Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for Software as a Service (SaaS) has become a profitable and popular business model. Well-established giants like Microsoft Oracle, Adobe, and Salesforce are on the top. Many, new SaaS startups emerging every year in the market, it’s hard to get a SaaS product noticed and accepted well by the user base and market demand, and also fulfill your business goals and to reach millions of users.

As a result, an MVP concept has emerged as an essential practice to stop wastage of resources and time. An MVP for SaaS startups can test the significance of their startup idea and build a more efficient functional product with a unique product concept, with the support of consulting partners and their managerial efforts.

What is MVP?

A minimal viable product is a version of a newly transformed product with single features for its initial users. While having the knowledge of market, an MVP development team designs the final product and uses sharpest methodology for the management of project planning integrations.

The term was first coined by Frank Robinson and Popularized by the author of lean startup, Eric Reis.

Eric Rise defined an MVP as, “Version of a new product that allows a team productivity to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort, with the minimum development cost factors”

Even though the definition of the term MVP is well known, there are still some widespread myths around it. For instance, depending on the objectives of the firm, the phrase itself may be slightly modified, that makes the clear product roadmap for a promising startups.

• Minimum Acceptable Product: A Minimum Acceptable Product includes the same key features as a regular MVP but also includes a few more features to demonstrate the product idea 's quality.

• Minimum Marketable Product: Similar to an MVP, a Minimum Marketable Product or Minimum Sellable Product has a constrained set of functionality to address essential user demands. It can also provide value, be advertised, and be purchased. The MVP that you develop after much user feedback, trial and error is regarded as the best one, and for performing further planning integrations.

The MVP is sometimes used interchangeably with the terminology for two other deliverables, a prototype and a proof of concept (PoC), which causes the most confusion. For instance, some experts believe that prototypes might qualify as MVPs if they are successful in luring investors or generating leads. That is undoubtedly one way to test a concept in the real world, but there is no assurance that the market will respond favorably to your startup idea in the same way that investors do. Building a successful MVP takes 2-3 months.

However, an MVP always contains three essential qualities, regardless of how you define it:

• Gives the target market enough value to encourage use and purchase of the product
• Demonstrates the advantages of the product to attract early adopters
• Establishes a feedback loop to collect crucial data required for future growth with managerial efforts, with the support of consulting partners and their managerial efforts.

MVP development process for a SaaS startup

The entrepreneurs and developers who decided to venture into SaaS products, MVP development is an ideal approach to the current ever-changing SaaS market, and Consulting partners play a significant role in helping build promising startups.

Developing an MVP helps you to build your application faster, and you get the chance to know what the target audience thinks of your product, so you could be ready to meet their needs. An MVP is a prerequisite to show the capability of your product through managerial efforts, with the guidance of consulting partners.

Building an MVP for successful SaaS startup requires you to prioritize your end user for planning integrations. It’s essential functionality to first understand the people whose life your SaaS products targeted in less development cost factors by the services provider.

The development of an MVP reduced the rework time, as it focuses on core functionality. Look for competitors in the market and make an assessment of similar start-ups and try to analyze success and failures. Your SaaS MVP must outperform your core competitors.

“Analyze your direct and indirect core competitors. Numbers such as market share per competitor, market capitalization,core competitors official pricing structure will help you determine if the MVP is worth pursuing.” David Morneau, Co-founder, inBeat.

Benefits of SaaS MVP Development process for a startup

1. Idea/Pitch Validation

SaaS MVP helps people visually analyze the startup idea. On one hand, you are just speaking about it while on the other hand, you are making it clear by showing your minimum viable product. Think about it, which form of pitching would be more validated? or it is just an idea with basic features. Besides, with a SaaS MVP you will be able to test if it fits the market, solves a real problem or if any change is required.

2. Economical

SaaS MVP is cost-effective and budget-friendly for the promising startups as it permits them to develop on the core features of the startup idea at a reasonably low budget. This helps to save funds for the final product development and scaling of the business idea.

3. User Feedback

User Feedback is essential for any product to be successful in the market. It helps the promising startups to get familiar with the usability and practicality of their idea. Saas MVP provides room for the users to analyze and give User feedback on the proposed product. These are created with a minimum of both time and money, therefore, it would save the startup from a bigger loss if the idea is not validated.

4. Easy Revenue Generation

With all the customer feedback received on the SaaS MVP, the startup owners get to know the customer mindset regarding their startup idea. Now, they can easily enhance their product and attract customers managerial efforts.

5. High Speed Product Launch

An MVP is a collection of all the core functionalities and is already tested in the marketplace. So, the final product takes minimum time to develop and hence, its launch becomes convenient and quick, Also the product which suits the target market.

6. Key to unlock the doors of investments

Investment at an early stage can boost promising startups. Reaching out to an investor with an MVP can ensure the acquisition of investment and hence, the product development By showing the product roadmap to the investors.

Steps for successful SaaS MVP Development

1. Define the problem

MVP of an idea is basically a ‘solution’ to a problem. But it is essential functionality to clearly address the problem from its micro to macro extent. This will help you to find the correct and precise solution and not just a generic one. The success of a SaaS MVP depends more on the accuracy of understanding the problem than the solution itself.

2. Customer Needs and Pains Evaluation

Prior to Setting up a SaaS MVP, it's crucial to know your target audience to deliver an accurate SaaS products that sorts to improve their life and work because simply if there is no need among the audience for that tool, it's useless. How to know the need? Apart from collecting general information about them, it is recommended to talk to people directly and gather honest feedback from them via feedback forms, social media interactions, etc.

3. Market Research

Knowledge of the market as well as of the technology is a must and can only be achieved via thorough research work.

4. SaaS MVP Prime Features

There is no such thing as a Prime Feature of a SaaS MVP. It is totally based on the needs and pains of the target customers. SaaS platforms provide means to customize your MVP according to the target market needs.

5. Keep your MVP Simple

The simpler, the better. Try to look for the least complicated approach to solve a problem because your target users can range from technical quality experts to common man as customers are less likely to appreciate a program that is too complex to be used.

6. Know your Competing SaaS Startups

The success of a Software program or a SaaS product is not fixed upon the idea alone but the way in which the idea is carried forward. Always keep track of your core competitors because that will define your execution pathway.

Relevant read:

• Key benefits of automation testing
• Step-by-step process of ERP implementation

If several companies are successfully running with a similar SaaS startup idea, rethink about carrying forward with that initial idea especially when you don't have a strong marketing strategy. If a similar finished product is launched before yours and is performing well, you should come up with its upgraded version to beat the competition and planning integrations.

7. Roadmap

Plan out your moves at each development and scaling stage to have a clear picture of your gradual progress and again it totally depends on the services provider.

8. Develop the Prototype and MVP

Now you are ready to work on the SaaS MVP in particular.

9. Generate official Pricing Models and test them

SaaS MVP provides opportunities to hit-and-try various Monetization Strategies. Suggestion is to create different official pricing models as per the market and the consumers and test them as it is the best stage to develop the perfect official pricing model for your startup idea.

10. Build Feedback loop

Take Feedback from users and Launch the Product if outcomes are positive or improve the MVP as per feedback, and it is also important for future development, So, that you can add additional features prioritization. You can take all types of feedback from users such as, How's user experience and how's user interface works. is user-friendly or not. These are some of the Must-have features. This is key functionality for the product vision to build a fully-fledged product and finished product for further planning integrations in every 2-6 months.

SaaS MVP Examples

Many software as a service (SaaS) providers exist today, including Google, IBM, Workday, Microsoft, SAP SE, Fujitsu, Oracle Corporation, Salesforce, ADP, and many more. Let's examine the most well-liked examples in more detail.

IBM

IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) started out as a corporation that did computing, tabulating, and recording.

Since the 1800s, the business has expanded quickly. These days, it offers consumers cloud computing, AI services provider, commerce, data and analytics, IoT, and other services provider.

Oracle Corporation

The Great Product Vision, In 1977, the Oracle Corporation's history began. It was initially founded as a tiny startup and specialized in software development. The business evolved over time from a modest MVP to a large global enterprise in the field of computer technology.

The company now provides enterprise software, cloud infrastructure, and technological services provider as well as database software.

Fujitsu

Initially, Fujitsu was founded in 1935 as a business that produced the first computers in Japan. Today, Fujitsu offers services provider like software, network management, virtualization, and data centers.

How much does it cost to Build a SaaS MVP?

The estimated costs of developing a SaaS MVP is not fixed but dependent on certain factors. Consulting partners can help assess these factors for a more accurate estimate. which include:

• The full-featured product and services you wish to inculcate in your software.
• The Development team, whether it’s In-House team, Outsourced team or Freelancers (charges vary for all).
• The ongoing Hourly payment rates of the region you are willing to work in.
• Rates will go up or down based on your requirement of any specific expertise. Contract Type -
• Time and Materials Contract (The cost factors of work is computed in hours = Hourly payment).
• Fixed Price Contract (MVP price is fixed with mutual consent in advance and is immutable, i.e., can’t be changed in future).
• Development team productivity also matters, because development team productivity defines the value of your final product and helps in project planning and helps in various aspects of business analysis such as marketing strategy.

Average hourly rate around the world might range from as low as 15 dollars to as much as 200 dollars. So, suppose for any country (for example) with a work of 100 hours, the cost factors may lie between $1500-$20,000 for a complete SaaS MVP Development of a startup or business analysis. Usually takes 2-6 months to complete.

However, as mentioned above it is subject to vary according to the needs/demands of the owner.

For example, Bitcoin Wallet App’s front-end estimated MVP cost factors for 560 hours of work was $22,400.

(Note: This price range varies depending upon the type of mobile application and required mobile app functions. Consult with our expert developers to get a complete quote.)

Technical quality perspectives for developing an MVP for SaaS startup

To develop an MVP for a SaaS startup there are many techniques and tools available, yet there are still a lot of challenges on the technical quality side of things. This is why the majority of successful SaaS projects are created with the help of outsourcing companies that have experience creating custom SaaS digital products, and also help in further project planning in 2-6 months.

The first thing you need to do when building a SaaS solution is to make sure your customers feel secure using it, especially when you’re using cloud services. If the system is collecting and processing individuals data, you have to make sure that only the minimum required data is collected and that is thoroughly protected. Techniques that one should use such as, multi-tenancy, multi-factor authentication, encryption, and separate databases for each user.

You have to develop a fast and responsive system viable to user actions in a cognitively comfortable 300 milliseconds or less. In some cases, heavy optimization will be required, but this is one area where you shouldn’t cut corners, even for an MVP.

Programming Languages

Using programming languages which allows your team to perform rapid development and scale later. The choice of programming languages will of course depend on various factors including but not limited to, the immediate developer resources you have available with expertise in a certain language.

Free Database

A commercial database solution is preferred while building an app meant for high traffic and load apps. When you develop an MVP for SaaS startup one can start with free databases like Postgres or AWS or Heroku. When you progress, and the free database method is no longer sustainable, one can opt for commercial database instances on premise or in cloud computing, which will incur additional costs but sustain the load.

Use reasonable Load Testing

Load testing assesses whether the system will buckle during peak loads and other conditions. While developing an MVP for a SaaS startup, you need to consider how many users should be available to acquire immediately. Load testing is among the most costly types of testing, and it can be pushed back to when you need it.

Apart from the technical qualiy insights, other important factors can be proof of the successful development of an MVP for SaaS startup

• Don’t fear of failures

• Form a team of experienced people in the field of SaaS startup

• Be honest to your work, avoid overconfidence, false promises to yourself, and never feel underscored. Keep motivated yourself

• From the start, make an environment of healthy and professional communication. Always be ready to face challenges.

• Ensure the feedback from the business team and field knowledge.

By completing all these things we are ready to launch SaaS start-ups that will be another milestone in the business with good official pricing.

What is SaaS?

SaaS, or Software as a Service, is a cloud computing model that offers software applications over the internet on a subscription basis. Unlike traditional software that needs to be installed on individual devices, SaaS applications are hosted and maintained by third-party providers, allowing users to access them through web browsers. This eliminates the need for complex installations and updates, making software usage more convenient and accessible helps in planning integrations. SaaS is the most important part of project planning for 2-6 months.

Benefits of SaaS

SaaS offers numerous benefits, such as cost-effectiveness, scalability, and automatic updates. Businesses can avoid the upfront costs of purchasing software licenses and hardware infrastructure, as SaaS operates on a subscription-based model. Additionally, SaaS applications can be easily scaled up or down based on the user's requirements, providing flexibility in usage. Automatic updates ensure that the customer base always have access to the latest features and security enhancements.

How SaaS Works

SaaS operates through a centralized model where the software application and its data are hosted on the provider's servers. Users access the software through a web browser, eliminating the need for local installations. This not only simplifies access but also allows collaboration among users in different locations. The provider handles maintenance, security, and backups, relieving potential customers from these responsibilities.

Key Features of SaaS

SaaS applications come with several key features that set them apart. Multi-tenancy allows multiple users to access the same application while maintaining their data separately. Customizability, integrations with other tools, and a user-friendly interface contribute to a seamless experience. Moreover, many SaaS apps offer mobile compatibility, enabling potential customers to work on the go.

The trajectory of the SaaS Market's Evolution

anticipated projections indicate that the global SaaS market will surge from its 2018 valuation of $131 billion to a substantial $270 billion by the year 2026. This signifies an impressive growth of over 21% within the forthcoming years.

Furthermore, forward-looking assessments propose a tighter integration of SaaS with cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning as integral components of their offerings and it also helps in technical quality.

The shift towards cloud technologies over traditional personal computer installations is gaining momentum among a larger segment of the population. The forthcoming transformation of the SaaS landscape holds the potential to revolutionize the way businesses operate.

Conclusion

An MVP is just a basic version of your SaaS product; it’s the most influential in your product’s success or failure. Getting a deep knowledge of your target audience’s needs and the key to success for your SaaS MVP building perfect project planning which helps in Marketing strategy as well.

Developing an MVP for SaaS takes a lot of technicalities which all need to be looked into before starting development. Keeping in mind the goal of launching the product with highest technical quality.