You have probably heard about this magic tool for starting your online business a damn dozen times. But you are still thinking about whether a minimum valuable product is worth investing in it And if you make a positive decision, how much money will it take to perform a project?
The experts who studied this issue up and down and knew about all the hidden tricks accumulated their experience in the post about the MVP cost. Which components impact the final price? And where to start budgeting your project? How can you optimize an MVP cost? These are a few questions we’re going to help you resolve.
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Components of the MVP cost
To talk about the constituents that determine pricing, you need to assess the complexity of the embodiment of the idea. It means counting the amount of time the experts will spend working on the product. These parameters depend on the quantity and quality of the features you’re intending to implement. Since it’s rather difficult to assess the scope of work on your own, you can describe the project in short and ask the quote from various agencies. So, you’ll get a preliminary assessment of the
MVP cost. At Purrweb the experts can estimate the MVP cost for two weeks, but it’s free. Catch the opportunity!
MVP Cost Determination: Where To Start
As you can guess, this task can be solved only if you exactly know what you want. It makes sense to start with market research in order to find references for developers in terms of functionality and design. The task is to transfer your idea to professionals as accurately as possible.
1. Learn The Market.
You can catch a bunch of shticks observing the diversity of similar products in the market. Analyzing the strong and weak features of competitors, you can gather the version of the product that can delight users. Write down the list of obligatory features which provide fast and effortless problem-solving for users. Since you know what and how the user can get through the app, focus on searching for the appropriate contractor.
2. Get An Approximate Estimation Of The Project
The sum agencies charge for their work on driving home the idea is conditioned by their location, experience, and level of qualification. Be aware: professional work can’t cost too cheap. The actual average hourly rates of IT specialists are as follows: about $20 in third-world countries, $50-75 in Eastern Europe, and $120-150 in the US.
Compare the commercial offers and try to find out if there are some additional or unexpected payments behind the shown MVP cost. As a rule, if the MVP cost is too attractive, there are some hidden expenditures in the future.
Of course, the company which works in accordance with the Time&Materials model can’t name you the solid sum at the start. But you should have a presentation about the cost framing in your case. So, you can attract investment on time if needed or reduce the number of features at the start.
3. Create A Clickable Prototype
At this stage, it’s better to start cooperation with the full cycle app development agency as it will be more convenient to get over to the next step of the process. Working with the UI/UX team, you transfer your ideas into a visual form. Colors, fonts, illustrations and animation, UX copywriting, modules, buttons, and slides: the experienced team organizes all the elements into a well-thought architecture. The first users get access to see what and how it looks and works in the project. This work usually takes about 100-150 hours for the UI/UX design team. At Purrweb the average bill for the UI/UX design services spins around $6000.
4. Build a Fully Functional Product
As the logic and visualization of the product are determined, the first feedback is received and UI/UX design is tested, you can attract investors to support further development. It’s time to transform a prototype into a product working as required. At this stage, you need talented backend developers, QA engineers, and the support of project managers. If we talk about the average MVP cost, this step takes about 1000 hours of work. If the hourly rates of the team are about $50, it isn’t hard to estimate that this step requires $50,000. If it’s $150, you can multiply the sum by three.
5. QA Services.
As a rule, this work is conducted in parallel with the work on the fourth step. The QA engineers cover the app with diverse tests before it will be presented to the public. Since it is costly to fix drawbacks at the later stages of the product’s existence, don’t neglect this part of the MVP cost. To check the workability of all features usually requires about 200 hours. Let’s multiply it by the average hourly rates and we’ll get $10,000, which is addressed to the quality assurance team.
Apart from the considered issues, there can be additional services that add score to the final MVP cost. Project management services or marketing consultations. The most reasonable behavior is to communicate with the team and find out if these or other services are included in the MVP cost or if it’s required to pay over the initial sum.
From this overview you see which factors matter when it comes to the MVP cost defining. In this case, the project requires a bit less than $80,000.
But every product is unique, and there’s no guarantee that your idea won’t be more expensive or cheaper than the average MVP cost.
How does the choice of technology impact the MVP cost?
People who are working in the software development industry for a long time know the secrets to optimize expenditures. When you’re planning a mobile app, create your MVP with flexible tools. As you remember, there are two groups of potential target users for the app: iPhone owners and smartphone ones. And to reach both these audiences, you have to hire native developers. But there’s a trick. Thanks to React Native you can cut the MVP cost by 30 or even 50%. Why is it cheaper? Because the experts can reuse code for various systems, and it saves their time, and your budget respectively. As for the quality, don’t hesitate: the end users will discover no difference between these two variants of products. But you get an essential advantage: in case you need any renewal or additional features, it would be faster and cheaper to add alterations.
The Bottom Line
As you’ve seen, the pivotal meaning has the choice of a trustworthy contractor. The higher hourly rates can increase the MVP cost by two or three times. At Purrweb you can find the balanced in terms of price/quality services, and the preliminary estimation of your project idea for free!
