12. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO START A
BUSINESS?
Traits
•Something you have by nature
• Courage
• Creativity
• Curiosity
• Determination
• Discipline
• Honesty
• Work Ethic
13. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO START A
BUSINESS?
Skills
•Something you acquire over time with
practice
• Business skills
• Communication skills
• Computer skills
• Math skills
• Organizational skills
• Problem-solving skills
• Critical thinking skills
14. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO START A
BUSINESS?
Resources
•An asset that can be drawn on to function
more effectively
• Money
• Networks
• Education
• Mentors
15. Which of the following could be
considered entrepreneurial
ventures?
20. LEAN STARTUP
IMVU, Inc. (Instant Messaging Virtual Universe) is an
online social entertainment website founded in
2000, in which members use 3D avatars to meet new
people, chat, create, and play games.
• 50 million registered
users
• 10 million unique visitors
per month
• 3 million monthly active
users
• 10 million virtual goods
(world’s largest online
catalog), almost all of
which are created by its
own members
21. THE LEAN STARTUP’S KEY PREMISE
Validated Learning: Demonstrating that an
entrepreneur/team of entrepreneurs is making
concrete progress toward the end goal of
creating a sustainable business
23. BUILD-MEASURE-LEARN (BML)
FEEDBACK LOOP
1. Ideas: Start with an idea
that you believe could be
turned into a business
• Opportunity recognition
(more on this tomorrow)
2. Build: Create a
prototype called a
“Minimum Viable
Product” to test your
assumptions about value
and growth hypothesis
Ideas
Build
Product
Measur
e
Data
Learn
24. BUILD-MEASURE-LEARN (BML)
FEEDBACK LOOP
3. (Minimum Viable) Product:
The simplest version of
your product that enables
you to test your value
hypothesis
• Value Hypothesis: An
assumption that can be
tested to determine if a
product or service creates
value for customers
4. Measure: Collecting
market research to test
your value hypothesis.
Ideas
Build
Product
Measur
e
Data
Learn
25. BUILD-MEASURE-LEARN (BML)
FEEDBACK LOOP
5. Data: What you’ve found
through market research
• Quantitative: Can be
represented numerically
• Qualitative: Narrative,
non-numerical feedback
6. Learn: Analyzing the data
you’ve collected to
determine what you’ve
learned and what your next
steps are.
Ideas
Build
Product
Measur
e
Data
Learn
31. SOURCES OF OPPORTUNITY
New Discoveries:
•The creation of totally new products and
services can happen through research, new
technology, or even by accident!
32. SOURCES OF OPPORTUNITY
Existing Products or Services:
•You can get ideas for opportunities from
businesses that already exist by looking for
ways to improve a product significantly.
33. SOURCES OF OPPORTUNITY
Unique Knowledge
•Entrepreneurs sometimes turn one-of-a-
kind experiences or uncommon knowledge
into a product or service that benefits
others.
34. LET’S TRY…
1. Count off 1-6
2. Read the following story about the
invention of a product/business for your
group
3. Determine what opportunity source is
exemplified
4. Be ready to share
35. PENICILLIN
While picking up one particular dish, Fleming noticed
something strange about it. While he had been away, a
mold had grown on the dish. That in itself was not
strange. However, this particular mold seemed to have
killed the Staphylococcus aureus that had been growing
in the dish. Fleming realized that this mold had potential.
This little mold eventually became known as Penicillin,
the foundation of all antibiotic medicine.
On a September morning in 1928, Alexander
Fleming left for vacation. Before leaving,
Fleming neatly organized his Petri dishes, but
didn’t notice the open window in his lab.
A week later, back from vacation, Fleming
noticed the open window and began sorting
through the long unattended stacks to
determine which ones could be salvaged.
Many of the dishes had been contaminated
due to the open window. Fleming placed each
of these dishes in an ever growing trash pile.
36. BILL GATES
At the end of the ban, the four students offered to find bugs in CCC's software in exchange for
computer time. The arrangement with CCC continued until 1970, when the company went out of
business. The following year, Information Sciences, Inc. hired the four Lakeside students to write
a payroll program in Cobol, providing them computer time and royalties. After his administrators
became aware of his programming abilities, Gates wrote the school's computer program to
schedule students in classes. He modified the code so that he was placed in classes with "a
disproportionate number of interesting girls." He later stated that "it was hard to tear myself away
from a machine at which I could so unambiguously demonstrate success."
At 13 he enrolled in the Lakeside School, an exclusive preparatory school. When
he was in the eighth grade, the Mothers Club at the school used proceeds from
Lakeside School's rummage sale to buy a Teletype Model 33 ASR terminal and a
block of computer time on a General Electric (GE) computer for the school's
students. Gates took an interest in programming the GE system in BASIC, and
was excused from math classes to pursue his interest. He wrote his first
computer program on this machine: an implementation of tic-tac-toe that
allowed users to play games against the computer. After the Mothers Club
donation was exhausted, he and other students sought time on other systems.
One of these systems was a PDP-10 belonging to Computer Center Corporation
(CCC), which soon banned four Lakeside students—including Gates—for the
summer after it caught them exploiting bugs in the operating system to obtain
free computer time.
37. WHITE OUT
In 1951 Bette Nesmith was divorced and approaching a
new secretarial job; she had learned to type on manual
machines and now faced electric typewriters. A light
touch caused letters to appear on the paper, and the
mistakes from a carbon ribbon didn't erase. Bette found
herself making frequent mistakes, and was always
having to start over entire documents! As a former artist,
Bette put some white waterbased paint in a small nail
polish bottle, painted over her mistakes, and
voila! Liquid Paper.
38. NETFLIX
Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix: "I got the idea for Netflix after
my company was acquired," said Hastings. "I had a big late fee for
'Apollo 13.' It was six weeks late and I owed the video store $40. I
had misplaced the cassette. It was all my fault. I didn’t want to tell
my wife about it. And I said to myself, 'I’m going to compromise the
integrity of my marriage over a late fee?‘
Later, on my way to the gym, I realized they had
a much better business model. You could pay
$30 or $40 a month and work out as little or as
much as you wanted."
39. SKINNY JEANS
Skinny jeans, with tapered legs and
narrow-peg ankles, seemed like a
flash in the pan when they appeared
in stores a few years ago. They seemed more suited to women. Today,
though, sales of men's skinny jeans are going strong, and mass brands
Gap and Levi's are getting in on the action.
Explanations abound for why men would want to wear jeans that look
so uncomfortable and impractical. Some fashion observers say skinny
jeans' tight hold on certain men stems in part from the wearers' desire
to show off their gym-sculpted bodies. Then, too, denim brands,
retailers and men's fashion magazines have relentlessly promoted
skinny jeans. And pop stars like Justin Timberlake and Kanye West, by
wearing skinny jeans, have given something resembling permission for
style-conscious young men to wear them.
Rock & Republic says sales of its men's skinny denim over the past
several months rose 26% over last year's figures.
40. MATCH GAME
Use the following website:
goo.gl/g4Gato
to match the web app to the source of
opportunity
46. PROBLEM RECOGNITION
On a sheet of paper, list 5 problems you
see:
• Your daily life
• Your school
• Your neighborhood
• Anything!
47. PROBLEM RECOGNITION
Identify the root causes of each problem
Cleaning Service
Interior Decorator
Air Freshener/Candles
Scrap Book Classes
Desk Organizers
Babysitter
Photographer
Laundry Service
48. MIND MAPPING
A diagram used to visually outline
information
Mirrors the way the creative brain
processes, records, remembers, retrieves,
and re-combines input/stimuli.
Allows us to speak the same language as
the right brain.
49. MIND MAP GUIDELINES
1. Start in the center with an image of the topic, using at
least 3 colors.
2. Use images, symbols, codes, and dimensions throughout
your mind map.
3. Select key words and print using upper or lower case
letters.
4. Each word/image is best alone and sitting on its own line.
5. Lines should be connected, starting from the center. The
central lines are thicker, and get thinner as they move out
from the center.
6. Use multiple colors throughout the mind map, for visual
stimulation and also to encode or group.
7. Develop your own personal style of mind mapping.
8. Use emphasis and show associations in your mind map.
55. MIND MAPPING
Mind map solutions to the 3 biggest
problems you found
Focus on solutions that involve mobile or
web apps
56. BRAINWALKING
1. Choose your
favorite solution
from your mind
maps
2. Write it on a blank
sheet of paper
1. Build on/evolve the
idea written on
paper, or create an
entirely new
(related) solution
2. Write it on the paper
below the previous
idea
3. You will have 1
minute to think of
an record a new
idea on each paper
57.
58. BRAINWALKING
Collaboration
Get your original idea back
Read through the best idea(s) on your
paper
•Any changes/additions/ subtractions to your
idea?
Write your NEW best idea on the bottom of
your paper. Circle it
61. WHAT IS AN ELEVATOR PITCH?
A brief description of
your company/idea
•Concise, carefully
planned, well-
practiced
Why is it called an
elevator pitch?
•30 seconds
62. ELEVATOR PITCH
An elevator pitch must
contain:
•A Hook
• Statement, question, or
statistic to gain interest
•Passion
• Show excitement and
confidence in your
business
63. ELEVATOR PITCH IN 3 PARTS
1. What’s the problem?
2. What’s your solution?
3. How does your product/service work?
65. NEXT STEPS
For Tomorrow:
• Determine your BEST business idea
• Create a 30 second pitch to describe
your idea
• Problem
• Solution
• Features
Editor's Notes
Eric Ries has seen many business start and fail – he himself has many of his own
He learned A LOT from these lessons and has gone on to great success building a multi-million dollar business and coaching others to do the same
In this book, he teaches the keys to the SYSTEM that will lead you to start a new successful business
Background on Eric Ries’ extremely successful business
If an organization can learn as quickly as possible what customers values enoug to pay for, then it can adapt the business and grow it into sustainable.
This process is known as validated learning
At the hear of the validated learning is the BML feedback loop
Build as quickly as possible
Measure/learn
The faster you can get through this cycle, the faster you’ll learn what the market/customers value
This means you have a better chance of surviving and building a business!
