Don’t Be a Chicken Chef: Why Your MVP Needs Market Research

Starting a new business is exciting, and full of hope and possibilities, and of course, the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is a crucial part of this journey. But before you start pouring all your resources into building a shiny new MVP, it’s important to remember that without a good market study to back it up, your MVP might as well be a giant waste of time, money, and effort. Let me explain why.

Imagine you’re a chef. You’re a master in the kitchen, and you have a passion for creating delicious dishes. You’ve been dreaming about opening your own restaurant for years, and finally, you’ve decided to take the plunge. You spend weeks working on the perfect recipe for your signature dish, a mouth-watering, perfectly seasoned, chicken parmigiana.

You spend hours cooking, tweaking, and tasting until you finally nail it. You’re so excited about the new dish that you decide to open your restaurant with just this one dish on the menu. After all, it’s so good, who needs anything else?

You open your doors, and the customers flood in. They take one bite of your chicken parmigiana and… nothing. No one is impressed. Some even ask for ketchup to give it some flavor. What went wrong?

Well, you forgot one crucial step. You didn’t do any market research to find out what your potential customers actually wanted. Maybe they wanted vegan options, or they were looking for something spicy, or they were just tired of chicken parmigiana. Whatever the reason, you didn’t take the time to find out, and now your restaurant is empty.

The same thing can happen with your MVP. You can spend months building the perfect product, pouring all your resources into it, only to find out that no one wants it. It’s a classic case of putting the cart before the horse.

So, before you start building your MVP, take the time to do some market research. Find out who your potential customers are, what they need, what they’re willing to pay for, and what they’re not interested in. This will help you create an MVP that is actually useful and valuable to your target market.

Building an MVP is an exciting part of starting a new business, but it’s important to remember that without a good market study to back it up, your MVP might as well be a giant waste of time, money, and effort. So, don’t be like the chef who opened a restaurant with just one dish. Take the time to do your research, and you’ll be much more likely to create an MVP that people actually want to use.