MVP as a Service: What It Is and When to Use It
There are plenty of ways you can approach minimum viable product development. You can use some drag-and-drop tools to piece together something basic. You can find a freelancer or two to assist you or assemble your own team through internal hires.
But opting for an MVP as a service (MVPaaS) could be a complete game-changer for startups and businesses that wish to streamline product development. The upsides? For starters, you get to bring your ideas to life without spending years developing an early version of your product. And the best part is that you don't waste time on finding and hiring people in-house, worrying about managing timelines, or puzzling your brains about the toughest questions like which tech stack is best for now and the long-term goals.
Instead of that, you get a ready-to-go team of experts who specialize in building lean products. They can give you all the guidance you need on how to reach your goals most optimally and help you get from Idea Lane to Successful MVP Release Avenue.
On this page, we'll explore when MVPaaS can be a good idea, outline how such collaborations typically work, and share recommendations on which factors to consider when selecting a partner.
What Is an MVP as a Service?
Think of the MVP as a service (MVPaaS) model as a hassle-free and quick way to bring your product idea to life using a dedicated third-party team. This will let you validate the concept without hiring people in-house and diving headfirst into a full-blown product development cycle with a big rollout.
In this event, you entrust a company that offers launching MVP services to handle the entire process of building an MVP for you from discovery to launch, delivering a functional version of your product as agreed. This collaboration is sort of like a fast pass to innovation, as you focus on the vision, and your MVP partner takes responsibility for the execution, saving you time, money, and a whole lot of headaches.
When Should You Opt for an MVP as a Service?
There are multiple cases when MVPaaS can be a good idea, and it always goes down to your business or startup budget, goals, and timing. Let's map out scenarios when turnkey MVP services are most useful.
Startups Without a Tech Team
Many ventures at an early stage have a brilliant idea but no people to execute it. Attempting to tackle minimum viable product creation on your own can be overwhelming. So if a startup lacks its own design and technical departments, tapping into a partner's talent pool and getting a ready-assembled and well-versed team may be a great way out. This move can visibly save time on hiring internally and cut tech team costs, as well as help secure early investor confidence.
How exactly? Well, for example, although many startups think it's wise to cut corners with no-code MVPs, they struggle to convince investors with an MVP like that. That's because investors usually care about the quality of the product they consider funding, so it's vital to have a decent solution to demonstrate even if it's small. And you won't get that done without the tech minds.
If You Have Doubts Regarding MVP Execution
Whether it's your first time approaching MVP creation or you aren't sure about how to build it most optimally in terms of budget, tech, and scaling, MVPaaS is a solid option. This way, you don't have to make the product development calls alone or get lost in technical details. You not only get the hands to design, code, and release the product, but also the guidance from a team of seasoned professionals who understand the intricacies and can advise on the strategy, design solutions, and the tech stack to use.
When In-house Teams Can't Handle a New Project
Likewise, larger and more established companies that need an MVP but whose in-house tech resources are limited can make use of MVPaaS. This may be handy for those who want to experiment with a new product idea, short-lived trend, feature, market expansion, or emerging technology.
Leaving MVP development to outsourced partners can free up the internal team and resources. This lets everyone carry on with other vital tasks without any core process or operation interruptions, sacrifices, or reprioritization.
What Are the MVP as a Service Benefits?
Of course, every hiring path has its ups and downs. For some projects, having an in-house team available full-time and for a long time can make sense. But here are a few major reasons why an MVP as a service may be a smart choice.
Tapping into Technical Expertise
An undeniable pro of opting for an MVP as a service is that you may get technical expertise that might otherwise be out of reach. These people have done it before lots of times, so they have a wealth of previous experience and can share their expert opinions on how to execute the product best. They can give advice on the architecture, infrastructure, security, payment systems, as well as what to custom-code and which parts can be linked up using third-party integrations to save resources.
It's a big win that leads to expert-driven development, especially if you aren't a techie and don't understand the peculiarities and available paths. And provided that you find a decent MVPaaS partner, it won't go down to just the execution plan, you'll get a solid blueprint strategic foundation for future growth.
Cutting Costs on Internal Hires
An MVP project often implies short-term timelines with releases happening after just about three months. This is why not all companies are willing to spend significant funds on internal hires that may last only a quarter of the year. Not to mention that employees might not be willing to commit to short contracts either.
Let's face it, a fully staffed technical department implies a heavy overhead and incurs long-term expenses. An MVP as a service is a cost-effective alternative. It provides a professional ready-to-go team, so you thus bypass the need to waste resources on hiring startup developers, which means screening, interviews, onboarding, providing hardware, training, and getting the team to click. So if budget constraints are a matter of concern, turnkey MVPs are budget-friendly and grant access to seasoned professionals without spending too much on putting together an internal team from scratch.
Accelerating MVP Release
If launching a minimum viable product as quickly as possible without compromising quality is your aim, an MVP as a service is something you might want to take advantage of. Such development and agile MVPs in general are all about rapid iterations.
Again, you don't waste time on hiring designers, project managers, developers, and so on one by one. This means you can build a fully functional, market-ready product faster than if you were to assemble an in-house team from scratch. A team that's built dozens of such products can mean fewer MVP mistakes, delays, and do-overs at your expense. Because their processes run like clockwork, your chances of capturing the market at just the right moment are higher.
Predictable Timeline and Clear Communication
As a rule, the MVP roadmap is transparent. Yes, it may be adjusted, yet the fundamental pillars forming the product's core are habitually signed off and don't change much before release. This also means you're safeguarded from unexpected budget overruns or unforeseen launch delays.
Plus, you stay in touch with the team and get regular updates. Communication with MVP service providers continues at every step of the project. As such, it may be weekly with detailed reports and results shown after every two-week sprint.
Adjustable Team Composition and Scope
Unlike fixed-price projects, MVPs are about flexibility and agility. If you decide to change the scope, prioritized features, or team size, it's completely doable. Since such projects are dynamic, with MVPaaS, you can add more talent or increase the feature set according to your vision. And it typically happens fast, as the vendor's talent pool is at your fingertips.
Possibilities for Ongoing Support
Moreover, MVP as a service companies commonly provide ongoing support. Continuous collaboration opportunities mean you can count on them to scale or iterate the product after MVP release. When the same team that built the initial version of the product works on adding new features or making tweaks, such additions and changes usually go smoother than if someone else approaches such tasks.
What to Expect from an MVP as a Service?
What should you count on getting if you opt for an MVP as a service? If you decide to choose this collaboration type, there are several things that should be a part of your expectations.
First of all, the ultimate deliverable is a functioning MVP, not just a product prototype. This implies that you're hiring a team that'll go through an end-to-end development process that'll turn your idea into something working and scalable. If a company says that the end result is a prototype, don't fall for it, hit "next".
If you haven't gone through the discovery phase and don't have all the answers to the big questions like which technology stack to use and which apps to integrate, then a decent MVP as a service provider should offer you discovery services and a tech consultation. During your initial communication, they could share a basic vision of how they'll approach the MVP, and if you start working together, you should expect not only clean code but a well-documented overview of the tech decisions and why these paths are optimal. You wouldn't want to overpay for outdated, dinosaur programming languages, agree? Just as you wouldn't want to pay for an MVP created with a no-code tool that you'll have to rebuild from scratch later or pay for unnecessary custom coding when a ready-made solution can be plugged in for some parts, right?
A clear and consistent timeline is also important. As a rule, MVP projects usually take around three months to complete. This estimate can go up if you have intricate technology, like generative AI app creation. If someone says they'll get it done in two weeks, raise your eyebrow in suspicion.
Topping that, expect to get a versatile team. Although the composition and number of people can change, you should have at least a UX/UI designer, several front-end and back-end developers, a QA tester, and possibly a project manager assigned to your project.
Mind how people are involved and what you're paying for. The final quote has to be transparent. It's often based on each specialist's rates multiplied by the hour. For example, if a designer will be working full-time during the first month and practically won't be involved much during the third, the quote shouldn't include 40-hour week payments for the specialist for all three months.
It's also worth expecting clarity regarding inclusions and the plan. Certainly, the entire minimum viable product concept implies that the feature set will be limited. However, due to in-depth pre-development planning and research work, you'll have a clear MVP scope and execution plan for the team to follow for the first release and consequent scaling milestones. We'll go over the process of how all of this works in detail in the next section.
How Does an MVP as a Service Work?
What is the MVP as a service process like? In this section, we'll go over the typical phases and steps that client companies and MVP service providers typically go through in the course of a project.
Initial Consultation with the MVP Company
When the client company is "shopping around", they shortlist a few potential partners and book a call. That's why it all usually starts with an introductory consultation. During this meetup, both parties discuss the product idea and business goals. They can also shed light on the budget, time frames, as well as other vitals on the MVP team's end. This ensures people are on the same page and that the MVP partner understands the vision and needs. Note whether the vendor offers guidance on technology choices and industry trends.
They also cover what's already been done up to this point, as the project's depth of pre-development preparation may differ greatly. This point can set the tone for the entire product development journey. Most companies have at least gone through proof of concept before reaching out to MVP teams though.
Team Acquaintance and Formal Agreements
Once there's a mutual understanding, the client company can set up another call to meet the team who'll build the MVP. Some prefer to get acquainted with the key members or certain roles like the project manager, designer, or developers early on to ensure their qualifications and experience are top-notch. It also allows to evaluate how well the provider and individuals communicate.
At this point, there could be formal agreements about alignment and collaboration. As such, if the partner is open to regular updates, transparent about timelines, and proactive in discussing potential challenges, pivots, or scope adjustments this is a good sign. Additionally, collaboration tools and custom procedures can be brought up to prevent misunderstandings down the road.
Contract Signing and Defining Deliverables
If everything is good, both parties move forward with signing contracts and other documents. They should cover lots of things from initial strategy and design to development and deployment. It should indicate the project scope, the milestones and deadlines, terms, pricing, and so on. This agreement clarifies responsibilities, the development timeline, budget considerations, and the communication process to keep everything on track.
The Discovery Phase and Planning
When the legal and organizational groundwork is complete, the team moves into the product discovery phase (unless it was already handled by the client company). If not, the MVP team devotes approximately two weeks following a discovery phase checklist and covers lots of pre-development essentials.
Together they define the core problem the product should solve, identify the target audience, conduct market research, and competitive analysis. They can also do UX discovery, make user personas, and utilize various frameworks to outline the must-have features that align with real customer needs and have to be present in the first version of the product. All of this helps ensure your MVP stands out, serves a real demand, and is strategically positioned for success.
They also evaluate the technical side of the project, noting all vitals like the infrastructure, architecture, programming languages, tech stack, and integrations with specific third-party tools. Once the research is complete, the MVP team shares their findings. The result of this phase is a well-defined product roadmap with design concepts and technical specifications, setting clear expectations for development.
UX/UI Design and Roadmap Verification
From there, the focus shifts to UX/UI design. The designer creates wireframes and prototypes to visualize the user experience. This is necessary to make certain that the interface is intuitive and user-friendly. After several iterations and tests, the client can get access to interactive and clickable prototypes that model the look and feel of the future product.
The MVP design has to get approved before any code is written. Client confirmation is crucial for smooth execution, any necessary adjustments have to be made before development begins. Otherwise, there could be costly changes and timeline extensions due to do-overs later in the process.
MVP Development and QA Testing
Once the plan is locked in, the MVP development phase starts. The developers handle the backend setups and build the core functionality according to the approved designs. They often utilize agile methodologies, so the process is split into two-week sprints with something tangible to present after each one. Such continuous progress monitoring and regular check-ins are considered best practices as there are regular feedback loops to refine features and make adjustments.
The solution also undergoes quality assurance testing before launch. QA engineers test the working product and note what bugs need fixing to improve performance and optimize usability.
Deploy and Post-Launch Support
If everything is running smoothly, the MVP is deployed. After release, the client's team or the MVP team monitors early user interactions, gathers feedback, tracks performance, and defines areas of improvement. And since some providers also offer ongoing support as an additional service, lots of teams continue working on consequent post-MVP milestones, adding on features and expanding the product in the next development phases.
How to Select an MVP Service Provider
Picking the right team to partner up with is a strategic decision. Since there are tons of companies providing launching MVP services, you need to shortlist the skilled and trustworthy ones within your budget range. Here's a list of 9 aspects and factors to mind when browsing and comparing options to guide your decision.
1. Track record — You need to find out as much as you can about their experience like years on the market, relevant certifications, and other points that can prove expertise.
2. Portfolio — Evaluate the case studies and examples of previous projects to see which challenges and problems were solved, and what could be delivered in terms of design, development, and tangible outcomes.
3. Own products — Those MVP as a service companies that also have their own products often possess deeper business insight, so it could be a good indicator that they understand both tech and business aspects.
4. Referrals — Verify that these people are the real deal by browsing client testimonials and on and off-site reviews on platforms like GoodFirms, and don't be shy to ask for references, or even take the time to reach out directly to past clients to chat about their experience working with the MVP company to avoid potential red flags.
5. Team size — You're looking for a balance here, if the team is too small like under twenty people, it could struggle with flexibility and scaling, yet an excessively large one that's over 200 people might not provide the needed personal attention.
6. Team location — What is more, remote collaboration with nearshore or offshore options like European partners can offer cost savings, check this point along with time zones if you don't want to compromise communication.
7. Tech fit — Keep an eye on the programming languages in focus, an overly broad tech stack should cause suspicion as it might mean the company didn't master anything in particular which can potentially harm the quality of your project's execution.
8. Pricing — Direct hiring is costly, but if you can't afford to spend a fortune on a turnkey MVP, then look through the pricing options, package offers, hourly rates, as well as inclusions (don't compare only the numbers in the quotes, inclusions and terms are at times more important since you may face hidden fees).
9. Ask questions — Finally, to get a better understanding of whether this partnership is a strategic fit inquire about things that matter to you including the possible timeline, as ideally, you're looking for someone not only with technical expertise but who can act as a trusted advisor, offering insights that can help shape your MVP.
Looking for a reliable tech partner?
Upsilon can help you plan and develop an MVP that'll grow to be a success!
Final Thoughts on MVPaaS
Using MVP creation services can be an awesome way to outsource a project to experts. Whether you need additional guidance or extra hands for development, a well-versed team can make it happen in short timeframes.
Importantly, MVP projects aren't just a task handover, it's an opportunity for in-depth discussion. The MVP development company is committed to providing expert guidance and optimal solutions with regular sprint reviews and communication to make sure the client company is never in the dark. And the collaboration can grow into a true partnership with after MVP release milestones handled by the same team.
If you're looking for a capable executor and a valuable extension of your team, consider Upsilon's MVP development services. We typically kickstart such projects with a two-week discovery phase and deliver a functioning quality MVP within three months. Feel free to contact us to discuss your ideas!
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