MVPs and Ruby on Rails Served Here
Terms like minimum viable product (MVP) and pivot are explored in Steve Blank’s book The Four Steps to the Epiphany. Clients choose WisdomGroup to turn visions into MVPs, and MVPs into successful ventures.
Why Build an MVP?
As a business visionary, you know the problem you want to solve and you have a clear idea of how to solve it. But there’s one thing that nobody knows: Will people pay you to solve the problem? A well-built MVP, perhaps with a pivot or two, will lead us to the answer.
Here’s a 5-minute video on MVPs, Pivots, and the customer development process: Four Steps, Five Minutes.
What Should I Budget for an MVP?
The budget for a full-scale software project can run into six or seven figures over the course of a year. WisdomGroup advises clients to spend a smaller amount on an MVP. Why? Starting small gives the project enough room (money) to pivot if the first hypothesis guess is wrong. First guesses are almost always wrong. Building an MVP allows us to learn from real customers and ultimately build a product that customers want to buy.
Successful ventures get paid for giving customers what they want on a consistent basis. The up-front cost of an MVP is small when compared with the money we make when we succeed.
Why Ruby on Rails?
Ruby on Rails enables software developers to build better software in less time with fewer errors. Rails is ideal for web-based MVPs. In fact, many ventures continue to use Rails well past the MVP stage. Groupon, Hulu, and Twitter are a few that come immediately to mind. Here are a few more.
What About Mobile MVPs?
If your target market is mobile, WisdomGroup recommends starting with a web-based mobile app since the app is likely to need information from the web anyway. But that’s not a hard and fast rule. We collaborate with our clients to evaluate each potential MVP on a case-by-case basis.
Next Step
Contact WisdomGroup. Let’s get started on your MVP.