MVP Development: The Pain Points Nobody Talks About
I've been building software for a while now. Long enough to see the same mistakes happen over and over. Projects that should be simple become complex. Features that nobody uses get built anyway. Money gets wasted on things that don't matter.
This isn't about bad developers or lazy clients. It's about a fundamental disconnect between what we think we need and what we actually need. It's about building MVPs that aren't actually minimal, viable, or products.
Let me walk you through the pain points I see constantly. Maybe you'll recognize them. Maybe you'll avoid them. That's the goal.
The Blog That Nobody Reads
Here's a classic one. Client wants a blog. "All websites have blogs," they say. "We need content," they say. So we build a blog. We build a tag system with complex relations, multiple taxonomies, the whole thing. It's beautiful. It's functional.
Then we launch. The blog has three posts. They never add more. The tag system is empty. The complex relations are useless. The blog doesn't get indexed because there's no SEO strategy. Nobody visits it because there's no traffic plan.
The blog exists because... well, why does it exist? If you're building a blog, you need a reason. Usually that reason is SEO traffic. You want people to find your content, read it, and convert. But that requires a strategy. It requires static pages that Google can index. It requires understanding what content drives traffic.
A blog without an SEO strategy is just a fancy text editor. It costs money to build. It costs money to maintain. And it does nothing.
The Landing Page That's Too Pretty
Landing pages should convert. That's the whole point. But I've seen landing pages that are works of art. Particle effects. Animated backgrounds. Custom illustrations. Everything moves. Everything sparkles.
Know who looks at those? Nobody. Users load the page, see it's slow, and leave. They don't care about your particle effects. They care about finding what they need.
The landing page is overcomplicated with particles and images that nobody actually looks at. Development costs are high. Load times are slow. Conversion rates are low. But it looks cool in a portfolio.
Here's the thing: pretty doesn't mean effective. A simple landing page that loads fast and converts is better than a beautiful one that doesn't. Every fancy effect costs money. Every custom image costs money. Every animation costs money. And if it doesn't help conversion, it's wasted.
The Business Page Without a Business
This one hurts. Client wants to offer B2B services. They want a business page. They want case studies, testimonials, the whole package. So we build it.
But here's the problem: they haven't tested their core concept. They don't know if anyone wants their service. They don't know if their pricing makes sense. They don't know if their process works.
You can't offer B2B services if you haven't tested your core concept. You're selling something that might not work. You're building a website for a business that might not exist.
Test first. Build a simple landing page. Get some customers. Validate the concept. Then build the fancy business page. Otherwise you're building a beautiful website for a business that doesn't work.
Design Without Business Logic
Designers create beautiful interfaces. That's what they do. But sometimes they don't understand the business logic. Sometimes they design features that don't make sense. Sometimes they put things in places that don't belong.
I've seen footers with buttons for forms that don't relate to the page. I've seen navigation that leads nowhere. I've seen call-to-action buttons that don't actually do anything.
The design looks great. But it doesn't work. It doesn't make sense from a business perspective. It's beautiful, but it's broken.
Design needs to understand business logic. Every button should have a purpose. Every page should have a goal. Every element should contribute to conversion. If it doesn't, it shouldn't be there.
Paid Fonts and Images That Don't Matter
Premium fonts. Stock photos. Custom illustrations. They all cost money. And most of the time, they don't matter.
Users don't care if you use a paid font. They don't care if your image is from a premium stock site. They care if your site works. They care if it's fast. They care if it solves their problem.
Paid fonts and images are expenses that don't improve conversion. They make your site look nice, but they don't make it work better. For an MVP, that's wasted money.
Use free fonts. Use free images. Use what works. Upgrade later when you have revenue. Don't spend money on things that don't generate revenue.
Admin Panels That Aren't Needed
Admin panels are great. They let you manage content. They let you update things. They're powerful tools.
But here's the thing: for an MVP, you probably don't need one. You probably don't have enough content to manage. You probably don't have enough data to process. You probably don't need a complex admin interface.
Admin panels are built for handling large amounts of data. If you don't have large amounts of data, you don't need one. You can update content manually. You can use a simple CMS. You can build the admin panel later when you actually need it.
Building an admin panel at MVP stage is like buying a warehouse when you're selling from your garage. It's overkill. It's expensive. And it doesn't help.
The Core Problem: Missing Business Understanding
All of these pain points come from the same root cause: missing business understanding. Either the client doesn't understand their own business, or the team doesn't understand the client's business.
Building software without understanding the business logic is like building a house without knowing what rooms you need. You might build something beautiful, but it won't work.
You need to understand:
- What problem are you solving?
- Who has this problem?
- How do you solve it?
- How do you make money?
- What's the core concept?
If you can't answer these questions, you shouldn't be building. You should be testing. You should be validating. You should be figuring out what you're actually building.
What We Actually Need: A Business Logic Test
Before we start building, we should test business understanding. Not technical skills. Not design skills. Business understanding.
Can you explain your core concept? Can you explain why someone would pay for it? Can you explain how it works? If the answer is no, we shouldn't be building. We should be talking. We should be figuring it out.
Building software for people who don't understand their own business is like building a car for someone who doesn't know how to drive. It's expensive. It's frustrating. And it doesn't work.
The MVP Checklist (The Real One)
Here's what an MVP actually needs:
Core functionality that solves one problem. Not everything. Not all features. One problem, solved well.
Fast loading times. Nobody waits for slow websites. Fast is better than pretty.
Simple design that works. Not fancy. Not complicated. Just works.
Static pages for SEO (if you need traffic). If you're building for search, make sure Google can index it.
Measurable goals. What are you trying to achieve? How will you measure it?
A way to collect feedback. How do you know if it's working? How do you know if it's not?
That's it. That's an MVP. Everything else can wait.
What Can Wait
Blogs without SEO strategy? Wait.
Fancy animations and particle effects? Wait.
Complex admin panels? Wait.
Paid fonts and premium images? Wait.
Tag systems with complex relations? Wait.
Business pages for untested concepts? Wait.
Build the core. Test it. Validate it. Then add the rest.
The Real Cost of Overbuilding
Every unnecessary feature costs money. But more importantly, it costs time. Time that could be spent on features that matter. Time that could be spent on testing. Time that could be spent on understanding your users.
Overbuilding an MVP means you're building the wrong thing. You're solving problems that don't exist. You're building features that nobody uses. You're wasting money on things that don't matter.
The cost isn't just the development time. It's the opportunity cost. What could you have built instead? What could you have learned? What could you have tested?
How to Avoid These Mistakes
Start with questions, not features. What problem are you solving? Who has this problem? Why would they pay for a solution?
Build the absolute minimum. One feature. One page. One goal. Make it work. Then test it.
Measure everything. Is it working? Are people using it? Are they paying for it? If not, why not?
Iterate based on data, not assumptions. Don't build features because you think they're cool. Build features because data shows you need them.
Understand the business logic before you write code. If you can't explain why you're building something, you probably shouldn't build it.
The Bottom Line
MVP means Minimum Viable Product. Minimum. Viable. Product. Not "everything we can think of." Not "all the features our competitors have." Not "what looks cool."
Minimum: the absolute least you need to solve the problem.
Viable: it actually works and solves the problem.
Product: someone will pay for it or use it.
If it's not minimum, it's not an MVP. If it's not viable, it's not an MVP. If it's not a product, it's not an MVP.
Build what matters. Test what you build. Learn from what you test. Then build more. That's how you build products that actually work.
This article is based on real project experiences. If you're planning an MVP and want to avoid these mistakes, check out our process page to see how we approach new projects. We'd love to help you build something that actually works.