Lean Startup implies being more efficient by building in smaller steps, testing user feedback to what you have built and then using that learning to decide what to build next.
Lean in the sense of low-burn. Of course, many startups are capital efficient and generally frugal. But by taking advantage of open source, agile software, and iterative development, lean startups can operate with much less waste.
There are three possible learning objectives of a product or prototype:
- Learn what features are useful or needed by users
- Learn whether your product is usable
- Learn whether your product is sell-able.
Based on above leanings or steps you can then evolve your product.
It is imperative that startups reduce wasted development resources by releasing an MVP at the earliest practicable opportunity.
A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a product that has core features for a limited group – the initial users of a product.
The whole point of MVP is to deliver a product with minimal engineering cost to tell you if there is a product market fit here.
You might have to take a look at your business plan to identify the targeted customer segment and the job that this segment needs fulfilled. This should primarily drive your MVP effort.
Road map for a Startup from idea to minimum viable product :
From the perspective of developing an MVP for a web-app, there are quite a few things:
1. User Interface:
You can rapidly prototype a usable UI using frameworks like Bootstrap.
2. Server Side & Database:
MySQL or PostgreSQL: Open source, scalable, well maintained and sprawling communities they have everything you could ask from a great framework and a database to build your next web application.
3. Cloud/Deployment:
Amazon Web Services or a VPS are your best choices.
4. Tracking/Debugging:
Trello is great and free as well.
5. Version Control:
Use GIT. Github and Bitbucket are the most popular hosting providers for it.
6. MVP Development Service:
If you are looking for consulting on building an MVP, you can check out our service: MVP for Startups
All the Best !