Client project
AdventCircle
Built by Easital for a client in the United States
A community platform delivered as a website and as apps on the App Store and Google Play, with giving, events, spiritual resources and a member marketplace.
MVP development
MVP development services: for web and mobile products
Easital Technologies Ltd. builds minimum viable products: the first release of a web or mobile product, reduced to what is needed to test it with real users. We scope it with you, design and build it, release it and hand over code that can grow into the full product.
What an MVP is in software development
In software development, an MVP (minimum viable product) is the smallest release of a product that real users can use for its main purpose. It is built to learn whether the product is worth building in full.
Minimum refers to scope: one audience, one problem and one way of solving it. Viable means the release works for that purpose without someone from the team standing beside the user. An MVP that crashes, loses data or exposes it teaches nothing about the idea. It only shows that the build was poor.
The term is often confused with a prototype. The two answer different questions and cost different amounts, and choosing the wrong one wastes money in either direction. A proof of concept is a third thing: a technical experiment that shows whether something can be built at all, for example whether a model can extract the right fields from your documents.
| Prototype | MVP | Production product | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it tests | Whether people understand and want the idea | Whether people use it, and pay for it | Whether the business can serve many customers reliably |
| Who uses it | The team, investors, test users in a session | Real users, on their own | All customers |
| Data | Sample data | Real data, access-controlled and backed up | Real data with audit, retention and recovery procedures |
| Scope | Screens and one ideal path | One complete workflow | Full feature set, roles and integrations |
| Code afterwards | Usually discarded | Kept and extended | Maintained for years |
| Suitable tools | Design tools, no-code or AI app builders | Engineers, with AI assistance and review | An engineering team with operations |
What our MVP development services cover
As an MVP development company we cover the whole first release, from the question the product has to answer to the analytics that answer it. For a subscription product, SaaS MVP development adds tenancy and billing to this list.
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Discovery and scoping
Conversations with you and, where possible, with target users. The output is a one-sentence hypothesis and a scope with a list of what is postponed.
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UX and interface design
User flows and screens for the core workflow, including the empty, loading and error states, designed for the devices the audience uses.
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Web application
A responsive web app with accounts, the core workflow and an API behind it.
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Mobile apps
iOS and Android apps when the product depends on the phone: camera, location, notifications or use without a connection.
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AI features
Chat, voice, extraction or generation, with cost and output quality measured from the first build.
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Back end and data
Database design, authentication, file storage, background jobs and connections to outside services such as payments or messaging.
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Testing and release
Automated tests on the paths that touch money and personal data, app-store submission and a production deployment.
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Analytics
Events on the actions that test the hypothesis, so the release produces an answer and not only traffic.
How an MVP build runs
An MVP build runs in six steps. The first two cost the least and decide most of the outcome.
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Write the hypothesis
One sentence: who the user is, what problem they have and what they will do if the product solves it. The MVP exists to test that sentence.
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Scope to the hypothesis
Each proposed feature is checked against it. If the test can run without the feature, the feature waits.
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Design the core flow
Screens and states for the one workflow, reviewed with you before the build starts.
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Build in short cycles
You see working software at the end of each cycle and can change priorities between cycles.
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Release to real users
First to a small invited group, then publicly. For mobile apps this includes store review.
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Measure and decide
The analytics and conversations with users show whether the hypothesis held. The result is a decision: extend the product, change direction or stop.
Proof from our own work
Three live products show first releases on the web, on mobile and in the browser: two built for a client and one that Easital owns.
Client project
Calldone
Built by Easital for a client in the United States
A voice-AI product with a web dashboard. Every phone call an agent handles comes back as a recording, a transcript and a summary.
Easital product
StepVideo
Built and run by Easital
A Chrome extension paired with a web app. The extension records a workflow, and the web app turns the take into a video, a guide and a share page.
Web or mobile first
Most MVPs should start on one platform. Each additional client is a separate build, test and release cycle, and it adds to the cost of every later change.
| If the product | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Is used at a desk or sold to businesses | A responsive web app | One codebase, no store review, updates reach everyone at once |
| Depends on camera, location, notifications or offline use | A mobile app | These need device access that a browser gives only in part |
| Lives inside another tool, such as the browser | An extension or plug-in | It meets users where the work already happens |
| Needs web and mobile from the first day | One back end with a cross-platform mobile client | A single mobile codebase serves iOS and Android |
For subscription software the first release also needs tenancy and billing. That case is covered on the SaaS MVP development page.
What drives MVP development cost
MVP development cost depends on what the MVP has to prove, not on a standard package. We do not publish prices. A quote follows a written scope.
- Platforms. A web app alone costs less than a web app plus two mobile apps.
- The core workflow. A form and a list cost less than real-time collaboration, payments between users or media processing.
- Integrations. Each outside system, such as payments, maps, messaging or calendars, adds build and test work.
- AI features. They add evaluation work during the build and a usage bill afterwards.
- Design depth. A consumer app needs more interface work than an internal business tool.
- Regulated data. Health, financial or children’s data brings requirements that cannot be postponed.
The common question of how much it costs to build an app has the same answer: it depends on these six drivers. The reliable way to lower the figure is to remove scope, not to lower the standard of what remains.
Where AI coding tools fit
AI app builders and coding agents have made prototypes cheap, and that is good for founders. What separates an MVP from such a prototype is that an engineer reads, tests and takes responsibility for what ships.
We use AI assistance in our own builds, inside a process with code review and automated tests. If you already built a first version with an AI tool and it now has to serve real users, the work of getting it there is described under vibe coding rescue, and an independent assessment under code audit services.
Technology for MVPs
The stack is chosen for the product and for the team that will maintain it, and it is listed here by category.
- Clients
- Responsive web app
- iOS app
- Android app
- Chrome extension
AdventCircle is listed on the App Store and Google Play. StepVideo is listed on the Chrome Web Store.
- Back end
- API
- Relational database
- Authentication
- File storage
- Background jobs
- AI
- Hosted model APIs
- Open-weight models
- Speech-to-text and text-to-speech
Any major commercial model provider or an open-weight model, chosen for what the MVP has to prove and what it will cost to run.
- Release
- Automated tests
- Staging environment
- Store submission
- Product analytics
Ways to work with us
There are three ways to engage Easital for an MVP, depending on how far the idea has been defined.
Scoped MVP build
We take the product through all six steps and release it. Afterwards we keep building with you or hand the code over with documentation.
Best for: startups and product teams with a clear first user and a budget for one release.
Discovery and scoping
The first three steps on their own: hypothesis, scope and the design of the core flow. The result is a document and a set of screens that any team can build from.
Best for: ideas that are not yet defined well enough to estimate.
Dedicated engineers
Engineers from Easital join your team for the build and work in your repository and process. See offshore software development for how that works across time zones.
Best for: teams that have a product lead and designer and need engineering capacity.
MVP development: questions and answers
What is an MVP in software development?
An MVP, or minimum viable product, is the smallest release of a product that real users can use for its main purpose. It covers one audience and one workflow, works without help from the team, and exists to test whether the full product is worth building.
What does an MVP development company do?
An MVP development company, or MVP development agency, turns a product idea into a first release: it helps define the hypothesis and scope, designs the core flow, builds the web or mobile app and its back end, releases it and sets up the analytics that show whether the idea holds.
What is the difference between a prototype and an MVP?
A prototype shows what the product would look like and is used with sample data in front of the team or test users. An MVP is working software that real users rely on with real data. A prototype is usually discarded. An MVP is kept and extended.
What drives MVP development cost?
The number of platforms, the complexity of the core workflow, the number of integrations, AI features, the depth of design and whether the data is regulated. Easital does not publish prices. We quote after the scope is written, and removing scope is the reliable way to lower the figure.
Should an MVP be a web app or a mobile app?
Start with the web unless the product depends on the phone’s camera, location, notifications or offline use. A web app has one codebase and no store review. If both are needed from the first day, a cross-platform mobile client over one back end keeps the cost down.
Can an MVP include AI features?
Yes, and many now do. An AI feature adds a cost for every use and outputs that have to be checked against real examples, so both are measured from the first build. Our AI work is described under AI development services.
What happens after the MVP is released?
The usage data and user conversations lead to one of three decisions: extend the product, change direction or stop. If the decision is to extend, the MVP code is the base. For subscription products the next stage is described on the SaaS development page.
Tell us about the product you want to test
Describe the user, the problem and the platform you have in mind. We reply by email with questions and a proposed first step.
Easital is an AI and SaaS engineering company that takes AI software to production, and runs AI products of its own. Founded in 2019.