What is a Low-Fidelity MVP?

My client Josephine had been kicking around the idea of a board game to add to her business for a while. She was pretty sure it was a winner – after all, her friends and family seemed to love it.

But there's a big difference between people who are close to you and your "ideal client". So, she decided to put the idea to the test and created a landing page to see if there was any interest.

Lo and behold, within minutes of going live, she started getting emails from people wanting more information! It turns out there were other people out there who wanted exactly what she had to offer. This was definitely validation that she was on to something good. After refining the concept based on feedback from her early adopters, she launched the hard game, which quickly became a huge success.

If you have an idea for a product or service, don't be afraid to put it out there and see what happens. You might just be surprised at the response you get!

Josephine's journey is a great reminder that when you validate your idea with potential customers, you can avoid spending a lot of time and money developing something that they may not even want.

Low-Fidelity MVP: A Quick and Effective Way to Validate Startup Ideas

Have you ever had an idea for a product or service that seemed like it would be successful? You might have even given the concept to some of your friends and family to test out. Even if they responded positively, the reality is, they are probably NOT your "ideal client", so it's a good idea to test the idea in the marketplace.

One way to do so is by using what's known as Low-Fidelity MVPs (minimum viable products). These are prototypes that are created with minimal effort in order to validate an idea quickly. In this post, we will discuss types of low-fidelity MVPs and when they should be used in the validation process!

What is a Low-Fidelity MVP?

A Low-Fidelity MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is an early version of a new product or website with enough features to test your main hypothesis. It’s faster and more affordable than building the real thing, but it shouldn’t be seen as fake prototype or “fake anything.” You can even offer people a discount to buy the beta version of your product.

However, a Low-Fidelity MVP can be built in many different ways and requires different skillsets:

- A Landing Page is an effective way for startups to validate their ideas without building any software. It asks visitors’ emails so you know who’s interested in your offer.

- A Concierge MVP is a service that provides the full functionality of your product but you deliver it manually instead of building software to do so.

- An Ad Campaign can validate whether people are interested in your idea with little effort and no coding involved, letting you quickly move on from ideas that don’t work.

- A Survey is a great way to validate your idea with little time and money invested. It’s helpful if you already have some data from previous customers or research.

- The Wizard of Oz MVP might be the easiest thing for nontechnical founders: You automate part of it, but people don’t know they’re talking to a machine. It can be fun and engaging for customers who like the idea of “talking” with an actual human being!

What is useful about Low-Fidelity MVPs?

They are affordable, easy, fast, real world tests that let you validate startup ideas before committing resources into building an actual product. Low-Fidelity MVPs are great for startups because they let you quickly move on from ideas that don’t work and save money before investing in building the real thing.

Low-fidelity MVPs come with different advantages:

They allow to test your idea when it is still flexible, there's no need to spend months building the prototype.

The risk of failure is lower, since you can easily change or pivot your idea without huge investments in time and money.

Low-fidelity MVPs are also useful for testing whether people will actually use your product before you start coding it. This test is especially helpful if most of your users are non-technical.

They are also great for experimenting with different monetization models without having to build the backend (e.g., subscriptions, freemiums vs. ads).

Using a Low-Fidelity MVP is especially helpful in making decisions when your business model is not clear at that point or you need data about how much people are willing to pay for your product.

What is a good example of Low-Fidelity MVP?

A great example is Dropbox. Drew Houston didn’t build the prototype first, as he had no coding experience and couldn't afford it (he was about to lose his company if he failed). Instead, on what would become their "low-fidelity" MVP, they made paper sketches of the product and showed it to their users.

Users were able to try out a very early version of Dropbox and even helped them improve its design! This allowed them to find out whether people like the idea and would actually pay for it.

Types of Low-Fidelity MVPs

• Blog posts

• Customer interviews

• Customer surveys and questionnaires

• Forum

• Landing Page

When to Use a Low-Fidelity MVP in the Validation Process?

A Low-Fidelity MVP should be used in the validation process when:

• The business model is not clear

• The product is not defined yet and you need to understand what people want

• You don't have enough resources to build a high-fidelity prototype

• You want to test different monetization models

• You're not sure about the product-market fit

• You want to test (validate) the idea with potential customers as soon as possible.

What are the Disadvantages of Low-Fidelity MVPs?

The main disadvantage of using a Low-Fidelity MVP is that you might not get accurate results because people might not be able to understand your product without seeing it in action.

Conclusion: What's Next for You and Your Startup Idea?

Now that you know about Low-Fidelity MVPs and when to use them, it's time to put this into practice! The best way to learn is by doing, so go out there and validate your startup idea using a Low-Fidelity MVP. Remember, the goal is to validate your idea as quickly and cheaply as possible.

Did you find this article helpful? Let us know in the comments below or on social media! And be sure to check out our other blog post on the topic: How to Validate Your Startup Idea in Just 48 Hours. In this post, we 'll show you how to validate your idea using a method called the "Concierge MVP." Thanks for reading!