a massive milestone, but it’s the starting line, not the finish. As a founder, you need to be straight onto:

• Tracking & Analysing: Keep a close eye on how people are using your platform, what they’re doing, what they’re not. The data your system collects is invaluable.
• Actively Seeking Feedback: Don’t wait for it to come to you. Run surveys, have conversations, and find out what users really think.
• Smart Iteration: Use all that data and feedback to make informed decisions about what new features to add, or what existing ones to tweak. Angelo points out that Elemental often has a good idea of future features mapped out, prioritised by impact, value, cost, and time. But, he adds, “there might be something completely that we haven’t thought about… that comes in and needs to be factored in.” You’ve got to stay agile.

Dodging Those Classic MVP Blunders

Angelo flags a couple of common traps that founders often fall into:

1. The “Everything but the Kitchen Sink” MVP: “We often see founders wanting to build and include features that are not necessary for the MVP.” It’s easy to get carried away wanting a super-polished product with all the trimmings, but you risk wasting precious time and money on things users might not even want or need. His advice? “Keep it simple.” Seriously.
2. Feature Creep Driven by Gut Feel: Adding features after the MVP launch based on a hunch or, dare we say it, ego, rather than solid proof that users want them. “Spend a bit more time validating,” Angelo urges. “Is that what users really want? Will they use it?” Ask your users, they’re the ones who’ll be using (or abandoning) your product.

Don’t Forget the Aftercare: Support & Maintenance Matter

The digital world doesn’t stand still. Once your app is out there, ongoing support and maintenance are “extremely vital,” as Angelo puts it. This isn’t just about frantically fixing bugs when they pop up. It’s about:

• Being Proactive: Spotting potential problems and sorting them before your users even notice.
• Planning for Growth: Making sure your platform can cope as more users come on board and you add more features.
• A True Partnership: Having that ongoing relationship with a development partner like Elemental means they can help you tweak, enhance, and keep your product running smoothly as it grows and evolves.

Nailing your MVP is less about a frantic sprint to launch and much more about a smart, strategic, learning-driven process. By zeroing in on that core value, being ruthless with your feature scoping, refusing to compromise on quality, and listening – really listening – to what your users are telling you, you can turn that spark of an idea into a product that’s got a fighting chance. Angelo’s straight-talking insights, forged in the real world with Elemental, offer a brilliant roadmap for any entrepreneur ready to take the plunge.