How to Create MVP for a Media Product
How to Create MVP for a Media Product
I saw another video of a fan-made game concept, and that got me thinking!
What is MVP
Prototype Formats
Minimum Viable Product is a prototype that validates your business idea. Basically, before building a full product, you’d first need to understand if there is a demand for your solution.
By starting with MVP, you’re reducing the risk of an unsuccessful product. This saves time and costs to check if the product direction is correct. Otherwise, it would be a shame to put so much effort only to find out that the product was not valuable for target audience.
There are many MVP formats. Alpha and beta versions are one way to go. But to optimize the resources, you need to get to the basics. We’re talking demo videos and spreadsheets. You can also try simulating a product experience, a technique called Wizard of Oz. For example, when you’re talking to chatGPT, but in reality, there are actually people replying to you.
MVP types by invested effort:
Demo video
Spreadsheet
Wizard of Oz
Alpha/Beta build
MVP Examples
Dropbox’s founder has recorded a demo video. He showed a seamless value experience – dragging a file to a cloud folder. He then published this video in developer groups to gauge the response.
Zappos’ founder has used a concierge approach. Before online shopping was mainstream, no one knew it would take off. To test this, the founder took photos of shoes inside the retail stores.
He then posted the photos on the website, bought the shoes from the retail and delivered them to customers.
Groupon’s founders have created a simple WordPress site and used a spreadsheet to manage the deals that they offered to customers. They manually emailed the deals to subscribers and tracked the redemptions using a Google spreadsheet.
MVPs allow the companies to test demand for their product without investing in inventory upfront. It also helps getting the feedback from customers on their service and the overall user experience.
What is your favorite example of a clever MVP?
RAT – a Complementary Framework
Riskiest Assumption Test takes the MVP to its barebones. This framework measures only the demand for a product.
The point is to track usage intent. One prominent approach is a smoke test. It’s kind of a bait-and-switch tactic, but for all the good purposes. For example when it says “sign up”, you’re actually led to a “this page is in development” page. A less bait-y way is to make CTAs more direct – join the waitlist.
Remember that RATs validate only the user acquisition phase. To understand the product’s impact on retention and monetization, you’ll need to continue with MVP.
Concept Trailers
MVP for Movies and TV Series
When you’re an established franchise, you can publish unofficial trailers. Decide on the setting and storyline you want to test, produce the “fan-made” video and publish it from an unofficial account.
You can then analyze the reaction by looking at things like:
Positive sentiment share from all comments
Like/dislike ratio
Views
Here are some examples:
(Interestingly, I Am Legend 2 is now in production 🤔)
MVP for Video Games
Similarly, there are just as many videos of game concepts. As development engines have become more accessible, people started to prototype games they wanted to play.
Video game concepts explore factors like:
Movie character in a video game
Innovative gameplay mechanics
Storytelling
So if you don’t have an established game brand, you can still test the gameplay and storytelling.
As a result, here are the most known videos:
The proliferation of such videos has also helped us understand why some video games would be hard to make.
Although more effortful, alpha builds help your audience experience the vision.
These versions can help you crowdfund the game and receive user feedback. For example, Night in the Woods was funded by Kickstarter community. While creating the game, developers have released their MVPs to show the progress and gather feedback.
Another example of iterative builds is Outer Wilds, my favorite indie game! Look how much it has changed since its cradle:
Note how the alpha versions have generated the demand via gamer influencers:
Another way to create game concepts is to align it with a tech demo. Quanticdream’s Detroit Become Human was initially a tech demo for their new engine. The original concept featured a character that would then become one of the protagonists.
They’ve continued this approach with yet another tech demo that’s been taken into development:
What are some startup video games that have become so popular because of their MVP?
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