# MVP development for startups and new digital products > MVP development for startups and new digital products: written scope, prototype with real users, web app or PWA live in short releases. Your code. Page: https://www.studiojem.it/en/services/mvp-development/ The first version people actually use, holding only what it takes to find out whether the idea stands up. We develop MVPs for startups and for companies launching a new digital product: a working first version, with the few features needed to test the idea with real users. Prototype, interface, development and launch in the same studio, with code that stays yours and grows without starting again from zero. A product idea gets wasted in two ways. The first is never trying it. The second, more common, is building all of it before knowing whether anyone wants it: a year of development, twenty features, and the first real user who uses two of them. MVP development is there to avoid the second. You pick the feature that has to prove something, build it well and put it online, with payments if the product will have to charge. The rest waits for the numbers. hoopit has eight modules the customer switches on one at a time; eSLA was made to work straight away, with no store and no account. For us, developing a digital product begins before the code: written scope, clickable prototype, an interface tried by the people who will use it. We design and develop in the same studio, so the prototype and the product speak the same language, and nobody has to translate a design file into software. We do MVP development in Sardinia and all over Italy, for startups and companies. Here many ideas come from a problem seen up close: the season, the bookings, the shifts, the distance. They are good ideas to try small, with a few real customers, before turning them into a product for everyone. ## Who we do it for - **SaaS & Digital Products** — Subscription software that has to find its first paying customers: first the module that solves the problem, then the others, one at a time. - **Restaurants** — A service for restaurants to try in a few venues before selling it to everyone: menus, bookings, orders, without building it all on day one. - **Wellness & Beauty** — A platform for selling classes or programmes online, with subscriptions and payments, to launch to the customers you already have. - Hotels & Resorts - Yachting & Marine - Real Estate & Luxury - Food & Wineries - Retail & Boutiques - Healthcare - Tourism & Experiences - Construction - Automotive & Services - Training & Education - Engineering & Energy - Events & Weddings - Professional firms - Architecture & Interiors - Gyms & Fitness ## What's included ### MVPs for startups An MVP for a startup isn't a small product: it's the product holding only the feature that has to prove something. The rest goes on a list, with the date when it makes sense to build it. ### App prototype Before the code, a clickable app prototype to put in the hands of the first users. It costs a fraction of the development and often changes the first version more than any meeting. ### Web apps and PWAs The first version is usually a web app or a PWA: it opens in the browser, installs on the phone, updates without going through the stores. [eSLA](/en/work/esla/) works this way, with no App Store and no account. ### Modules you add We start with one module and add others when they're needed. For [hoopit](/en/work/hoopit-app/) there are eight, switched on one at a time: menu, bookings, takeaway, CRM, inventory. ### Subscriptions and payments If the idea is a subscription service, payments are there from the first version: it's the most honest way to know whether anyone wants it. The [Flow platform](/en/work/app-flow-porto-cervo/) has three plans and gift cards. ## Method An MVP nearly always fails by excess, not by lack: too many features, too much time, no real users. The steps are there to cut. - **The hypothesis to test** — One sentence: who has the problem, what they do today, what they would do with the product. From there we decide what goes into the first version. - **Written scope** — The features that are in, the ones that are out, and why. With timings and costs, before any commitment. - **Prototype with real users** — Clickable screens tried by the people who will use the product. This is where the useless feature turns up, and the one that was missing. - **Development in short releases** — The first version goes online as soon as it holds up, then one release after another, on the things users really do. - **Measure and decide** — The usage numbers say whether to continue, change direction or stop. Stopping early is a good result too. ## What we build with Web apps in React and TypeScript, PWAs installable from the phone, a Node.js backend and a PostgreSQL database on managed cloud, payments with Stripe. They are the same technologies as our custom software: an MVP built this way becomes the real product without being rewritten. The code sits in a repository in your name, with the documentation. React · TypeScript · PWA · Node.js · PostgreSQL · Stripe · Figma ## MVP, prototype or full product? Three different things that often go by the same name. Picking one in place of another costs months. - **When a prototype is enough** — You need to find out whether people understand the idea, or to convince a partner. Clickable screens, no code: weeks, not months. - **When you need an MVP** — You need to know whether people use it, and perhaps pay for it. That takes a real product, small and online. - **When you need the full product** — The market is already there, so are the customers, and the process is clear: that's when we design the whole [custom software](/en/services/custom-software/), in modules. ## How much it costs **On request** The price is set by the features of the first version, the payments, the logins and how much prototyping is needed before the code. The right comparison is with the cost of building everything and finding out later that half of it wasn't needed. The quote is written and free, from the configurator at [/en/quote/](/en/quote/). ## FAQ ### How much does it cost to build an MVP? It depends on what the first version has to prove: a clickable prototype and a web app with payments are different jobs. The quote is written and free, with scope and timings, from the configurator at /en/quote/. ### How long does it take? The scope decides the time, and the scope is written first. The rule is to put the first version online as soon as it holds up, not when it is complete: we write the date in the quote. ### Native app or web app? For the first version, nearly always a web app or a PWA: it costs less, updates at once and doesn't wait for the stores. A native app makes sense when you need phone features the browser doesn't offer. ### Is the code ours? Yes. Code in a repository in your name, documentation, access to the database and the cloud. If the product grows, it can carry on with us or with a team of your own. ### Do you work with startups outside Sardinia? Yes. Scope, prototype and releases are easy to follow on calls, with a link to open at every version. We work this way with companies all over Italy.