Journal Ease

According to ProductPlan.com, a minimum viable product, or MVP, is a product with enough features to attract early-adopter customers and validate a product idea early in the product development cycle.

I've been working on the MVP for a few months now, and it's time to get the app out to the public. However, I'm struggling with the boundaries of MVP. I'm a software developer, so of course, I have a zillion ideas to make the product rock; and given enough time, I could do this. But, as a founder, I must focus on what's important for this stage of the process. So I feel like there are at least three MVPs to target:

MVP for user feedback...

Journal Ease is an app designed to organize journaling by day. So, whenever it is opened, it jumps to the end of the document for the current day, ready for the next entry.

There is also a calendar to navigate other days to review or edit what was written in the past. The calendar also provides colorful feedback based on a fixed set of writing goals.

The tools described above work very well, so I'm considering this a good MVP for users to begin their journaling journey. The next step on this front is to produce a list of features, order them first by personal preference; I am building the app I want to use, then rearrange the priorities as user feedback comes in.

MVP for marketing feedback...

As the release day drew closer, I realized I needed a Product Landing Page. In online marketing, a product landing page is a page built to promote and sell just one specific product, to the exclusion of all else. Since Journal Ease is designed for users to register and log in (security is a top priority), I needed a starting point or home page, and a product landing page made the most sense.

The process of generating a good landing page is no small effort. It took two long days, with the help of an expert, to find a layout, obtain or make appropriate images, and most importantly, generate the kind of copy required to draw interest. This last part is still to be determined; only time will tell.

I'm not a marketing guy, but the page looks and works well even on a mobile phone. I feel like much of the copy tells my story, so I'm considering this the marketing MVP done. The next marketing step is to generate traffic to the landing page and measure conversions.

MVP for price feedback...

There is evidence that most solopreneurs don't charge enough for their products. I, for one, don't want to make that mistake. For now, I'm avoiding this altogether by starting with free membership. I know, I know, but I have a plan.

According to SeanWes, a product's prices should never go down or "on sale". While sales promote new customers, they tend to make current customers feel shorted. Think about your cable bill and how newcomers get one to three-year discounts, and loyal customers get nothing but increases.

I plan to start with free for several reasons like speed to market, ease of adoption, and technical complications. The price can only go up from there. I will communicate directly with my customers as much as possible in the early days; to build a community and promote the kind of feedback that helps me build the product that people want.

When it comes time to charge, the early adopters will benefit from promotions and discounts. There will be two or three payment tiers, each adding benefits, so one reward could be to bump in the tier at no extra cost.

How's that for a plan?