# Minimum Viable Products for Internet of Things Applications: Common Pitfalls and Practices
## 4 Results
### RQ1: How Do Internet of Things Start-Ups Build Their MVPs in the Early Stage?
#### 4.1.2 Engineering Approaches at Early-Stages  
As shown in Figure 5, the development of three types of MVPs reveals a number of common engineering approaches, namely (iterative development, outsourcing, third-party components and rapid prototyping). Iterative development is the regular release of product versions. The duration of each iteration varies among Internet of Things start-ups. Hardware development requires a longer duration than software development does and a one- to four-week sprint structure is probably insufficient to make reasonable progress in a hardware development project. It is also difficult for many hardware projects to release working products frequently, though it is a high priority according to standard Agile principles. Hardware development involves shipping physical units, which is costly and  
Figure 5: Engineering approaches in early-stage Internet of Things start-ups. time-consuming. Delivering an MVP type 2 or type 3 to a customer after each iteration and then adapting the design to the customer's changing specifications could dramatically increase the cost of a project. In our cases, throughout multiple iterations, MVP type 2 and type 3 does not change much from the initial design. Iterative development was mentioned as a mean to achieve agility for Internet of Things start-ups. The CEOs related Agility with less upfront planning, short-term driven evolution of the start-ups. They also mentioned the speed of prototyping, development and fast time-to-market when asked about Agile. Start-ups stated that full controls of development activities and partnership would prepare themselves to respond to unexpected changes. Some start-ups also highlighted the importance of team collaboration over defined processes. The adoption of certain Agile practices or approaches might be different between the development of hardware and software elements:  
_\"Our electronics are relatively simple, while SW changes very much all the time. We are still trying to find what is the right way to do it\"_ (Case C)  
Outsourcing refers to the use of local contractors or subcontractors in start-ups' early stages. An example of local contractors is consultant companies, maker space, student projects and manufacturers. In case of D, skilled contractors were hired to achieve a quick start with a functional, (and normally physical) prototype. As mentioned by in Case E, utilizing external resources enables the capacities of speeding up product experimentation and development. Furthermore, as contractors are not an integral part of the start-up, they facilitate the scaling-down activities when they lack funding or change directions. Some start-ups use local contractors while some others hire offshore vendors. Making use of local vendors can be a feasible option, contributing to prototyping speed:  
_\"The local one delivered very quickly. It is critical that the component from China comes on time, especially since we next week will display the latest iteration in England. Every time it's just a matter of time. If we could do everything internally, we would have saved a lot of time on sending, it would have been great\"_ (Case E)  
Adoption of third-party components, whether they are open source or commercial off the shelf. Hardware development can take advantage of ready-made components to speed up prototyping and product development. Internet of Things start-ups utilize both off-the-shelf hardware components and open source components and libraries. Many of our start-ups build their first prototype with Arduino and Raspberry Pi, open-source electronic prototyping platforms (Case A, B, C, F, G, H). All start-ups purchased sensor devices like accelerometer, gyroscope, light and touch sensors from third-party providers. The adoption of existing components also enables the practice of reusing in incremental prototypes. Rapid prototyping: Internet of Things start-ups are beneficial from the advancement of prototyping technologies, such as 3D printing and CAD simulation tools.