Avoiding common MVP mistakes: imaga’s guide to a successful digital product launch

We went deep into digital product development, chatting with industry experts about the secrets to MVP success. They shared their experiences and shared invaluable tips. Their insights will help you avoid common pitfalls and ensure your first product launch is a success.

We’ve spoken to experts, including the CEO of imaga – One Digital Stop – for small and medium enterprises, Dmitry Akhmetov, Eat App’s VP of product, Joseph Boston, Viktoria Bashkite, product partnerships manager at Unifonic, and Polina Operina, head of product at Talent Inc.

About imaga

Imaga is supporting small and mid-sized businesses’ digital transformation by empowering SMEs with expertise, allowing them to concentrate on critical business initiatives. Annually, the company hosts several forums supported by industry leaders, one of which took place in Dubai on March 6 and garnered significant interest from the local business community.

What an MVP is and its purpose

A minimum viable product (MVP) has sufficient features to attract early adopters and validate a concept early in the development cycle. In digital industries, an MVP enables the product team to gather user feedback quickly, facilitating rapid iteration and improvement.

An overview of Dima Akhmetov’s professional career

Over 15 years ago, Dima Akhmetov began his career as a freelancer. He started by seeking customers and outsourcing vendors, gradually building his team of freelancers.

Upon moving to New York, Dima worked as a Strategic Initiatives Program Manager on Wall Street, executing programmes on Chubb, TransUnion, Bank of America, Scotia Bank, Deautsche Bank, and NYP (NewYork-Presbyterian). This resulted in a $1.5 million+ increase in cumulative ROI for his clients.

He managed a portfolio of strategic customers, and was accountable for executing strategic programmes for US500 BFSI. Additionally, he built a framework and cross-team processes for creating reusable use cases for the BFSI domain.

Now that we’ve introduced imaga’s CEO, Dima Akhmetov, what advice does he have for anyone working with their MVPs?

Prioritise pre-MVP stages

There are several stages before reaching the MVP (Minimum Viable Product). Initially, there are the POC (Proof of Concept) and blueprinting stages. When developing something new, especially a new product or line of business within a large enterprise, it is essential to prove the idea’s viability. Also, comprehensively understanding the market is crucial, which can be done by analysing SAM, TAM, and SOM.

After conducting this fundamental analysis, it is essential to talk to potential customers. These could be companies or, in a B2C context, regular individuals. Engaging with them helps validate the idea and identify pain points.

Strive to fail, and fail fast

One of the most important principles is being ready to fail multiple times. Fail quickly, to learn quickly. An MVP (Minimum Viable Product) should be quickly delivered to gather essential feedback, even if it’s raw. While the initial attempt may be flawed, this feedback is valuable for improving the product and making subsequent versions more meaningful for the audience.

Early adopters will drive your MVP’s success

Acquiring early adopters is crucial. These early adopters are typically more tolerant of a product’s inefficiencies because they are eager to be the first to try it. They are willing to wait for improvements and feel privileged to provide feedback. Delivering a raw product version allows these early adopters to engage with it, giving valuable insights for future enhancements.

Additionally, we spoke with three more experts – collaborators of imaga’s past Digital Forum in Dubai about their experiences with MVP development.

Joseph Boston, VP of product at Eat App

Our second expert, Joseph Boston, primarily worked on launching mobile apps and Leading the ‘After order’ product experience at Talabat, building and launching Dubizzle’s first mobile app, and transforming Eat App into a Product-led organisation. Through his experience and learnings, he has grasped a strong understanding of what it takes to create an MVP and take it to market.

Viktoria Bashkite, Product Partnerships Manager at Unifonic

Our third expert, Viktoria Bashkite, holds a Doctorate in Engineering/Industrial Management and a Master’s in Industrial and Product Design from TalTech. Her doctoral thesis developed decision-making tools for evaluating and improving the lifecycle of used industrial equipment.

Polina Oparina, Head of Product at Career.io.

And last but not least, we spoke with Polina Oparina, Head of Product at Career.io. She started her career as a software engineer. After a few years, she shifted her career to product management because she wanted to get closer to the key decisions and not only focus on delivering key initiatives.

Here are their insights on MVP development

I. Understand your MVP

* Minimum: Keep your MVP minimal. Focus on building only the essential features needed to solve the most critical jobs for early adopters. Avoid initially targeting too wide an audience.

* Viable: Validate the product idea quickly and cost-effectively. The goal is to validate before investing too much time and resources.

* Product: Ensure the MVP is a tangible solution to a problem. It must offer a functional user experience, not just a theoretical or experimental validation.

II. Start with a Flexible Vision: Your MVP should have a clear but adaptable vision. Be ready to adjust your approach based on user feedback.

III. Engage Early and Often: Continuous engagement with potential users helps avoid building features that don’t meet actual needs, saving time and resources.

IV. Build with Compliance in Mind: Consider legal and regulatory requirements from the start, especially in regulated industries. Designing these elements into your MVP from the beginning is more efficient than retrofitting compliance later.

V. Identify What Matters Before Building

Before diving into creating a full-fledged product, it’s essential to pinpoint the core elements. Tools like customer interviews, market research, and data analysis can help.

VI. Consider Partnerships or Acquisitions

Partnering with or acquiring an early-stage startup can be a viable MVP strategy. This approach allows you to leverage existing solutions and infrastructure, gaining insights and feedback from real users while minimizing development costs.

“The biggest challenge is not expecting instant success. You put in all this work, launch it, and hope for exponential growth, but in my experience, that never happens right after the launch. You need to learn and iterate. Success is a function of the number of experiments. The more you experiment the more successful your product becomes,” said Polina Oparina, head of product, Career.io.

Do not miss an exclusive opportunity

The Digital Forum: Driving Business Growth with Data-Based Strategies on June 27th in Dubai – 3 pm – Hyde Together at Hyde Hotel Dubai – free expert lectures, Q&A session, engaging business games, and a catered networking party. Get your spot on dubai-meetup.imaga to see this forum focused on delivering cost-efficient digital business solutions, and supporting small and mid-sized businesses’ digital transformation tiger with.