You've got a brilliant idea for a web app. You can see it clearly in your mind. It's got dashboards, notifications, mobile apps, AI features, payment processing, user management, reporting, and about 47 other features.

You get quotes from developers. They all say the same thing: "This will cost $150,000 and take 9 months."

You're crushed. You don't have $150k. Even if you did, 9 months is forever.

Good news: You don't need to build all of it at once.

What's an MVP?

MVP = Minimum Viable Product

It's the smallest version of your idea that actually works and provides value.

Think of it like this: You want to build a car. But you can't afford to build a car right now.

Bad approach: Save money for 3 years, then build the perfect car all at once. You get nothing useful until year 3.

Good approach:

Month 1: Build a skateboard (gets you from A to B)
Month 3: Upgrade to a bicycle (faster, still useful)
Month 6: Get a motorcycle (even better)
Month 12: Finally build the car

You had something useful the whole time. You learned what you actually needed. By the time you build the car, it's exactly the right car.

Real example from a client

A training company wanted to build a complete learning platform:

Their full vision:

Student registration and payment
Course content with videos
Quizzes and assessments
Progress tracking
Certificates generation
Teacher portal for uploading content
Admin dashboard with analytics
Mobile apps for iOS and Android
Discussion forums
Live video classes
AI recommendations for next courses

Estimated cost for everything: $180,000

Timeline: 10-12 months

Their budget: $50,000

We helped them think differently.

What they actually built first (MVP)

Version 1 - Month 1-2 ($28,000):

Student registration (email + password)
Course content (text and video)
Payment integration (Stripe)
Basic admin panel to add courses

That's it. Four features. It worked. They launched it.

What they learned:

Students didn't care about fancy features. They just wanted to access the course content easily.

Nobody asked for mobile apps. Everyone was fine using their phones' browsers.

The discussion forum they planned? Nobody would have used it. They learned this by asking their first 50 students.

What they built next (Version 2)

After 3 months of real usage, they knew what actually mattered:

Version 2 - Month 4-5 ($18,000):

Certificates (students kept asking for this)
Progress tracking (students wanted to see completion status)
Better video player (the basic one had issues on some phones)

Still no mobile apps. Still no discussion forums. Still no AI. None of that mattered yet.

What they built later (Version 3)

Six months in, they had 200 students and knew the business worked.

Version 3 - Month 8-9 ($22,000):

Teacher portal (they hired more teachers and needed delegation)
Better analytics (they needed to see which courses sold well)
Email automation (manual emails to students was taking too much time)

Total spent: $68,000 over 9 months

Total earned from the platform in that time: $140,000

They made money while building it. Not after building it.

Why MVPs save you money

You build only what you need

That massive feature list you started with? Half of it doesn't matter. MVP forces you to figure out which half.

You learn from real users

You think you know what users want. You're probably wrong. Real users will tell you what actually matters.

We've built MVPs where the most-used feature was something we almost didn't include. And the "hero feature" that was supposed to be the selling point? Barely got used.

You can start earning sooner

A complete product in 12 months means zero revenue for 12 months.

An MVP in 2 months means you could be earning money by month 3.

You reduce risk

What if you build the whole thing and then realize people don't want it? You just wasted $150k.

What if you build an MVP for $30k, launch it, and realize people don't want it? You saved $120k and learned an important lesson.

How to figure out your MVP

Here's the process we use with clients:

Step 1: List all the features you want

Write down everything. Dream big. Get it all out.

Step 2: Mark each feature as "must-have," "nice-to-have," or "someday"

Be ruthless. "Must-have" means the product literally doesn't work without it. Not "would be really cool to have." Actually cannot function without it.

Most features are "nice-to-have." That's fine. You'll build them later.

Step 3: Look at your "must-have" list

Still too long? Good. Now cut it in half.

For each feature ask: "What if we didn't have this for the first 3 months?"

If the answer is "we'd manage," it's not must-have yet.

Step 4: What's left is your MVP

Usually 3-7 core features. That's it.

Common mistakes with MVPs

Making it too minimal

MVP doesn't mean broken or ugly. It needs to work well and look professional. It's just simple.

Bad MVP: Looks like a high school project, crashes constantly, confusing to use

Good MVP: Clean design, works reliably, easy to understand, just doesn't have many features yet

Making it too complicated

"But we need this feature because what if someone wants to..."

Stop. You're designing for imaginary users. Build for real users who exist right now.

Never upgrading it

Some people build an MVP and then never improve it. That defeats the purpose.

The point is: build small, launch fast, learn, then improve based on real feedback.

Building features nobody asked for

After your MVP launches, you'll be tempted to add cool features you thought of.

Resist. Only add features that users actually request. You'll be surprised how different that list is from what you imagined.

MVP doesn't mean cheap and bad

We've seen people use "MVP" as an excuse to build garbage.

"It's just an MVP, we'll fix the bugs later." "It's just an MVP, design doesn't matter yet." "It's just an MVP, it can be slow."

No. Your MVP should be excellent at the few things it does. Just don't make it do 50 things.

What to include in every MVP

User authentication: If people need accounts, do this properly from day one. Rebuilding auth later is painful.

Payment processing: If you're charging money, integrate this early. You want to make sure the business model works.

One core workflow that works perfectly: Whatever the main thing is, nail it. Everything else can wait.

Basic admin tools: You'll need to manage users, content, or data somehow. Build simple admin tools.

Analytics: Install Google Analytics or something similar. You need to see what people do.

What to skip in your MVP

Mobile apps: Just make your website work well on phones. Build real apps later if needed.

Advanced reporting: Basic numbers are fine. Fancy dashboards can wait.

Integrations with everything: Pick 1-2 critical integrations. Do the rest later.

Automation of everything: Some manual work is fine at first. Automate when it becomes painful.

Fancy AI features: Unless AI is literally your core product, add it later.

The money conversation

Full product: $100,000 to $200,000, 8-12 months

MVP: $25,000 to $60,000, 2-4 months

Version 2: $15,000 to $40,000, 1-2 months

Version 3: $15,000 to $40,000, 1-2 months

You end up spending similar money total, but:

You spread it over time
You're earning money along the way
You only build features people actually want
If it doesn't work, you spent $30k not $150k

Real story: When NOT to do MVP

A hospital came to us wanting a patient management system.

They wanted to go MVP route to save money. "Let's launch with basic features and add more later."

We said no.

Why? Because in healthcare, you can't really do MVP. You need:

Full regulatory compliance from day one
Complete security and privacy features
Backup systems and redundancy
Training and documentation
Integration with existing hospital systems

Cutting corners here would be dangerous and illegal.

Some industries can't do MVP. Healthcare, finance, anything with heavy regulation. You need the full product or nothing.

But most businesses? MVP absolutely works.

How to pitch MVP to stakeholders

If you're trying to convince your boss or investors to go MVP instead of building everything:

Don't say: "Let's build a cheaper version because we don't have enough money."

Do say: "Let's validate the core concept quickly, gather real user data, and make sure we're building what the market actually wants before committing the full budget."

Same idea, but one sounds like cutting corners and the other sounds like smart strategy.

What comes after MVP

Month 1-2: Build and launch MVP

Month 3-4: Gather feedback, fix bugs, improve based on real usage

Month 5-6: Add the most requested features (Version 2)

Month 7-8: More refinement and features based on more data

Month 9-12: You now have a solid product built on real user needs, not assumptions

Then you keep iterating forever. Software is never "done." It evolves with your business.

Bottom line

Don't try to build everything at once. You'll spend too much, take too long, and probably build the wrong things.

Build the smallest thing that solves the core problem. Launch it. Learn from real users. Build the next piece.

It's faster, cheaper, less risky, and you'll end up with a better product.

Want help figuring out what your MVP should be? Let's talk. We're experts at helping businesses figure out what to build first (and what to skip until later).

About &7: We build MVPs and web applications for Singapore businesses. We help you start small, launch fast, and grow based on real feedback, not guesses.