Lean Startup

Eric Ries model for Start Up Product Development and Customer Development

• see Lean Development and Lean Manufacturing

There are three legs to the lean startup concept: Agile Product Development, low-cost (fast to market) Platform-s, and rapid-iteration Customer Development.

http://startuplessonslearned.blogspot.com/2008/10/lean-startups-vs-lean-companies.html

The biggest source of waste in a Start Up is building something that nobody wants.

Adopted heavily in the Micro ISV sector.

For Fractally Generative Pattern Language

Context

• You have an idea for a Start Up.
• It has more Market Risk than Product Risk. (In other words, you know if you build the solution it will "work", but you don't know whether anyone will buy it or use it.
• You don't have time/money to waste.

Forces

• You think it's a great idea, but you don't know whether anyone else will.
• Focus Group-s, Market Research Surves, and other traditional Market Research methods are horrible at predicting actual User Adoption.
• You can't afford to spend a year and a hundred thousand dollars before finding out that nobody wants it.

Solution

• Get Out Of The Building and hold lot of 1-on-1 interviews with potential customers - Customer Development.
• Document your Business Model components in a Lean Canvas, treating each statement as a hypothesis to be tested/validated. (Theory Building)
• Build and execute the Minimum Viable Product that will test/validate your most-risky hypothesis. Gather Metrics, esp on your Sales Funnel.
• Continue to interview current and potential customers, and do Iterative Product Development focused on Learning.

Colleges teaching it?

• http://leanstartup.pbworks.com/w/page/51233037/InnovationCourses
• Launch Pad Central customers? https://www.launchpadcentral.com/#customers
• https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Tc_VIGb5ZmYwuQyakyNGTKVJ2dUVJLDe1sXBMri00KY/edit#gid=1115780485

different spin - order of actions

Process alternative 1

(This is an Iterative process - better to consider lots of alternatives for every variable up-front before you start investing hard dollars or significant time.)

Pick a Warm Niche you want to serve for years. See Kevin Dewalt this and this.

• you'll want to evaluate multiple potential niches, see
  • Amy Hoy's process
  • Market Development Strategy Checklist from Crossing The Chasm

Customer Discovery

• Problem Interview-s
• solution Idea generation/evaluation, fake ProtoType of Minimum Viable Product (hmm, could an Info Product be your MVP? See Amy Hoy process.)
• Lean Canvas (incl top-3 Sales Channel guesses from Traction Bullseye Framework)
• Solution Interview-s

Build Minimum Viable Product (while testing top-3 Sales Channel guesses?)

Customer Validation: start Selling, focus on top Sales Channel, etc.

Add Minimum Viable Feature-s based on Strategies And Risk board via Validated Learning board. (Lean Stack)

Process alternative 2

(Closer to Running Lean)

Have Product idea

Make handful of Lean Canvas variations around this idea - various specific Market Segment-s, Sales Channel-s. Pick most promising-smelling. Do some interviews to refine, decide whether to switch variations.

Launch Splash Page to drive Sales Channel tests to; outcome: build Email List (or even take pre-orders?).

Customer Discovery

• Do bigger batch of Problem Interview-s to refine/validate.
• Do MVP ProtoType.
• Do Solution Interview-s.

Continue as with alt1.