5 Successful MVPs That Turned into Billion-Dollar Apps
Introduction
A vast amount of billion-dollar app concepts started with a basic MVP. Minimal viable product (MVP) will assist you to test the market, prove your concept and get useful feedback before going large. Beginning lean provides your idea with the most opportunities to develop and triumph. The MVP is a minimal working version of an application. By promoting the most essential features to be tested, startups can launch products in their hands without a huge amount of investment. The road to MVP to a successful company is not a new one. Most of the most well-known apps in the world began with minimal working concepts (MVP). Prior to development, check your idea on a systematic basis. In this paper, we present five tech unicorns started as MVPs. We will review each of their stories and present some of the important lessons to startups.
There is a reason why this lean approach of methodology is applied, and it works. MVPs make use of time and money which most startups lack.
MVP Types
Although all MVPs have the same primary goal, it is a way to test an idea on a real user and then proceed to the development stage and ensure you are maximizing your business potential. The formats may be varied; some of the MVPs possess complicated features or technologies. There are also lightweight ones that use manual processes to emulate software interactions. In most cases, MVPs are divided into two types of low-fidelity or high-fidelity.
Low Fidelity MVPs
A low-fidelity MVP is a simple presentation tool to users. In many cases MVPs of this type are little more polished than a prototype. They tend to be fast and cheap to produce, yet are often not anywhere close to the finished item. Low-fidelity MVPs might include:
- Website landing pages: Simply a single-page where your idea is described and people can early sign or express interest
- Email or social media campaign: In the case of business where a customer has already an audience, an email or a social media campaign can be used as a platform to explain the wanted features and a chance to communicate with the potential users
- Customer reviews: An interview format with your target customers as a way of testing assumptions and features
- Explainer video: An easy to understand video that will give you the explanation of the features and functionality of the potential product. Awareness can be created with the help of the video and feedback provided by the user can be collected
- Fake door MVP: A fake door MVP consists of UI elements that indicates the features that are not developed but may be introduced to a product in the future and counts clicks to measure demand
High-Fidelity MVPs
High-fidelity MVPs are functioning applications or sites that have sufficient functionality to be able to test out your core value proposition. Although they are more expensive and consuming than low-fidelity MVPs, they give us more information about usability, engagement and performance in the real world. High-fidelity MVPs can be examples of:
- Wizard of Oz MVP: This is a complete application, except that the tasks are performed manually on the back end. In the case of an application that finds low flight fares, the search would be done by a human being and not an algorithm
- Concierge MVP: This MVP is based on manual, not automated, systems to provide functionality to users. The distinction is that a concierge MVP is open to human-to-human communication
- Single-Feature MVP: Your app with one core feature, e.g., a timer, map, to-do list, voice search, etc. Best: UX testing, checking the user data, and core functionality validation with early adopters
1. Airbnb
How Airbnb Tested Its MVP
Airbnb began when two roommates Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia thought of renting out air mattresses in their apartment to local conference attendees. They dubbed it in the name AirBed and Breakfast and later reduced it to Airbnb. Their MVP? The simplest site containing details of the accommodation, the hosts and welcoming reservations.
The Issue Airbnb Improved
Airbnb began with an event of a sold-out conference in Denver where it was almost impossible to find affordable accommodation. Airbnb addressed a real pain point of users by offering decent short-term accommodation in an expensive city. Although the product has changed significantly since its inception, Airbnb still provides more affordable travel experiences with unique stays that compete with the pricing of the majority of hotels.
MVP Strategy
Airbnb was able to prove just one of their primary ideas, which made it the basis of expansion:
- Narrow in scope (concentrated on a single city)
- Limited in scope (concentrated on one problem)
- Created a simple site containing host and space information
- Check in as payment in real life
How Airbnb MVP Becomes a Billion-Dollar Business
Since the original barebones site, Airbnb has grown immensely to encompass a much greater range of listings, including international ones. The business model has undergone several iterations to become a full-sized platform featuring such functions as a pricing algorithm to host, advanced search filters, and identity checks, all in the name of a global marketplace. Airbnb began as an MVP site in which a visitor could purchase an air mattress at the Denver apartment of the founders. The bare location confirmed an actual demand to have cheap lodging in costly urban areas. These results propelled Airbnb into a trajectory of tremendous expansion, which has, to this day, resulted in the billion-dollar app Airbnb is.
MVP Lesson: Not only begin small but also address a real problem. Airbnb proves that even the simplest MVP can open up enormous opportunities with the obvious user pain points.
2. Dropbox
How Dropbox Proved its MVP
Dropbox released its MVP in the form of a basic explainer video. It demonstrates the functionality of the product prior to the writing of a single line of code. Such a foolproof strategy assisted the company in saving on the cost of development, as well as testing the interest in the market at the same time.
The Issue that was solved in the Problem Dropbox
File synchronization and access to a variety of devices were restricted at the time. This was addressed by providing a frictionless cloud storage solution that was trusted by the users of Dropbox. An MVP was made up of a simple yet useful tool of validating the problem and introducing its product as a solution.
MVP Strategy
- Video demo versus an actual product
- Tested user concern and interest
- Not a big price tag to start off
How the MVP of Dropbox Became a Billion-Dollar Business
Dropbox MVP scored the company tens of thousands of interested users on its product waitlist. Funding and full development of the product was also opened by the video. Demonstrating the fact that even a bare-bones MVP can generate an invaluable momentum to a startup. By testing interest prior to construction of a working product, the company saved a lot of time and resources. Initially launched as a video less than 2 minutes long, which provided a solid and powerful overview of Dropbox, it got a strong market momentum. Finally, dropbox showed that interest validation can change the fate of a startup to an enormous degree.
MVP Learnings: Prove Interest first, then build. By making the value of something highly obvious, even through the use of a video, Dropbox has demonstrated that it is worth testing the demand of an idea.
3. Instagram
How Instagram Validated Its MVP
Instagram was first created as a photo and location check-in app known as Burbn. Photo sharing with the feature of social interaction was integrated into the MVP. The founders soon realized that photo-sharing feature was of much interest to the users than any other feature. The founders subsequently removed the other features and concentrated all on the photo-sharing and editing feature and introduced a new and simple MVP: Instagram.
The Issue that Instagram fixed
Instagram created a niche in the market, offering a mobile friendly, photo sharing experience with the ease of editing. The application enabled one to record their lives and at the same time connected them with other people.
MVP Strategy
Instagram managed to succeed by specializing in one of their features so much, which was the ability to share photos. This clarity took off on the first day, and its name was formed, Instagram, meaning instant telegram, which reflects the social-live character of the photo app.
The Story of how Instagram MVP has turned into a Billion-Dollar Company
Instagram started as a social media platform but it has concentrated on the growth of users, their engagement, and simplicity. All this resulted in fast world wide uptake. Since that time the app has since surpassed 500 million daily active users. The user-centered and iterative design of Instagram also assisted the company in gaining attention of Facebook (since now Meta), which bought Instagram in 2012. BURBN was the name of the Instagram MVP, a mobile photo sharing and check-in application. Having discovered that the photo feature was popular, founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger shifted their gears, focusing on photo-sharing. The simplicity of Instagram propelled the app to become a momentum and a worthwhile app worth billions of dollars when it was purchased by Facebook in 2012.
MVP Lesson Learned: Minimize noise and maximize value. The story of Instagram is an ideal case study of the MVP prioritization, where focusing on one main feature leads to providing a base of success.
4. Uber
How Uber Tested its MVP
Uber began as a basic app that enabled people to order a black car in San Francisco known as UberCab. This MVP concentrated on few features which allowed users to book and pay rides, and was launched on a limited number of beta users who could only access it by invitation.
The Problem Uber Solved
Uber identified the market need to have convenient on-demand transport. The app was meant to make the conventional means of hailing a cab easier particularly where cab numbers were few. Originally, the application was aimed at serving black cars of the high-end in San Francisco.
MVP Strategy
Uber did not launch a car fleet but focused on a niche (San Francisco) and a type of ride (black car service) and then started adding others. These limits enabled them to experiment with logistics, pricing and user demand before they could add more features.
The MVP of Uber to a Billion Dollar Business
Uber grew slowly and progressively to cities where there is a high demand of taxis. Every new market presented new knowledge and an opportunity that Uber had to improve its alignment to user needs. As time passed by, the app has expanded the cities, vehicle selection as well as niche features to users across different markets. Uber started as UberCab, an invitation-only application where people could hail and pay taxi services of black cars in San Francisco. The application opened a single location at a time, focusing on those cities that require convenient and on-demand ride service. Other features and vehicles were also added to the app with time.
Lesson to learn as an up-start: Be Local, then Scale - Uber showed that it is possible to do market testing of a specific location. The strategy of targeting a single city prior to expansion saved Uber precious resources and transferring the experience in one market to the other.
5. Twitter (now X)
How Twitter Validated Its MVP
Twitter, now X, began as an internal system to send messages among employees in podcast company Odeo. MVP was initially presented to the world in SXSW and it gained momentum. The basic microblogging application had the bare minimum features consisting of the posting and reading of updates.
The Issue Twitter Fixed
Twitter enabled users to communicate real time ideas with a wide group. The medium was especially adapted to short comments and hence has immediacy unlike other blogging sites. It was a fast and simple method of reaching a significant number of people and it was important to break news, live events or instant responses.
MVP Strategy
Twitter had adopted a MVP which was low-tech and single-feature that valued functionality and speed. Its minimalist design and few functionalities were received with great success right at the beginning by users who were interested in confirming the attractiveness of short-format messaging (140 characters).
The MVP of Twitter to Billion-Dollar Business
Twitter became trendy, and more users were attracted to the company. With the development of real-time content hashtags, mentions, retweets, and trending topics, the popularity of the app increased as well. The new users felt like they should be included in the discussion. X (previously Twitter) remains among the most dynamic social media today in the world. The plain platform of Twitter enables users to communicate using text only updates in real time to a large number of people simultaneously. The Gogoyoko application gained a lot of buzz in 2007 when it was introduced to the public in SXSW. It was adopted fast, which indicated that even a basic MVP with bare functionality could validate an idea.
MVP Lesson: There is Power in Simplicity - MVP founders have the mistake of believing that more is better. However, Twitter demonstrated that by concentrating on a simple, high value feature it is possible to have a user base provided the feature is satisfying a unique need.
Ready to Build Your MVP?
Start small, solve real problems, and validate your idea before investing heavily in development.
Get StartedWhat Billion-Dollar Apps Can Teach Startups about MVPs
A lot of the current billion-dollar apps did not launch on a refined platform; they launched an MVP. Their stories can be studied to learn valuable lessons regarding what one should focus on in an MVP development endeavor. These are some of the lessons to consider before rolling out your MVP:
- Begin small, and address a certain issue
- Make your assumptions before you can write full-scale code
- Specialize in one aspect that the users adore
- Scale as per the feedback of the users and demand
- User adoption is driven by simple high value features
The MVPs of various kinds that lead to the success of startups are the product of Dropbox and the restricted-access app of Uber, as well as countless others. User-centric products would help startups succeed during the long term, as starting with an MVP prepares them to be successful. These MVPs did not work out because they were perfect but rather because they were centered in a core, lean, and user-driven feature since the very beginning. They capitalized on the MVP stage, which was rightly done to work towards effectiveness and user feedback.
Companies that are successful do not start in their ultimate, well-developed form. Rather, numerous billion dollars companies started with very few products, focusing on being flexible and user-centric in their responsiveness to the needs of users.
Tags
Introduction
A vast amount of billion-dollar app concepts started with a basic MVP. Minimal viable product (MVP) will assist you to test the market, prove your concept and get useful feedback before going large. Beginning lean provides your idea with the most opportunities to develop and triumph. The MVP is a minimal working version of an application. By promoting the most essential features to be tested, startups can launch products in their hands without a huge amount of investment. The road to MVP to a successful company is not a new one. Most of the most well-known apps in the world began with minimal working concepts (MVP). Prior to development, check your idea on a systematic basis. In this paper, we present five tech unicorns started as MVPs. We will review each of their stories and present some of the important lessons to startups.
There is a reason why this lean approach of methodology is applied, and it works. MVPs make use of time and money which most startups lack.
MVP Types
Although all MVPs have the same primary goal, it is a way to test an idea on a real user and then proceed to the development stage and ensure you are maximizing your business potential. The formats may be varied; some of the MVPs possess complicated features or technologies. There are also lightweight ones that use manual processes to emulate software interactions. In most cases, MVPs are divided into two types of low-fidelity or high-fidelity.
Low Fidelity MVPs
A low-fidelity MVP is a simple presentation tool to users. In many cases MVPs of this type are little more polished than a prototype. They tend to be fast and cheap to produce, yet are often not anywhere close to the finished item. Low-fidelity MVPs might include:
- Website landing pages: Simply a single-page where your idea is described and people can early sign or express interest
- Email or social media campaign: In the case of business where a customer has already an audience, an email or a social media campaign can be used as a platform to explain the wanted features and a chance to communicate with the potential users
- Customer reviews: An interview format with your target customers as a way of testing assumptions and features
- Explainer video: An easy to understand video that will give you the explanation of the features and functionality of the potential product. Awareness can be created with the help of the video and feedback provided by the user can be collected
- Fake door MVP: A fake door MVP consists of UI elements that indicates the features that are not developed but may be introduced to a product in the future and counts clicks to measure demand
High-Fidelity MVPs
High-fidelity MVPs are functioning applications or sites that have sufficient functionality to be able to test out your core value proposition. Although they are more expensive and consuming than low-fidelity MVPs, they give us more information about usability, engagement and performance in the real world. High-fidelity MVPs can be examples of:
- Wizard of Oz MVP: This is a complete application, except that the tasks are performed manually on the back end. In the case of an application that finds low flight fares, the search would be done by a human being and not an algorithm
- Concierge MVP: This MVP is based on manual, not automated, systems to provide functionality to users. The distinction is that a concierge MVP is open to human-to-human communication
- Single-Feature MVP: Your app with one core feature, e.g., a timer, map, to-do list, voice search, etc. Best: UX testing, checking the user data, and core functionality validation with early adopters
1. Airbnb
How Airbnb Tested Its MVP
Airbnb began when two roommates Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia thought of renting out air mattresses in their apartment to local conference attendees. They dubbed it in the name AirBed and Breakfast and later reduced it to Airbnb. Their MVP? The simplest site containing details of the accommodation, the hosts and welcoming reservations.
The Issue Airbnb Improved
Airbnb began with an event of a sold-out conference in Denver where it was almost impossible to find affordable accommodation. Airbnb addressed a real pain point of users by offering decent short-term accommodation in an expensive city. Although the product has changed significantly since its inception, Airbnb still provides more affordable travel experiences with unique stays that compete with the pricing of the majority of hotels.
MVP Strategy
Airbnb was able to prove just one of their primary ideas, which made it the basis of expansion:
- Narrow in scope (concentrated on a single city)
- Limited in scope (concentrated on one problem)
- Created a simple site containing host and space information
- Check in as payment in real life
How Airbnb MVP Becomes a Billion-Dollar Business
Since the original barebones site, Airbnb has grown immensely to encompass a much greater range of listings, including international ones. The business model has undergone several iterations to become a full-sized platform featuring such functions as a pricing algorithm to host, advanced search filters, and identity checks, all in the name of a global marketplace. Airbnb began as an MVP site in which a visitor could purchase an air mattress at the Denver apartment of the founders. The bare location confirmed an actual demand to have cheap lodging in costly urban areas. These results propelled Airbnb into a trajectory of tremendous expansion, which has, to this day, resulted in the billion-dollar app Airbnb is.
MVP Lesson: Not only begin small but also address a real problem. Airbnb proves that even the simplest MVP can open up enormous opportunities with the obvious user pain points.
2. Dropbox
How Dropbox Proved its MVP
Dropbox released its MVP in the form of a basic explainer video. It demonstrates the functionality of the product prior to the writing of a single line of code. Such a foolproof strategy assisted the company in saving on the cost of development, as well as testing the interest in the market at the same time.
The Issue that was solved in the Problem Dropbox
File synchronization and access to a variety of devices were restricted at the time. This was addressed by providing a frictionless cloud storage solution that was trusted by the users of Dropbox. An MVP was made up of a simple yet useful tool of validating the problem and introducing its product as a solution.
MVP Strategy
- Video demo versus an actual product
- Tested user concern and interest
- Not a big price tag to start off
How the MVP of Dropbox Became a Billion-Dollar Business
Dropbox MVP scored the company tens of thousands of interested users on its product waitlist. Funding and full development of the product was also opened by the video. Demonstrating the fact that even a bare-bones MVP can generate an invaluable momentum to a startup. By testing interest prior to construction of a working product, the company saved a lot of time and resources. Initially launched as a video less than 2 minutes long, which provided a solid and powerful overview of Dropbox, it got a strong market momentum. Finally, dropbox showed that interest validation can change the fate of a startup to an enormous degree.
MVP Learnings: Prove Interest first, then build. By making the value of something highly obvious, even through the use of a video, Dropbox has demonstrated that it is worth testing the demand of an idea.
3. Instagram
How Instagram Validated Its MVP
Instagram was first created as a photo and location check-in app known as Burbn. Photo sharing with the feature of social interaction was integrated into the MVP. The founders soon realized that photo-sharing feature was of much interest to the users than any other feature. The founders subsequently removed the other features and concentrated all on the photo-sharing and editing feature and introduced a new and simple MVP: Instagram.
The Issue that Instagram fixed
Instagram created a niche in the market, offering a mobile friendly, photo sharing experience with the ease of editing. The application enabled one to record their lives and at the same time connected them with other people.
MVP Strategy
Instagram managed to succeed by specializing in one of their features so much, which was the ability to share photos. This clarity took off on the first day, and its name was formed, Instagram, meaning instant telegram, which reflects the social-live character of the photo app.
The Story of how Instagram MVP has turned into a Billion-Dollar Company
Instagram started as a social media platform but it has concentrated on the growth of users, their engagement, and simplicity. All this resulted in fast world wide uptake. Since that time the app has since surpassed 500 million daily active users. The user-centered and iterative design of Instagram also assisted the company in gaining attention of Facebook (since now Meta), which bought Instagram in 2012. BURBN was the name of the Instagram MVP, a mobile photo sharing and check-in application. Having discovered that the photo feature was popular, founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger shifted their gears, focusing on photo-sharing. The simplicity of Instagram propelled the app to become a momentum and a worthwhile app worth billions of dollars when it was purchased by Facebook in 2012.
MVP Lesson Learned: Minimize noise and maximize value. The story of Instagram is an ideal case study of the MVP prioritization, where focusing on one main feature leads to providing a base of success.
4. Uber
How Uber Tested its MVP
Uber began as a basic app that enabled people to order a black car in San Francisco known as UberCab. This MVP concentrated on few features which allowed users to book and pay rides, and was launched on a limited number of beta users who could only access it by invitation.
The Problem Uber Solved
Uber identified the market need to have convenient on-demand transport. The app was meant to make the conventional means of hailing a cab easier particularly where cab numbers were few. Originally, the application was aimed at serving black cars of the high-end in San Francisco.
MVP Strategy
Uber did not launch a car fleet but focused on a niche (San Francisco) and a type of ride (black car service) and then started adding others. These limits enabled them to experiment with logistics, pricing and user demand before they could add more features.
The MVP of Uber to a Billion Dollar Business
Uber grew slowly and progressively to cities where there is a high demand of taxis. Every new market presented new knowledge and an opportunity that Uber had to improve its alignment to user needs. As time passed by, the app has expanded the cities, vehicle selection as well as niche features to users across different markets. Uber started as UberCab, an invitation-only application where people could hail and pay taxi services of black cars in San Francisco. The application opened a single location at a time, focusing on those cities that require convenient and on-demand ride service. Other features and vehicles were also added to the app with time.
Lesson to learn as an up-start: Be Local, then Scale - Uber showed that it is possible to do market testing of a specific location. The strategy of targeting a single city prior to expansion saved Uber precious resources and transferring the experience in one market to the other.
5. Twitter (now X)
How Twitter Validated Its MVP
Twitter, now X, began as an internal system to send messages among employees in podcast company Odeo. MVP was initially presented to the world in SXSW and it gained momentum. The basic microblogging application had the bare minimum features consisting of the posting and reading of updates.
The Issue Twitter Fixed
Twitter enabled users to communicate real time ideas with a wide group. The medium was especially adapted to short comments and hence has immediacy unlike other blogging sites. It was a fast and simple method of reaching a significant number of people and it was important to break news, live events or instant responses.
MVP Strategy
Twitter had adopted a MVP which was low-tech and single-feature that valued functionality and speed. Its minimalist design and few functionalities were received with great success right at the beginning by users who were interested in confirming the attractiveness of short-format messaging (140 characters).
The MVP of Twitter to Billion-Dollar Business
Twitter became trendy, and more users were attracted to the company. With the development of real-time content hashtags, mentions, retweets, and trending topics, the popularity of the app increased as well. The new users felt like they should be included in the discussion. X (previously Twitter) remains among the most dynamic social media today in the world. The plain platform of Twitter enables users to communicate using text only updates in real time to a large number of people simultaneously. The Gogoyoko application gained a lot of buzz in 2007 when it was introduced to the public in SXSW. It was adopted fast, which indicated that even a basic MVP with bare functionality could validate an idea.
MVP Lesson: There is Power in Simplicity - MVP founders have the mistake of believing that more is better. However, Twitter demonstrated that by concentrating on a simple, high value feature it is possible to have a user base provided the feature is satisfying a unique need.
Ready to Build Your MVP?
Start small, solve real problems, and validate your idea before investing heavily in development.
Get StartedWhat Billion-Dollar Apps Can Teach Startups about MVPs
A lot of the current billion-dollar apps did not launch on a refined platform; they launched an MVP. Their stories can be studied to learn valuable lessons regarding what one should focus on in an MVP development endeavor. These are some of the lessons to consider before rolling out your MVP:
- Begin small, and address a certain issue
- Make your assumptions before you can write full-scale code
- Specialize in one aspect that the users adore
- Scale as per the feedback of the users and demand
- User adoption is driven by simple high value features
The MVPs of various kinds that lead to the success of startups are the product of Dropbox and the restricted-access app of Uber, as well as countless others. User-centric products would help startups succeed during the long term, as starting with an MVP prepares them to be successful. These MVPs did not work out because they were perfect but rather because they were centered in a core, lean, and user-driven feature since the very beginning. They capitalized on the MVP stage, which was rightly done to work towards effectiveness and user feedback.
Companies that are successful do not start in their ultimate, well-developed form. Rather, numerous billion dollars companies started with very few products, focusing on being flexible and user-centric in their responsiveness to the needs of users.
Tags
