Lean Startup Case Studies - Ed Roman

Lean Startup Case Studies Ed Roman @ed_roman [email_address] http://www.LeanMovement.com

About Me
Lean Startup Practitioner
Author of Java book "Mastering Enterprise JavaBeans"
Serial Entrepreneur
TheServerSide.com, The Middleware Company
Ghostfire Games
Startup company advisor
Mentored entreprenerus at Capital Factory incubator
Angel Investor

Presentation Overview
Lean Startup Case Studies:
PostageApp
Rocketr
Retriever
Lean Community Site

Quick Overview of Lean Startup
Minimize waste by:
Generate idea
Validate idea via customer interviews
Model idea using a canvas
Build Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Use metrics to refine results
Pivot (alter idea) as necessary
Involve customers every step of the way
Analogies:
Agile development, but applied to a company
Some similarities to the book "The 4-hour workweek"

Example of Lean Startup in Action
John Prendergast at BlueLeaf has awesome example

Example of Lean Startup in Action
More info: http://johnprendergast.posterous.com

PostageApp
Developed by The Working Group
Consulting company
"Scratched own itch"
The product: Outsourced engine for sending customized and personalized emails from a web application

PostageApp
An "Anti Case-Study"
Few Lean Startup principles used
No Canvas
No Customer Interviews
No Lean UX
No Continuous Deployment
No Price Testing
Few tools other than Google Analytics

PostageApp issues
Developed & tested from August 2010 - May 2011
Found out too late:
PostageApp assumed customer would handle the actual sending of the mail (SMTP)
But -- many customers didn't have SMTP
This small oversight was very costly!

PostageApp impact of not using lean
Impact:
Product re-engineered
1000 hours wasted development
Customers left service for competitors
Wasted marketing efforts
Lost 5-figures of revenue each month over 9 months
Using lean principles now and headed in a good direction!

Rocketr
"Shareable notes" for iPhone
Multiple editors
Started from consulting company Jet Cooper

Rocketr process
Generated the idea
Created a canvas
Performed Customer Interviews
Wrote an MVP in 99 days, as simple as possible
Got a few hundred MVP testers
Refined MVP
Tools: KISSmetrics. Tests run on a separate database for performance.

Rocketr canvas

Rocketr
Customer interviews were done every week
20-30 minutes spent per customer
7-10 customers per week
12 weeks total
36-50 hours spent on customer interviews

Rocketr
Sample questions:
Do people understand the concept of a notebook?
Is this how you ’d be taking notes?
What would warrant you taking notes in the real world?
Price testing

This confirmed problem existed - led to quick UI mockups

Rocketr conclusions
Never implemented these features:
Chat functionality
Saved searches
Discovery of notebooks
Would have taken 3x as long to implement system

Conclusion:
36-50 Hours of customer interviews saved 3-6 months of effort

Rocketr conclusions
Continuous deployment doesn't work on mobile
Continuous deployment doesn't work in fast-changing environments
Constantly engage customers
Work in a familiar environment
Get value out of small elements

Retrievr
Developed by Max Cameron, Big Bang Technology
Idea:
Loyalty system for coffee shops on iPhone
Came from Lean Startup Machine in Boston
2 parties involved:
Coffee drinkers
Coffee shop owners

Retrievr
Engaged coffee shop owners
Drew wireframes
Figured out pains and goals

Retrievr
Problems with customers / coffee drinkers
5 interviews in a row rejected solution
No incentive
Their presence indicates loyalty
Entire product needs rethinking

Retrievr
Pivot process
Conducted 5 open-ended interviews with customers
Got ideas, validated against larger sample
New Idea
Customers get free coffee by using loyalty system
Solves the incentive problem

Retrievr
Pivot Problems!
Coffee owners want to control "free coffees"
Part of their relationship with customers
Computer automation == bad
Preserving customer relationships are essential

Retrievr
Takeaway points:
Make sure you interview the "right" customer
The customer's customer could be your actual customer
Team is pursuing other opportunities
Is this bad? No
They learned quickly, and wasted very little time
This is a success -- reducing waste
Failure == good

Lean Startup Community
Motivation: A community for lean startup practitioners
MVP "RunningLeanHQ.com:"

Posted daily "lean startup news"
Customers subscribed
I interviewed first 10 subscribers:
Are you in a startup?
Funded?
Stage?
How familiar with Lean Startups?
How did you hear about the site?
Why are you interested in the site?
What do you think of the site so far?
What do you like / dislike about the site?
Have you returned to the site since your first visit? Why?
What would cause you to visit the site regularly?
What type of content would you like to see on the site?
etc

Conclusions:
People don't care about lean startup news
They care about knowledge, and case studies
Result:
I saved potentially months or years of posting news

Pivot to new site:
Focused on knowledge, not news
Case studies and knowledge now on live site
http://www.LeanMovement.com
Case studies in the next few weeks:
HighScoreHouse
Heyo
Dealkeeper
Betable
Would love feedback and contributions!

Tweet, blog, and visit to support us!
http://www.LeanMovement.com

Lean Startup Case Studies - Ed Roman

by International Startup Festival

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