19 Successful Minimum Viable Product Examples

Creating a new product is tough, and you likely face several challenges, like figuring out which features to include and how to prioritize them. For many, there's too much uncertainty in the product design process. If you can relate, there’s good news: Researching successful minimum viable product examples can help you achieve your goals. This article will look at several real-world MVP examples to help illustrate key concepts and inspire your product development journey.

One way to make minimum viable product research easier is to leverage the product design services offered by NUMI. Our MVP approach helps you develop a product prototype quickly so you can validate your idea with real users and get feedback to improve your product before launch.

What is a Minimum Viable Product?

A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) includes only the minimum functionality needed to bring a product to market. In recent years, the idea of a minimum lovable product (MLP) has emerged as a more holistic approach that aims to pursue customer lovability instead of just focusing on the bare minimum. This guide covers the history of the MVP and its advantages and disadvantages.

The reported goal of the MVP is to accelerate learning in the early stages of product development with minimal investment of money and resources. However, the concept of an MVP can also be applied to existing products to understand whether a new feature set is valuable to customers.

The Core Principles of Building an MVP: Speed, Cost-Effectiveness, and Valuable Feedback

An MVP typically starts with asking, “What is the cheapest and fastest way we can start learning?” Creating an MVP allows companies to determine whether a product has the potential to succeed quickly. This will enable them to decide when to persevere and abandon an idea.

The word minimum is essential. You need to deliver enough value that early customers want to use the product, can imagine what will be possible, and provide helpful feedback for future product development. 

What Are the Types of Minimum Viable Products? 

You can build various types of MVPs, like: 

1. Software Prototypes 

A prototype of a piece of software is one of the most complex, yet most common, types of MVPs. It requires building software with just the core components. Most MVP software uses agile development. 

This flexible process involves discovery and development through collaboration, followed by continuous improvement. The scrum framework is the best-known example of agile development. 

2. Product Designs 

There are a few different ways to use product design as an MVP, all of which are especially useful for: 

• Software
• Mobile apps
• Other tech tools

A sketch is the simplest, and you can do it by hand or using a tool. A slightly more complex wireframe will show user experience, hierarchy, and navigation. You have a mockup which can demonstrate exactly how your product will work. 

3. Demo Videos 

You explain what your product will do through a demo video. Showing the video to potential users allows you to see if it’s the solution the market is looking for. 

4. Landing Pages 

With a landing page, you can announce your new product to gauge public interest quickly. By asking users to submit their email addresses for updates, you’ll figure out how many people are interested and gain leads whom you can market to. 

5. Piecemeal 

To create a piecemeal MVP, entrepreneurs combine components from existing tools to show how the product will work. 

6. Concierge 

Through a concierge MVP, you find people who want to try out a subscription service that sends them a personalized selection of products. You start manually selecting products for each individual. If the idea proves successful, you build an app that analyzes user responses and chooses what product to send to each person. 

7. Wizard of Oz 

Also called manual-first and flintstoning MVPs, the Wizard of Oz model involves acting as if your product already exists when, in fact, it’s still in the development stage. This is ideal for many types of service-based startups.

Building an MVP is the best way to ensure your idea can succeed in your target market.

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19 Best Successful Viable Product Examples

1. Uber: The MVP That Took the World by Storm

Garret Camp and Travis Kalanick had the idea to pair drivers with people who wanted to order rides on their smartphones. Rather than engaging in full-fledged mobile app development from the start, they began with a relatively simple MVP called UberCab. It only worked on iPhones or via SMS and was only available in San Francisco and New York—by invitation! 

Someone placed the order and a human on the other end dispatched the cab. This was enough to prove that the idea had legs, and today Uber is known worldwide as the world’s most lucrative and ubiquitous ride-hailing service.

2. Buffer: Building a Social Media Powerhouse from Landing Pages

Buffer is software that allows people to schedule social media posts, but its MVP consists of a series of landing pages. The first landing page asks users to submit their email to learn about the plans and product pricing. On the second landing page, users are asked whether to try a free version or one of two paid options. 

Surprisingly, most people were willing to opt for paid plans, and Buffer knew their product had potential. Today, it’s one of the most reliable platforms for planning and scheduling social media posts across different platforms.

3. Spotify: How a Simple MVP Derailed Piracy

In 2006, people were only willing to pay to stream music if they could easily access it on free websites like Napster and LimeWire. Then Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon had the radical idea of creating a free music streaming service and using ads to generate revenue. They had to test their idea because many other music streaming startups launched and quickly failed. Others, like Pandora, proved successful—but with a very different business model. 

Pandora was a radio streaming service where users could not choose the songs they wanted to hear. Ek and Lorentzon created an MVP in the form of a desktop app that offered only one core feature: Music streaming. Later, they added the option for customers to pay a monthly fee for an ad-free experience. As they realized the idea had potential, they started enhancing it further. Today, Spotify has a market value of $18.7 billion.

4. Airbnb: From Air Mattress to $100 Billion Business

2008 Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia struggled to pay rent for their San Francisco apartment. They wondered if there was a market for people who wanted to rent rooms (or a sofa) in their homes, which sounded like a crazy idea at the time. The idea sounded so crazy that one potential investor told them: “I hope that’s not the only thing you’re working on.” Another venture capitalist walked out of a cafe meeting with Chesky, who offered him 10% of the company for just $100,000! 

Today, Airbnb is valued at over $100 billion. To test their value proposition, the founders created a simple MVP that consisted of an essential website showing photos of apartments in San Francisco. Conference attendees ran with it and rented rooms from strangers. Air Bed and Breakfast became a reality shortly after, and the founders shortened the name to Airbnb. Early adopters flocked to the site, gained plenty of media coverage, and the founders continued adding new features that addressed key pain points in the market. 

5. AngelList: The New Approach to Startup Funding

Today, AngelList is a platform that connects startup founders with angel investors and venture capitalists. Initially, it faced a common challenge that many new social networks face. Given that it required a user base that didn’t yet exist, how could the founders connect users? 

The founders had been working in tech for a while, and they tapped into their contacts list to make connections via email. The small execution validated the idea and paved the way for AngelList’s ultimate success.

6. Facebook: A Social Network for Harvard Students

Facebook’s MVP was originally a simple website designed only for Harvard students (Mark Zuckerberg’s peers). Zuck and his roommates found a need within his small community and created it in a few days. 

Eventually, Facebook began expanding to other universities, but they did so one university at a time to gate their users. This was essential in the days before cloud computing because massive spikes in traffic sunk Friendster (the original social media network) due to limited server capacity.

7. Groupon: From Manual to Automated Deals

From the start, Groupon had a complicated business model. It would be activated if enough people signed up for a deal, encouraging people to forward Groupons to friends. The ultimate goal was to create a fully automated system because it would be impossible without automation to scale something like this. Initially, Groupon used a concierge MVP built on WordPress to handle these processes manually via email. 

This helped the founders to validate the idea. As they scaled, they created a high-fidelity piecemeal MVP that used various technologies to support the automated product. This allowed them to validate the concept further, observe user behavior, and gather feedback to create a strong product.

8. Dropbox: An Explainer Video for MVP

As we mentioned before, the Dropbox MVP began as an explainer video. This worked so well for them because while enterprises were big consumers of off-site storage, cloud computing was a relatively new concept, and the B2C and small-to-midsize business markets were largely untapped. You may be picturing a one-minute explainer video with cartoon graphics and upbeat music, but that’s not what this was. 

Instead, founder Drew Houston talked for four minutes, casually explaining the product and demonstrating its easy use. The Dropbox MVP is a good reminder that low-fidelity MVPs don’t need to be mindblowing, with high-production value. As long as they communicate the value you intend to deliver, that can be enough to assess the viability of your product idea.

9. Foursquare: The Check-In App That Started with One Feature

Remember Foursquare? Before Facebook and Instagram check-ins, Foursquare was an app that allowed people to check into various locations to build a “map of the world.” Foursquare is still around today, and it’s highly successful, but its focus is now B2B location services. None of its success would have been possible, however, without that initial product, which began as a single-feature MVP. 

Once they proved there was a market for check-ins, Foursquare began adding badges, naming people the “mayor” of a given location when they had the most check-ins. The gamification caught on, and for a flash in the pan, Foursquare was the latest big thing. Today, Foursquare works behind the scenes relying on them for location services, with companies like: 

• Uber
• Apple
• Coca-Cola
• Spotify
• Samsung
• Nextdoor, and many others

10. Cradlewise: The Smart Crib MVP

Cradlewise is among the new players that kicked off its journey with a bold vision: to help parents tackle sleepless nights with a smart crib designed for infants. They built an MVP, first focusing on perfecting the bounce quality that would rock a child intuitively. Parents and investors alike welcomed this new innovation. 

Not long after launching, Cradlewise raised $7 million in seed funding. But instead of patting themselves on the back for a well-done job, the team leaned into customer feedback like it was gold. Parents loved the crib’s soothing features but wanted better control options and advanced monitoring capabilities. 

How Cradlewise Transformed Feedback into Success: The Power of Iterative Development for MVPs

So, what did Cradlewise do? They rolled up their sleeves and got to work, embracing an iterative approach to development. Each piece of feedback was a stepping stone, guiding them to refine their product into something truly special. By enhancing their smart features and making the crib more user-friendly, they turned their MVP into a must-have tool for families.

11. Virgin Airlines: A Unique Approach to the Airline Industry

MVPs are not just for software and app development. They are used in other product development too. Virgin Airlines started out by operating just one flight route internationally between London Gatwick and Newark in New York. 

Interest was proven in this MVP product, and the product was refined, leading to expansion into further routes.

12. Pebble: The Smartwatch That Started with a Kickstarter MVP

Despite a narrow niche, Pebble is a trendy smartwatch brand thanks to its unique design. Pebble’s journey started from Kickstarter, a crowdfunding platform. Pebble raised an impressive $10 million thanks to its unique proposition and design. 

This success continued with the Pebble Time, which raised over $20 million in 2015. While Pebble exited the market last year, its millions of sales underscored that not everyone prioritizes having the fastest and most advanced technology.

13. Amazon: From Selling Books Online to Everything

Today, people who need to become more familiar with Amazon are scarce. This platform is the go-to choice for purchasing anything anywhere. Yet only some know that this marketplace started as an MVP in the form of a book-selling platform. It featured a significantly simplified web design and prioritized users who looked for books at competitive prices. 

After all, users liked the idea, and in 1994, Amazon laid the foundation for its exponential growth and began changing into a retail corporation.

14. Etsy: The Craft Marketplace That Started Small

Etsy is a well-established leader among all gigantic marketplaces, along with Amazon, eBay, and others. The trio of founders believed that a group of sellers could attract more buyers than individuals selling independently. The founders created the first MVP in 2005 in just two and a half months. 

In the MVP example, Etsy focused on individual crafters with unique offerings. Hence, the platform paved the way for such specialists to become noticed and receive increased orders. To sum up, Etsy found a niche that eBay had overlooked and used to its advantage.

15. Waze: The Crowdsourced Navigation App MVP

Despite fierce competition in the industry, Waze found a place under the sun with its unique concept. In its MVP product example, Waze leveraged crowdsourced data instead of solely offering maps, enabling real-time traffic updates, which has proven irreplaceable today. Waze’s MVP paved the way to success mainly because of this feature. 

With this MVP, Waze greatly emphasized communication, creating a solid early adopters community around the app. With time, the audience grew, while the accuracy of shared data on the app improved, enhancing the overall experience. In the aftermath, Waze became what we know today, a globally known app with millions of active users.

16. iPhone: The Original MVP Smartphone

Despite being one of the most popular products today, iPhones have experienced long growth. They also started with an MVP. The original iPhone, 2G, was introduced in 2007 and lacked everything. Users couldn’t copy and paste text, create emails easily, connect Bluetooth devices, etc. At that time, Steve Jobs tried to sell the idea of future Apple smartphones, but not a natural product. 

Despite an unpromising presentation, Apple stood close to the curve they chose and released iPhone 3G, 4, 4s, and consequent versions, all of which were some of the best in their respective generations. With this example comes a valuable lesson. Market research and core functionality prioritization are crucial in MVP. They allow you to see what users need, want, and will like in the long run.

17. Duolingo: A Language Learning App MVP

Another attention-worthy MVP project example is Duolingo and its approach. The core idea of Duolingo MVP is comprised of several aspects. For instance, the app was initially free and always free so that everyone could download it. Additionally, Duolingo emphasized gamification while delivering substantial learning value to users. 

Here’s a TED Talk by Luis Von Ahn, the founder of Duolingo, explaining how they made learning as addictive as social media. Therefore, this approach granted Duolingo a massive user base within weeks. Nowadays, it is the most popular language-learning app, surpassing millions of users yearly and with a valuation exceeding $2 billion.

18. X (Ex-Twitter): From Podcasting to Social Media MVP

Another popular social media app, X (ex-Twitter), also began as an MVP. It started in 2006 as a side project of a podcasting tool for Odeo. The project wasn’t successful and required a revamp. The early iteration of X was called "twttr" and worked just like an internal messaging tool for the Odeo team. 

It allowed them to send short messages. Fortunately, the team liked the concept and kept using it. In the aftermath, they decided to scale the product and published the initial version of Twitter, which became what we know today.

19. Tinder: The Dating App That Started With Two Buttons

Initially, Tinder was a straightforward mobile dating app. Its MVP had basic functionality, and Interactions were limited to expressing interest or disinterest via buttons. As Tinder’s popularity grew over time, the platform introduced several enhancements to engage more users, including the iconic swiping feature we all know. 

Tinder introduced third-party integrations and a premium subscription known as Tinder Gold.

Why Do Businesses Build A Minimum Viable Product?

An MVP Brings Focus to the Core Value Proposition

Defining an MVP means constantly asking, "Will the work we're about to do inform the viability of our value proposition?" Starting with an MVP forces you to define your value proposition clearly, concretely, and (somewhat) narrowly. 

It prompts you to examine the breadth and depth of your vision and specify exactly what value you want to provide to your ideal customer. You can then set clear targets, decide what really needs to be developed to test your value proposition, and spend your time and money efficiently.

An MVP Reduces Rework

Building extra features on top of your core product may cloud the value proposition and complicate the initial user experience for early adopters. (Early adopters don't buy because of extensive, fringe features. They buy because your product helps them solve a specific problem.) Good research and design reduce the risk of building unwanted features, but there's no substitute for testing your product in the market. 

Doing extended development of an unreleased software product is building a tower of hope on a foundation of assumptions. Customers may or may not want your core product. Building just enough to validate your hypotheses means that if rework is necessary, your amount of rework is minimal. When you keep your initial product release minimal, and your subsequent releases incremental, you'll be more nimble and responsive to the market.

An MVP Creates Relationships with Customers Sooner

If you think in terms of the technology adoption lifecycle, you should target your MVP at early adopters. Instead of building all the features that the early majority or late majority might expect, create an MVP for early adopters and start building customer relationships sooner. Early adopters are more likely to provide feedback on desired changes or additions, helping you validate your value proposition sooner. 

This feedback can also help you create a smarter, market-informed product roadmap. Early adopters also love to talk about great things they find, so targeting them can help you market and build a community around your product.

An MVP Brings Focus to Critical Business Functions

Bringing your product to market sooner means that your marketing approach and sales channels get tested earlier, too. A fantastic product may not get traction in the market if your marketing and sales are poor. Testing all business functions end-to-end means that you can also test your business model assumptions on customer acquisition cost and customer lifetime value.

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6 Best Practices & Tips For An MVP Product Design

1. Validate Your Idea First  

A successful app MVP needs to meet your users’ needs. And the best way to do that is by validating your idea first, before you start building your MVP. While your MVP is an idea validation tool itself, you should still independently validate your idea before committing to its development. 

And there’s a good reason for that – according to a CB Insights report, having no market need is one of the top reasons startups fail. So, getting to market with a validated idea is essential. And the best way to do that is by doing product discovery. Product discovery is researching your market and validating your product idea before developing it. 

The Discovery Phase in MVP Development: Market Research, User Insights, and Prototyping for Success

And discovery goes hand in hand with building an app MVP. It includes activities like: 

• Market research 
• User research 
• Competitive analysis 
• Wireframing and prototyping 

When you do discovery, you get a deep understanding of your users’ needs and pain points. And more importantly, you will know how your product can meet those needs. 

2. Analyze Your Competition  

You need to know what your competitors are doing to build a successful app MVP. And that’s where competitive analysis comes in. Analyzing your competition will help you better position your app on the market and understand how to differentiate your app. That will also show you if you have achieved product-market fit, which is essential for your app’s success.  

3. Prioritize Key Features  

Correctly choosing your features is key to your MVP’s success. For instance, when it comes to software, Pendo found that 80% of features in an average software product are rarely or never used. But how exactly can you do that? First, you must develop a list of features you want your product to have. 

Then, ask yourself: 

• Does this feature meet our users’ needs? 
• Is it technically feasible? 
• Do our competitors have this feature? 
• Is it aligned with our broader business goals? 

If you’re doing product discovery, insights from your user research will help you answer these questions.  

4. Use Agile Methodologies  

Using Agile methodologies is key when you’re building an MVP. Using them allows you to adjust to changing requirements and be flexible during development. And that’s essential when you’re building an MVP. But what does an Agile team look like? Which methodologies should you use? 

Building a Cross-Functional Agile Team for Successful MVP Development: Methodologies and Roles

Agile teams are cross-functional by design, and your team should include: 

• Software engineers 
• Designers Product managers 
• QA engineers 

There are several Agile methodologies to choose from, such as: 

• Scrum 
• Kanban 
• Crystal
• Extreme programming (XP) 

Your choice will come down to your team’s preferences and your MVP’s requirements. The most popular Agile methodology is Scrum, with 81% of Agile teams using Scrum or a Scrum hybrid. 

5. Create a Feedback Loop and Iterate  

Collecting and iterating on user feedback is crucial for your MVP’s long-term success. The stats prove it, too—77% of users view brands that collect and accept feedback more favorably. 

Creating a feedback loop is the best way to maximize your users’ feedback. The sooner you get to the feedback loop, the sooner you can give users what they want.  

6. Plan for Future Scaling  

Building an MVP is just the first stage in your product's lifecycle. It’s where you set the foundation for your product’s future growth and long-term success. Planning for future scaling is key to making that happen. Take WhatsApp, for example. 

In 2016, WhatsApp reached more than a billion users—they managed to reach that scale with only 50 engineers. They could do that because they planned for scalability from the start.   

Subscribe To A Guild of World Class Framer Developers with Our Framer Web Design Agency Today

Building a startup is challenging. It requires much work and, even more importantly, many different skill sets to succeed. And what is one of the most critical skill sets that startups need to nail to find success? Design.  

Startups need to get their design right, and they need to do it quickly. Why? A startup’s design will help it create a product (or service) that meets the needs of its target market. This is often achieved by collecting user feedback on an initial version of its offering. This first version, or prototype, is better known as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). 

The Role of Design in MVP Success: Attracting Users and Investors with a Well-Executed Prototype

An MVP will help a startup build its target audience and attract the attention of investors—all looking for evidence that a business can succeed in its goals. The design of an MVP is crucial to this process, and working with a team of skilled designers can make all the difference in getting it right.  

How NUMI’s Expert Design and Development Team Supports Your Startup’s Growth

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We have a fabulous design team that ensures all of your design work is being done well. NUMI helps with: 

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