MVP Development for Startups: BlocBeats Story
At Burning Man, James met Leo, a DJ, and they hit it off over music. While hanging out with other DJs, they noticed a gap in the music industry: platforms like SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Music were great for streaming but didn’t allow DJs to talk to their fans outside of live events. Instagram wasn’t the answer, either—it wasn’t designed for musicians. That spark in the desert turned into a new chapter in music.
When BlocBeats contacted us, they had a clear idea of what they wanted to build. Their goal was to create a community-driven marketplace where the world’s top DJs could upload their music, talk to their fans, and sell exclusive sets not available anywhere else—beyond the traditional streaming model. They saw huge potential in the idea but needed investor funding to make it happen.
To get funding, they had to move fast and prove their concept with a working MVP tested by user feedback. That’s where our MVP software development services came in. We partnered with BlocBeats to build their MVP, and in six months, they launched a fully functional platform that connected musicians to their fans.
Minimum Viable Product Challenges
Feature Prioritization: Select the right features for the MVP and keep the development process simple and fast.
Functionality: The platform had to handle a large database and user base, integrate with CRM systems, and facilitate transactions.
Scalability: Build a marketplace that can scale and handle transactions and user interactions.
User Experience: Make the experience great for early adopters so they can provide feedback from the start.
Finding an MVP Development Company
James, co-founder of BlocBeats, has a technical background as a former CTO and engineering leader. Therefore, he was the main point of contact for the MVP development process and the best person to manage the project on their side.
His journey started with finding an experienced MVP development company. His primary goal was to meet tight deadlines without compromising product quality, but he struggled to find realistic and affordable estimates.
With time running out, the design agency they chose for the project recommended us as trusted MVP development services based on their good experience working with us in cross-functional teams.
After reviewing the project scope, we concluded that delivering the full MVP within the tight deadline wasn’t feasible. Instead, we suggested releasing MVP prototypes with core features to gather quick user feedback for further refinement. This approach would validate user interest and help attract investor funding.
To achieve this, we suggested adopting an Agile MVP development approach, enabling us to rapidly release valuable increments during each sprint and test them with real users. Additionally, we proposed using atomic design principles to create modular, scalable, and easy-to-maintain components for the website, helping to speed up the process.
This MVP app development approach would demonstrate user interest early on, validate market demand for investors, and expedite funding. With his technical background, James recognized the value, which is how we got on board.
Prototyping for MVP Software Development
Our development process involves agile methodology, where we break the project into smaller, manageable iterations. This allows us to deliver functional software in regular sprints and get user feedback at each stage. By making changes based on that feedback, we ensure the product evolves to meet the user needs, aligning with James’s goal of having a ready-to-use product by the release date.
We proposed a hybrid approach to meet BlocBeats’s tight deadline: a low-fidelity and high-fidelity MVP design prototype. This requires less development effort than building a full fledged product and allows for continuous improvements.
This approach allowed BlocBeats to show the platform’s core concept to investors within the first two months with real metrics of user interest and engagement. James was relieved and agreed to the plan, which gave the team some breathing room. So, they fully bought into our hybrid MVP approach, which combined two different methods.
The MVP Development Process: Using Different Prototypes to Stay on Track
As planned, we used a mixed approach with different types of MVPs. We started with a landing page with a registration form as a low-fidelity MVP.
This minimalist approach allowed us to validate the core concept and measure market interest with minimal development effort in 2 months. It was a cheap way to get user interest, collect sign-ups, and get valuable feedback before moving on to more features.
We chose Typeform for data collection because of its simplicity and easy data export options like CSV and Google Sheets. After the landing page was live, we got a 70% completion rate, which was strong market interest.
Then, we launched a login page and got 60% of the registered users to log in within the first week, which was good user retention. This early feedback helped to validate key hypotheses about user engagement.
As the user activity grew, we realized we needed a more scalable solution and moved to Firebase to manage the data as a high-fidelity MVP example.
Later, when we integrated HubSpot as our CRM, we moved to Supabase because of its advantages over Firebase. Supabase uses PostgreSQL, which allowed for more complex data queries and relationships and made CRM integration easier. The REST API required minimal setup for integrations and gave real-time updates, so data exchange with HubSpot was more efficient.
MVP Agile Development: Using User Feedback for a Successful Product Journey
We delivered a single feature MVP that focused on the product’s core functionality, prioritized the essential features, and postponed the others to navigate the different types of MVPs. With this approach, we launched the homepage with a tracklist that gave us valuable insights into user preferences; some genres got double the clicks than others, which was a strong interest.
To increase user engagement, we added audio players to DJ profile pages so that users could explore different tracks. A few days later, we launched the user account page, where users spent an average of 5 minutes customizing their profile. We also added buy buttons and got a 15% conversion rate to track purchases.
Once users engaged with the core features, our team developed additional features from the backlog to build a solid minimum viable product, following a prioritization approach to MVP development. We refined advanced search filters and integrated checkout and marketplace features. This streamlined the checkout process, and we made 20% more sales in the first month.
Early user feedback was key to refining the product and guiding future development based on a deep understanding of user needs. We collected feedback from early adopters and analyzed user behavior through Hotjar, HubSpot, and Google Analytics. We could add, modify, or remove features and replace technologies as needed.
Startup MVP Development: Agile Bug Fix Enhancements for PWA Sound Track Preview
Thanks to early user feedback we found a bug in our Progressive Web App (PWA) that was causing the soundtrack preview from working on some mobile devices. This was a browser compatibility issue with specific mobile browsers.
We dug into the problem and optimized the rendering logic for the track preview component. We also improved our service workers’ caching strategy to load faster, even on low bandwidth.
Now soundtrack previews work on all devices and the user experience is much better with seamless access to previews no matter the device. This is a great example of our MVP development approach; if we had built a full version app from the beginning, we would have had to invest much more resources to fix this issue.
Agile Development MVP Approach Benefits
Looking back from concept validation to launching a ready-to-go community-driven marketplace, we can see that our use of various MVP development approaches was critical to our success.
We consistently delivered the key features by following an Agile MVP development approach, applying atomic design, and collaborating within a cross-functional team during each sprint. This allowed us to get early valuable feedback, refine the product based on their needs, and implement changes and fixes as we went.
Our MVP architecture was scalable, and we could replace technologies as needed. We also integrated automated tests to our workflow so we could deploy fast and reliable and minimize the risk of bugs.
Through continuous customer feedback and insights from investors, we iteratively refined our product, ensuring alignment with market demands and readiness to launch. We knew everything was functioning optimally. Our MVP software development services ensure that you create a product that resonates with your target audience from the start.
Takeaway: How an MVP Development Agency Helps With Product Development
Launching a digital product in a competitive market is tough, but starting with a minimum viable product (MVP) makes it much easier. An MVP software development lets you focus on what matters most, manage development costs, and iterate fast based on user input and feedback. You learn about their needs, preferences, and pain points by getting users involved early in the MVP software development process.
When there isn’t a clear vision, the discovery phase becomes essential for pinpointing key features and validating ideas before moving on to full-scale development.
Custom MVP software development is a way to test your business hypothesis with real customers without investing in a product nobody will use. By working with an MVP software development company, you can go to market fast with a viable product at minimal risk. Speed matters.
