How MVPs, Prototypes, and PoCs Shape Your Product

We have all heard the saying “Taking baby steps, will take you to your success.”

Understanding the differences between a POC, prototype, and MVP is important for giving startups and businesses a great head start. These concepts are essential for preparing and building successful digital products.

These terms are particularly relevant for companies at the concept, pre-seed, and seed stages, though they are often misunderstood and misused.

Creating excellent digital products involves both innovation and following proven development methods. A Proof of Concept (POC), prototype, and Minimum Viable Product (MVP) help test and validate a product idea before making significant investments.

This blog will give you the difference between all three terms and then you can choose what will be best for you to start with.

What is the meaning of Proof of Concept (POC)?

A POC is a quick and inexpensive project used to test if an idea is workable. Companies often use POCs before committing a lot of time and money to develop a full product or solution.

A POC helps you check if your idea meets the needs of potential users and if it’s worth pursuing further. If the POC doesn’t work out, you avoid wasting resources on something that isn’t needed. If it does work, you gain useful insights into what people want and what features are important.

Tools for Building a POC

Since POCs often involve coding and abstract tasks, there aren’t specific tools for creating them. However, POCs can also be in the form of demos or animations. For these, you might use tools like Figma for creating clickable demos, or video-editing software like Vimeo for making demo videos.

Benefits of a POC

Even though a POC is used internally, it offers several advantages.

1. Ensures Feasibility Before Launch:

A POC shows whether your idea is doable and can be built. It helps you choose the right technical direction, ensuring your app functions as intended. It also lets you evaluate external dependencies and the need for third-party products.

2. Mitigate Risk:

A POC is an experimental step to understand your project better. With a clear objective, it helps identify the limitations, strengths, and weaknesses of your solution. It allows you to prioritize app functionalities effectively.

3. Convince Your Investors:

Turning a concept into a product is a lengthy process. A POC serves as an early test, showing that your decisions are well-founded and that you understand your solutions and budget. This reassures investors that you’re on the right path.

What is the meaning of Prototype?

A prototype is a more developed version of a POC. while a POC tests if an idea is feasible, a prototype shows how the final product will look and work. Prototypes can vary in complexity, from simple sketches to interactive digital models.

Tools for Building a Prototype

You can use tools like Figma, InVision, and Adobe XD to create prototypes.

Benefits of a Prototyping

Conduct prototyping research early and iteratively to make sure your mobile design is user-friendly and enjoyable, align design decisions with user needs, and protect the project’s ROI.

1. Identify Product Improvements:

Prototyping allows you to test early concepts and explore new ideas early in the development process. User testing during this phase helps identify potential improvements before the final product is complete.

A prototype serves as a foundation that is continuously refined until the mobile app meets business goals and is ready for the market. Testing the prototype reveals new ideas and confirms the most profitable direction for the product roadmap.

2. Cost Efficiency:

Starting with a prototype saves money in the long run. It’s much cheaper to solve problems early in the process rather than at the end. Prototyping research helps catch issues early, reducing costs compared to making changes close to launch.

3. Client and Stakeholder Involvement

Collaborative prototyping helps ensure the final product aligns with your business’s vision and meets specific project goals. Involving everyone from the upper management, product managers, marketing, developers, designers, stakeholders, and clients. It allows for a thorough examination of problems from various perspectives, creating a product that effectively addresses user pain points.

4. UX Validation

Creating a mobile product with deep user engagement is challenging. Testing a prototype with users is one of the best ways to validate usability and UX. Therefore, retaining users by providing ongoing value is essential. A prototype tests the product’s potential for engagement, longevity, and lifetime value, saving costs before further development.

Read more about the mobile app UI design

What is the meaning of Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?

An MVP is the simplest version of a product that has just enough features to attract early users and gather feedback. The goal is to release this basic version quickly to see if people are interested. This feedback helps guide further MVP app development, saving time and money by focusing only on what users want.

Benefits of an MVP

Many of today’s top apps, like Uber, Instagram, and Spotify, started much simpler than they are now. Developing an app of similar complexity takes a lot of time and money. This is where an MVP is helpful. An MVP delivers immediate value quickly while keeping development costs low and guiding future development.

1. Core Functionality to Test Business Concept Early

An MVP lets you release a basic version of your product early to test your business idea. By focusing on essential features rather than a full-featured product, you can test key hypotheses, gather user feedback, enter the market quickly, and keep costs down.

2. Cost-Effective

Mature products result from years of development and substantial investment. However, these apps were built iteratively over time, spreading costs and often reinvesting revenue from earlier versions.

3. Iterative Process Drives Product Evolution

An MVP helps you build a user base and gain insights into what works and what doesn’t. This information is crucial for making data-driven decisions about future product iterations, such as which features to add, how to increase sales, and where to allocate the budget.

Difference Between MVP, Prototype, and POC

If you see all three of them in one chart, then it will look like this

How to Pick the Best Approach for Your Startups?

POC, prototyping, and MVP development each serve different roles in the mobile app development lifecycle. They are used under specific circumstances. Here’s how to decide which one to start with:

If you start with POC

1. You aim to develop a unique, groundbreaking product
2. You need to confirm if the idea is technically feasible
3. You must determine the most suitable technology for your product
4. You want to share technical insights within your team

If you start with Prototype

1. You want to visualize the product flow
2. You need to secure initial funding
3. You seek preliminary feedback from focus groups
4. You have a tight deadline to present your idea

If you start with MVP

1. You want early users to test the market response

2. You need to launch quickly with a reasonable mobile app development cost

3. You want to reduce the risk of failure

Using all the approaches sequentially isn’t mandatory. But it can help minimize risks and refine your product before it hits the market.

Conclusion

Each method for testing your project idea has its unique benefits. Choosing the right one depends on your goals and needs.

If you are already bringing your idea to life and making a strong impression on investors, choose the mobile app development strategy. It is the best match for your goals and requirements.

And if you feel any kind of problems during the process, you can partner with a mobile app development company like us.

At Techahead we can help you to turn the drawings you draw on paper into a final product.