Here are some ways Lean Startup principles can be applied:
- Build minimum viable products (MVPs) instead of fully developed products to get feedback early from real customers. MVPs allow for frequent iterations.
- Use the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop. Rapidly introduce small changes, measure their impact on key metrics, and learn what works and what doesn't.
- Continuously validate hypotheses about problem-solution fit and business model fit with customers. Pivot as needed based on learning.
- Focus on actionable, validated metrics over vanity metrics to guide decisions. Metrics should demonstrate clear cause-and-effect relationships.
- Embrace failure and treat it as an opportunity to learn.
Introduction to Lean Analytics for Lean Startup Circle SFLean Analytics
An introduction to Lean Analytics for the Lean Startup Circle SF event. Covers the basic topics of analytics, Lean Analytics framework, and a number of case studies from companies such as Circle of Friends, Localmind, Static Pixels and more.
End-User Computing (EUC) is the realm of spreadsheets, word processing, presentations, email, stand-alone users, individual devices, and file sharing applications like Dropbox. It is fair to say that EUC is not a traditional focus of Data Governance in many organizations, although individual aspects of EUC may be dealt with. However, EUC is so large in most organizations that Data Governance must start to ensure that data management is done appropriately in it. Additionally, regulators are becoming increasingly interested in ECU, which is an additional impetus to address it. This webinar focuses on the major challenges that exist in EUC and how Data Governance can address them. Fundamental questions, such a simply understanding what is a “production” EUC application are discussed. The data life cycle in the context of EUC, particularly data capture and interaction with corporate systems is examined, as is the need for quality of all kinds in EUC, including data quality.
Attendees will learn:
•What End User Computing (EUC) is and why Data Governance urgently needs to address it
•Why EUC environments often cannot be replaced by corporate systems from IT
•Problems that can arise from ungoverned EUC environments
•Basic strategies for governing EUC environments
•Tools and techniques for EUC governance
Introduction to Lean Analytics for Lean Startup Circle SFLean Analytics
An introduction to Lean Analytics for the Lean Startup Circle SF event. Covers the basic topics of analytics, Lean Analytics framework, and a number of case studies from companies such as Circle of Friends, Localmind, Static Pixels and more.
End-User Computing (EUC) is the realm of spreadsheets, word processing, presentations, email, stand-alone users, individual devices, and file sharing applications like Dropbox. It is fair to say that EUC is not a traditional focus of Data Governance in many organizations, although individual aspects of EUC may be dealt with. However, EUC is so large in most organizations that Data Governance must start to ensure that data management is done appropriately in it. Additionally, regulators are becoming increasingly interested in ECU, which is an additional impetus to address it. This webinar focuses on the major challenges that exist in EUC and how Data Governance can address them. Fundamental questions, such a simply understanding what is a “production” EUC application are discussed. The data life cycle in the context of EUC, particularly data capture and interaction with corporate systems is examined, as is the need for quality of all kinds in EUC, including data quality.
Attendees will learn:
•What End User Computing (EUC) is and why Data Governance urgently needs to address it
•Why EUC environments often cannot be replaced by corporate systems from IT
•Problems that can arise from ungoverned EUC environments
•Basic strategies for governing EUC environments
•Tools and techniques for EUC governance
Aubrey Smith, Sparked Advisory
In this training, we will build on the foundation established in Lean Startup 101 and 201 by delving into examples and cases of the Lean Startup concepts in action. Attendees of Lean Startup 301 will be exposed to cutting edge work from thought leaders and experts using Lean Startup in practice today — at startups and within the enterprise. Participation in this session is essential: You will be asked to help design an MVP and experiment to test critical Leap of Faith Assumption(s) in groups and will be encourage to share experiences. The session is designed to allow attendees to stretch their skills and to push one-another to ‘learn by doing’. The session will also include:
Sample cases and live interviews with practitioners highlighting the application of core concepts;
Exercises designed to bring the concepts to life and challenge participants to deepen their skills;
Discussion of advanced topics such organizational culture and governance as well as industry-specific concepts such as using Lean Startup in heavily regulated markets.
Thanks to Lean Startup Co.’s law firm, Orrick, for being the sponsor for this track.
Some years ago, Eric Ries, Steve Blank and others initiated The Lean Startup movement. The Lean Startup is a movement, an inspiration, a set of principles and practices that any entrepreneur initiating a startup would be well advised to follow.
Projecting myself into it, I think that if I had read Ries' book before, or even better Blank's book, I would maybe own my own company today, around AirXCell or another product, instead of being disgusted and honestly not considering it for the near future.
In addition to giving a pretty important set of principles when it comes to creating and running a startup, The Lean Startup also implies an extended set of Engineering practices, especially software engineering practices.
How to keep focus on the actual problems to solve. From framing the work in the right way to the actual design and build of services. These slides contain useful tips and practical tools to help you help teams focus on what it is we're trying to change or achieve - and avoid "just building more stuff".
Predictive Analytics - Big Data & Artificial IntelligenceManish Jain
Quick overview of the latest in big data and artificial intelligence. A lot of buzzwords being thrown around, hopefully this presentation will demystify many of the terms.
Designing adaptive and nimble organizationsEmiliano Soldi
What does it mean to design agile and adaptive organizations?
What are rthe necessary organizational archetypes?
What about Value Streams and Lean Portfolio Management?
Understanding Lean Analytics (and how analytics helps businesses win)Lean Analytics
This is the workshop on Lean Analytics from the Web Analytics Congress (#wac13) in Amsterdam. It covers the basics of Lean Analytics + Lean Startup. It goes into details on specific business models such as media and e-commerce and includes many case studies from the Lean Analytics book.
Agile is both a set of practices and a mindset. Success lies in understanding both “Doing Agile” as well as “Being Agile”. In this hands-on session, 5 key practices to support an Agile Mindset will be demonstrated so that you have some practical tools use immediately at work. You will also be left with some deeper challenges about what it takes achieve Organizational Agility.
Grokking Techtalk: Problem solving for sw engineers9diov
Introduction to problem solving skill for software engineering. Including:
- Problem definition
- Ladder of abstraction
- Causal Analysis
- Trade-off Analysis
- Separation Principles
Back to Basics: Financial Fundamentals for StartupsIntelligent_ly
Back to Basics: Financial Fundamentals for Startups taught by Dan Allred from Silicon Valley Bank at Intelligent.ly in Boston. This deck covers basic accounting principles, income statements, balance sheets, cash flow, company financial statements and more.
The Unicorn Project and The Five Ideals (older: see notes for newer version)Gene Kim
Updated version here (Dec 2019): https://www.slideshare.net/realgenekim/the-unicorn-project-and-the-five-ideals-updated-dec-2019
It is impossible to overstate how much I’ve learned since co-authoring The Phoenix Project, DevOps Handbook, and Accelerate. I’m so excited that after years of work, The Unicorn Project will be published later this year.
This book is my attempt to frame what I’ve learned studying technology leaders adopting DevOps principles and patterns in large, complex organizations, often having to fight deeply entrenched orthodoxies. And yet, despite huge obstacles, they create incredibly effective and innovative teams that create beacons of greatness that inspire us all.
In this book, we follow a senior lead developer and architect as she is exiled to the Phoenix Project, to the horror of her friends and colleagues, as punishment for contributing to a payroll outage. She tries to survive in what feels like a heartless and uncaring bureaucracy, forced to work within a system where no one can get anything done without endless committees, paperwork, change requests, and approvals. Decades of technical debt make even small changes difficult or impossible, often causing catastrophic outcomes and fear of punishment.
I get tremendous delight and gratification that this book is not about the bridge crew of the Starship Enterprise -- instead, it is about redshirt engineers, which as it turns out, whose heroic work matters most to the long-term survival of almost every organization.
In my previous books, I’ve focused on principles and practices (e.g., Three Ways, Four Types of Work). However, I’ve always wanted to describe the spectrum of cultural, experiential and value decisions we make that either enable greatness, or create chronic suffering and underperformance. They are currently as follows:
• The First Ideal — Locality and Simplicity
• The Second Ideal — Focus, Flow and Joy
• The Third Ideal — Improvement of Daily Work
• The Fourth Ideal — Psychological Safety
• The Fifth Ideal — Customer Focus
In this talk, I’ll share with you my goals and aspirations for The Unicorn Project, describe in detail the Five Ideals, along with my favorite case studies of both ideal and non-ideal, and why I believe more than ever that DevOps will be one of the most potent economic forces for decades to come.
Aubrey Smith, Sparked Advisory
In this training, we will build on the foundation established in Lean Startup 101 and 201 by delving into examples and cases of the Lean Startup concepts in action. Attendees of Lean Startup 301 will be exposed to cutting edge work from thought leaders and experts using Lean Startup in practice today — at startups and within the enterprise. Participation in this session is essential: You will be asked to help design an MVP and experiment to test critical Leap of Faith Assumption(s) in groups and will be encourage to share experiences. The session is designed to allow attendees to stretch their skills and to push one-another to ‘learn by doing’. The session will also include:
Sample cases and live interviews with practitioners highlighting the application of core concepts;
Exercises designed to bring the concepts to life and challenge participants to deepen their skills;
Discussion of advanced topics such organizational culture and governance as well as industry-specific concepts such as using Lean Startup in heavily regulated markets.
Thanks to Lean Startup Co.’s law firm, Orrick, for being the sponsor for this track.
Some years ago, Eric Ries, Steve Blank and others initiated The Lean Startup movement. The Lean Startup is a movement, an inspiration, a set of principles and practices that any entrepreneur initiating a startup would be well advised to follow.
Projecting myself into it, I think that if I had read Ries' book before, or even better Blank's book, I would maybe own my own company today, around AirXCell or another product, instead of being disgusted and honestly not considering it for the near future.
In addition to giving a pretty important set of principles when it comes to creating and running a startup, The Lean Startup also implies an extended set of Engineering practices, especially software engineering practices.
How to keep focus on the actual problems to solve. From framing the work in the right way to the actual design and build of services. These slides contain useful tips and practical tools to help you help teams focus on what it is we're trying to change or achieve - and avoid "just building more stuff".
Predictive Analytics - Big Data & Artificial IntelligenceManish Jain
Quick overview of the latest in big data and artificial intelligence. A lot of buzzwords being thrown around, hopefully this presentation will demystify many of the terms.
Designing adaptive and nimble organizationsEmiliano Soldi
What does it mean to design agile and adaptive organizations?
What are rthe necessary organizational archetypes?
What about Value Streams and Lean Portfolio Management?
Understanding Lean Analytics (and how analytics helps businesses win)Lean Analytics
This is the workshop on Lean Analytics from the Web Analytics Congress (#wac13) in Amsterdam. It covers the basics of Lean Analytics + Lean Startup. It goes into details on specific business models such as media and e-commerce and includes many case studies from the Lean Analytics book.
Agile is both a set of practices and a mindset. Success lies in understanding both “Doing Agile” as well as “Being Agile”. In this hands-on session, 5 key practices to support an Agile Mindset will be demonstrated so that you have some practical tools use immediately at work. You will also be left with some deeper challenges about what it takes achieve Organizational Agility.
Grokking Techtalk: Problem solving for sw engineers9diov
Introduction to problem solving skill for software engineering. Including:
- Problem definition
- Ladder of abstraction
- Causal Analysis
- Trade-off Analysis
- Separation Principles
Back to Basics: Financial Fundamentals for StartupsIntelligent_ly
Back to Basics: Financial Fundamentals for Startups taught by Dan Allred from Silicon Valley Bank at Intelligent.ly in Boston. This deck covers basic accounting principles, income statements, balance sheets, cash flow, company financial statements and more.
The Unicorn Project and The Five Ideals (older: see notes for newer version)Gene Kim
Updated version here (Dec 2019): https://www.slideshare.net/realgenekim/the-unicorn-project-and-the-five-ideals-updated-dec-2019
It is impossible to overstate how much I’ve learned since co-authoring The Phoenix Project, DevOps Handbook, and Accelerate. I’m so excited that after years of work, The Unicorn Project will be published later this year.
This book is my attempt to frame what I’ve learned studying technology leaders adopting DevOps principles and patterns in large, complex organizations, often having to fight deeply entrenched orthodoxies. And yet, despite huge obstacles, they create incredibly effective and innovative teams that create beacons of greatness that inspire us all.
In this book, we follow a senior lead developer and architect as she is exiled to the Phoenix Project, to the horror of her friends and colleagues, as punishment for contributing to a payroll outage. She tries to survive in what feels like a heartless and uncaring bureaucracy, forced to work within a system where no one can get anything done without endless committees, paperwork, change requests, and approvals. Decades of technical debt make even small changes difficult or impossible, often causing catastrophic outcomes and fear of punishment.
I get tremendous delight and gratification that this book is not about the bridge crew of the Starship Enterprise -- instead, it is about redshirt engineers, which as it turns out, whose heroic work matters most to the long-term survival of almost every organization.
In my previous books, I’ve focused on principles and practices (e.g., Three Ways, Four Types of Work). However, I’ve always wanted to describe the spectrum of cultural, experiential and value decisions we make that either enable greatness, or create chronic suffering and underperformance. They are currently as follows:
• The First Ideal — Locality and Simplicity
• The Second Ideal — Focus, Flow and Joy
• The Third Ideal — Improvement of Daily Work
• The Fourth Ideal — Psychological Safety
• The Fifth Ideal — Customer Focus
In this talk, I’ll share with you my goals and aspirations for The Unicorn Project, describe in detail the Five Ideals, along with my favorite case studies of both ideal and non-ideal, and why I believe more than ever that DevOps will be one of the most potent economic forces for decades to come.
Summary of the book Lean Startup by Eric Ries, plus comments from User Centered Design.
Resumen del libro Lean Startup de Eric Ries, mas comentarios de User Centered Design como contrapunto.
El emprendimiento es una actitud, y como tal, no lo enseñan en ninguna parte. Solo se pueden encontrar consejos. He aquí algunos que hemos aprendido con el paso del tiempo, con nuestra experiencia, y en textos.
The webinar intends to provide some tips to help start-ups involved in Big Data and data-driven economy to successfully face the investment phase and to maximize their chances to get external funding for their future endeavor.
Lean Principles for Nonprofits: Because Your Annual Plan is a FraudNetSquared Vancouver
Starting, building and operating a nonprofit organization is done under conditions of extreme uncertainty, but we plan with confidence. Enormous energy is put into Five Year Strategic Plans, Annual Plans and Quarterly plans, but then real life intrudes and the reality is that there's only the vaguest resemblance between our plans and our actual work. So much wasted time! There's got to be a better way.
Kayvon Khalilzadeh of Lean Startup Vancouver will introduce us to the concept of the lean startup
Lean Startup is a methodology that favours experimentation over elaborate planning, customer feedback over intuition, and iterative design over traditional “big design up front” development. Although the methodology is just a few years old, its concepts—such as “minimum viable product” and “pivoting” have quickly taken root in the start-up world. Now it's time for the nonprofit sector to adopt this innovative approach.
Slides from @kayvonk
How to apply the lean startup approach, MVP, experimenting, testing hypotheses, pivoting, questioning assumptions, learning and failing fast and finding product-market fit within eHealth's regulative markets?
Starter on Lean Startup. The slide present the philosophy behind Lean Startup thinking and gives an overview of Principles of Lean Startup. The presentation also makes an effort to give few examples which users can go back and have a look.
This 14 Week Bootcamp starts 29th April 2020 and helps business owners tackle the widespread disruption to small and medium businesses dues to COVID 19. It is crucial to take measures and formulate action plans to mitigate risks on impacts to business operations.
For most businesses, this involves renewing business models, customer acquisition, finding new revenue streams and always, always be innovating.
This Innovation Program, designed by The Scale Institute at Charles Sturt University, is tailored to ensure your business not only can survive, but continues to thrive!
The cost is $150 per week and involves a 3-hour commitment from those who enrol in the program.
Please explore the presentation below for more detail, or reach out to one of the key contacts if you’d like to discuss how Venture Path could help your organisation innovate and grow.
Thoughts on productivity in software developmentMichael Vax
This talks explores different aspects of productivity in developing software.
- What is productivity and how to measure it
- Productivity on multiple levels
- Individual
- Team
- Organization
Patterns & Anti-patterns
My presentation on Agile Vancouver conference in 2011
As the goal of Agile evangelists was to convince people to switch from long Waterfall projects, the main message was to think small – short iterations, no upfront design, and requirements that fit on a card. This presentation explores limitations and pitfalls of a purely iteration focused approach and discuss different ways to address them while still retaining the speed and flexibility of the Agile approach.
Incorporating Performance Testing in Agile Development ProcessMichael Vax
This presentations explains different aspects of software performance testing and give actionable recommendations on how to integrate it into the Agile Software development process
How to Build a Diversified Investment Portfolio.pdfTrims Creators
Building a diversified investment portfolio is a fundamental strategy to manage risk and optimize returns. For both novice and experienced investors, diversification offers a pathway to a more stable and resilient financial future. Here’s an in-depth guide on how to create and maintain a well-diversified investment portfolio.
When listening about building new Ventures, Marketplaces ideas are something very frequent. On this session we will discuss reasons why you should stay away from it :P , by sharing real stories and misconceptions around them. If you still insist to go for it however, you will at least get an idea of the important and critical strategies to optimize for success like Product, Business Development & Marketing, Operations :)
Reflect Festival Limassol May 2024.
Michael Economou is an Entrepreneur, with Business & Technology foundations and a passion for Innovation. He is working with his team to launch a new venture – Exyde, an AI powered booking platform for Activities & Experiences, aspiring to revolutionize the way we travel and experience the world. Michael has extensive entrepreneurial experience as the co-founder of Ideas2life, AtYourService as well as Foody, an online delivery platform and one of the most prominent ventures in Cyprus’ digital landscape, acquired by Delivery Hero group in 2019. This journey & experience marks a vast expertise in building and scaling marketplaces, enhancing everyday life through technology and making meaningful impact on local communities, which is what Michael and his team are pursuing doing once more with Exyde www.goExyde.com
Best Crypto Marketing Ideas to Lead Your Project to SuccessIntelisync
In this comprehensive slideshow presentation, we delve into the intricacies of crypto marketing, offering invaluable insights and strategies to propel your project to success in the dynamic cryptocurrency landscape. From understanding market trends to building a robust brand identity, engaging with influencers, and analyzing performance metrics, we cover all aspects essential for effective marketing in the crypto space.
Also Intelisync, our cutting-edge service designed to streamline and optimize your marketing efforts, leveraging data-driven insights and innovative strategies to drive growth and visibility for your project.
With a data-driven approach, transparent communication, and a commitment to excellence, InteliSync is your trusted partner for driving meaningful impact in the fast-paced world of Web3. Contact us today to learn more and embark on a journey to crypto marketing mastery!
Ready to elevate your Web3 project to new heights? Contact InteliSync now and unleash the full potential of your crypto venture!
What You're Going to Learn
- How These 4 Leaks Force You To Work Longer And Harder in order to grow your income… improve just one of these and the impact could be life changing.
- How to SHUT DOWN the revolving door of Income Stagnation… you know, where new sales come into your magazine while at the same time existing sponsors exit.
- How to transform your magazine business by fixing the 4 “DON’Ts”...
#1 LEADS Don’t Book
#2 PROSPECTS Don’t Show
#3 PROSPECTS Don’t Buy
#4 CLIENTS Don’t Stay
- How to identify which leak to fix first so you get the biggest bang for your income.
- Get actionable strategies you can use right away to improve your bookings, sales and retention.
Textile Chemical Brochure - Tradeasia (1).pdfjeffmilton96
Explore Tradeasia’s brochure for eco-friendly textile chemicals. Enhance your textile production with high-quality, sustainable solutions for superior fabric quality.
Salma Karina Hayat is Conscious Digital Transformation Leader at Kudos | Empowering SMEs via CRM & Digital Automation | Award-Winning Entrepreneur & Philanthropist | Education & Homelessness Advocate
1. Michael’s notes on:
“The Lean Startup: How
Today's Entrepreneurs Use
Continuous Innovation to
Create Radically
Successful Businesses”
by Eric Ries
2. Lean Startup
1. Entrepreneurs are everywhere
You don’t have to work in a garage to be in a startup.
2. Entrepreneurship is management
A startup is an institution, not just a product, and so it requires a new kind of
management specifically geared to its context of extreme uncertainty.
3. Validated learning
Startups exist not just to make stuff, make money, or even serve customers. They exist
to learn how to build a sustainable business
4. Build-Measure-Learn
The fundamental activity of a startup is to turn ideas into products, measure how
customers respond, and then learn whether to pivot or persevere.
5. Innovation accounting
To improve entrepreneurial outcomes and hold innovators accountable, we need to
focus on the boring stuff: how to measure progress, how to set up milestones, and how
to prioritize work.
3. Lean Startup
1. Entrepreneurs are everywhere
You don’t have to work in a garage to be in a startup.
2. Entrepreneurship is management
A startup is an institution, not just a product, and so it requires a new kind of
management specifically geared to its context of extreme uncertainty.
3. Validated learning
Startups exist not just to make stuff, make money, or even serve customers. They exist
to learn how to build a sustainable business
4. Build-Measure-Learn
The fundamental activity of a startup is to turn ideas into products, measure how
customers respond, and then learn whether to pivot or persevere.
5. Innovation accounting
To improve entrepreneurial outcomes and hold innovators accountable, we need to
focus on the boring stuff: how to measure progress, how to set up milestones, and how
to prioritize work.
4. Lean Startup
1. Entrepreneurs are everywhere
You don’t have to work in a garage to be in a startup.
2. Entrepreneurship is management
A startup is an institution, not just a product, and so it requires a new kind of
management specifically geared to its context of extreme uncertainty.
3. Validated learning
Startups exist not just to make stuff, make money, or even serve customers. They exist
to learn how to build a sustainable business
4. Build-Measure-Learn
The fundamental activity of a startup is to turn ideas into products, measure how
customers respond, and then learn whether to pivot or persevere.
5. Innovation accounting
To improve entrepreneurial outcomes and hold innovators accountable, we need to
focus on the boring stuff: how to measure progress, how to set up milestones, and how
to prioritize work.
5. Lean Startup
1. Entrepreneurs are everywhere
You don’t have to work in a garage to be in a startup.
2. Entrepreneurship is management
A startup is an institution, not just a product, and so it requires a new kind of
management specifically geared to its context of extreme uncertainty.
3. Validated learning
Startups exist not just to make stuff, make money, or even serve customers. They exist
to learn how to build a sustainable business
4. Build-Measure-Learn
The fundamental activity of a startup is to turn ideas into products, measure how
customers respond, and then learn whether to pivot or persevere.
5. Innovation accounting
To improve entrepreneurial outcomes and hold innovators accountable, we need to
focus on the boring stuff: how to measure progress, how to set up milestones, and how
to prioritize work.
6. Lean Startup
1. Entrepreneurs are everywhere
You don’t have to work in a garage to be in a startup.
2. Entrepreneurship is management
A startup is an institution, not just a product, and so it requires a new kind of
management specifically geared to its context of extreme uncertainty.
3. Validated learning
Startups exist not just to make stuff, make money, or even serve customers. They exist
to learn how to build a sustainable business
4. Build-Measure-Learn
The fundamental activity of a startup is to turn ideas into products, measure how
customers respond, and then learn whether to pivot or persevere.
5. Innovation accounting
To improve entrepreneurial outcomes and hold innovators accountable, we need to
focus on the boring stuff: how to measure progress, how to set up milestones, and how
to prioritize work.
7. Traditional Management does NOT work for Startups and Innovation
• Planning and forecasting are only accurate when based on a long, stable
operating history and a relatively static environment
• In general management, a failure to deliver results is due to either a failure
to plan adequately or a failure to execute properly
• Both are significant lapses, yet new product development in our modern
economy routinely requires exactly this kind of failure on the way to
greatness
• Most tools from general management are not designed to flourish in the
harsh soil of extreme uncertainty in which startups thrive
• Innovation is a bottoms-up, decentralized, and unpredictable thing, but
that doesn’t mean it cannot be managed
8. How to Measure Progress in Innovation?
• As an engineer and managers we are accustomed to measuring
progress by making sure our work proceeded according to
plan, was high quality, and cost about what we had projected
• Lethal problem of achieving failure:
successfully executing a plan that leads nowhere
9. Validated Learning
• Lean thinking defines value as providing benefit to the customer;
anything else is waste
• Validated learning is the process of demonstrating empirically that a team
has discovered valuable truths about a startup’s present and future
business prospects
• It is called validated learning because it is always demonstrated by
positive improvements in the startup’s core metrics
• Validated learning is backed up by empirical data collected from real
customers.
10. The question is not “Can this product be built?”
In the modern economy, almost any product that
can be imagined can be built. The more pertinent
questions are “Should this product be built?” and
“Can we build a sustainable business around this
set of products and services?”
11. Two Main Assumptions
Value hypothesis
The value hypothesis tests whether a product or service
really delivers value to customers once they are using it
Growth hypothesis
Does startup has a business model that can achieve a
sustainable growth
13. MVP Minimum Valuable Product
• The MVP is that version of the product that enables a full turn of the Build-Measure-Learn
loop with a minimum amount of effort and the least amount of development time
• Unlike a prototype or concept test, an MVP is designed not just to answer product design
or technical questions. Its goal is to test fundamental business hypotheses.
• The lesson of the MVP is that any additional work beyond what was required to start
learning is waste, no matter how important it might have seemed at the time
• Always focused on scaling something that was working rather than trying to invent
something that might work in the future.
• Remove any feature, process, or effort that does not contribute directly to the learning
you seek
14. What about Quality?
• Modern business and engineering philosophies focus on producing high-quality
experiences for customers as a primary principle;
• It is the foundation of Six Sigma, lean manufacturing, design thinking, extreme
programming, and the software craftsmanship movement.
• These discussions of quality presuppose that the company already knows what
attributes of the product the customer will perceive as worthwhile.
• In a startup, this is a risky assumption to make. Often we are not even sure who the
customer is. Thus, for startups, I believe in the following quality principle:
If we do not know who the customer is,
we do not know what quality is
15. FROM THE MVP TO INNOVATION ACCOUNTING
• When one is choosing among the many assumptions in a business plan, it makes sense
to test the riskiest assumptions first. If you can’t find a way to mitigate these risks toward
the ideal that is required for a sustainable business, there is no point in testing the
others.
• Once the baseline has been established, the startup can work toward the second
learning milestone: tuning the engine. Every product development, marketing, or other
initiative that a startup undertakes should be targeted at improving one of the drivers of
its growth model.
• For example, a company might spend time improving the design of its product to make it
easier for new customers to use. This presupposes that the activation rate of new
customers is a driver of growth and that its baseline is lower than the company would
like. To demonstrate validated learning, the design changes must improve the activation
rate of new customers
16. OPTIMIZATION VERSUS LEARNING
• If you are building the wrong thing, optimizing the product or its marketing will not yield
significant results
• Thus the downward cycle begins: the product development team valiantly tries to build a
product according to the specifications it is receiving from the creative or business
leadership. When good results are not forthcoming, business leaders assume that any
discrepancy between what was planned and what was built is the cause and try to
specify the next iteration in greater detail.
• Learning milestones prevent this negative spiral by emphasizing a more likely
possibility: the company is executing — with discipline! — a plan that does not make
sense.
• The innovation accounting framework makes it clear when the company is stuck and
needs to change direction.
17. User stories were are not complete until they led to validated
learning
Thus, stories could be cataloged as being in one of four states of
development:
In the product backlog
Actively being built
Done
(feature complete from a technical point of view)
In the process of being validated.
Validated was defined as “knowing whether the story was a good idea to
have been done in the first place
18. ACTIONABLE METRICS VERSUS VANITY METRICS
• Actionable
For a report to be considered actionable, it must demonstrate clear cause
and effect
• Accessible
All too many reports are not understood by the employees and managers
who are supposed to use them to guide their decision making.
• Auditable
We must ensure that the data is credible to employees
20. Catalog of Pivots
• Zoom-in Pivot
In this case, what previously was considered a single feature in a product
becomes the whole product.
• Zoom-out Pivot
In the reverse situation, sometimes a single feature is insufficient to
support a whole product. In this type of pivot, what was considered the
whole product becomes a single feature of a much larger product.
• Customer Segment Pivot
In this pivot, the company realizes that the product it is building solves a
real problem for real customers but that they are not the type of
customers it originally planned to serve. In other words, the product
hypothesis is partially confirmed, solving the right problem, but for a
different customer than originally anticipated.
21. Catalog of Pivots (Continued)
• Customer Need Pivot
As a result of getting to know customers extremely well, it sometimes becomes clear that
the problem we’re trying to solve for them is not very important. However, because of
this customer intimacy, we often discover other related problems that are important and
can be solved by our team
• Platform Pivot
A platform pivot refers to a change from an application to a platform or vice versa. Most
commonly, startups that aspire to create a new platform begin life by selling a single
application, the so-called killer app, for their platform
• Business Architecture Pivot
This pivot borrows a concept from Geoffrey Moore, who observed that companies
generally follow one of two major business architectures:
• high margin, low volume (complex systems model) or
• low margin, high volume (volume operations model)
22. Catalog of Pivots (Continued)
• Channel Pivot
In traditional sales terminology, the mechanism by which a company
delivers its product to customers is called the sales channel or
distribution channel. A channel pivot is a recognition that the same basic
solution could be delivered through a different channel with greater
effectiveness.
• Technology Pivot
Occasionally, a company discovers a way to achieve the same solution by
using a completely different technology. Technology pivots are much
more common in established businesses. In other words, they are a
sustaining innovation, an incremental improvement designed to appeal to
and retain an existing customer base.
•
23. Catalog of Pivots (Continued)
• Value Capture Pivot
There are many ways to capture the value a company creates. These
methods are referred to commonly as monetization or revenue models.
Often, changes to the way a company captures value can have far-
reaching consequences for the rest of the business, product, and
marketing strategies
• Engine of Growth Pivot
There are three primary engines of growth that power startups:
the viral
sticky
paid growth
In this type of pivot, a company changes its growth strategy to seek faster or more profitable
growth.
24. Engines of Sustainable Growth
• Sticky
Attract and retain customers for a long time. The rules that govern the sticky
engine of growth are simple: rate of new customer acquisition needs to exceed
the churn rate
• Viral
Awareness of the product spreads rapidly from person to person similarly to the
way a virus becomes an epidemic. The viral coefficient measures how many
new customers will use a product as a consequence of each new customer who
signs up
• Paid
Customers are acquired based on investment in advertising or sales force
Customer lifetime value needs to exceed customer acquisition cost
25. Product Market Fit
Product/Market Fit was a phrase coined by
Marc Andreessen.
“Product/market fit means being in a good market
with a product that can satisfy that market.”
26. We often miss the memo
Dear XXX, Congratulations!
The job you used to do at this company is no longer available. However, you have
been transferred to a new job in the company.
Actually, it’s not the same company anymore, even though it has the same name
and many of the same people. And although the job has the same title, too, and
you used to be good at your old job, you’re already failing at the new one.
This transfer is effective as of six months ago, so this is to alert you that you’ve
already been failing at it for quite some time.
Best of luck!
27. Wisdom of Five Whys
A new release disabled a feature for customers.
1. Why?
Because a particular server failed.
2. Why did the server fail?
Because an obscure subsystem was used in the wrong way.
3. Why was it used in the wrong way?
The engineer who used it didn’t know how to use it properly.
4. Why didn’t he know?
Because he was never trained.
5. Why wasn’t he trained?
Because his manager doesn’t believe in training new engineers because
he and his team are “too busy”
28. Learning to use Five Whys
• Make a Proportional Investment
The investment should be smaller when the symptom is minor and larger when
the symptom is more painful. We don’t make large investments in prevention
unless we’re coping with large problems
• Avoid Five Blames
When blame inevitably arises, the most senior people in the room should repeat
this mantra: if a mistake happens, shame on us for making it so easy to make
that mistake.
• Be tolerant of all mistakes the first time. Never allow the same mistake to
be made twice
• Start Small; Start with a narrowly targeted class of symptoms
• Appoint a Five Whys Master To facilitate learning
two leaps of faith stand above all others: the value creation hypothesis and the growth hypothesis. The first step in understanding a new product or service is to figure out if it is fundamentally value-creating or value-destroying.Read more at location 1108
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
it’s essential that entrepreneurs understand the reasons behind a startup’s growth. There are many value-destroying kinds of growth that should be avoided. An example would be a business that grows through continuous fund-raising from investors and lots of paid advertising but does not develop a value-creating product.
Although we write the feedback loop as Build-Measure-Learn because the activities happen in that order, our planning really works in the reverse order: we figure out what we need to learn, use innovation accounting to figure out what we need to measure to know if we are gaining validated learning, and then figure out what product we need to build to run that experiment and get that measurement
Most important, teams working in this system begin to measure their productivity according to validated learning, not in terms of the production of new features.
Startups also have a true north, a destination in mind: creating a thriving and world-changing business. I call that a startup’s vision.
To achieve that vision, startups employ a strategy, which includes
a business model,
a product road map,
a point of view about partners and competitors, and
ideas about who the customer will be. The product is the end result of this strategy (see the chart on this page). Products change constantly through the process of optimization, what I call tuning the engine. Less frequently, the strategy may have to change (called a pivot). However, the overarching vision rarely changes. Entrepreneurs are committed to seeing the startup through to that destination. Every setback is an opportunity for learning how to get where they want to go (see the chart below
Pivots come in different flavors. The word pivot sometimes is used incorrectly as a synonym for change. A pivot is a special kind of change designed to test a new fundamental hypothesis about the product, business model, and engine of growth
The Sticky Engine of Growth when customer is returning to the site to use product constantly Dropbox or Evernote
Therefore, companies using the sticky engine of growth track their attrition rate or churn rate very carefully. The churn rate is defined as the fraction of customers in any period who fail to remain engaged with the company’s The rules that govern the sticky engine of growth are pretty simple: if the rate of new customer acquisition exceeds the churn rate, the product will grow.
The Viral Engine of Growth Online social networks and Tupperware are examples of products for which customers do the lion’s share of the marketing.
Awareness of the product spreads rapidly from person to person similarly to the way a virus becomes an epidemic.
Customers are not intentionally acting as evangelists; they are not necessarily trying to spread the word about the product. Growth happens automatically as a side effect of customers using the product. Viruses are not optional.
viral engine is powered by a feedback loop that can be quantified. It is called the viral loop, and its speed is determined by a single mathematical term called the viral coefficient. The higher this coefficient is, the faster the product will spread. The viral coefficient measures how many new customers will use a product as a consequence of each new customer who signs up.
The Paid Engine of Growth advertising or sales force
Each engine requires a focus on unique metrics to evaluate the success of new products and prioritize new experiments.
Sticky collectable market place, customers has reason to return or some subscriptions models
Viral is Hotmail or social netwroks
The Sticky Engine of Growth when customer is returning to the site to use product constantly Dropbox or Evernote
Therefore, companies using the sticky engine of growth track their attrition rate or churn rate very carefully. The churn rate is defined as the fraction of customers in any period who fail to remain engaged with the company’s The rules that govern the sticky engine of growth are pretty simple: if the rate of new customer acquisition exceeds the churn rate, the product will grow.
The Viral Engine of Growth Online social networks and Tupperware are examples of products for which customers do the lion’s share of the marketing.
Awareness of the product spreads rapidly from person to person similarly to the way a virus becomes an epidemic.
Customers are not intentionally acting as evangelists; they are not necessarily trying to spread the word about the product. Growth happens automatically as a side effect of customers using the product. Viruses are not optional.
viral engine is powered by a feedback loop that can be quantified. It is called the viral loop, and its speed is determined by a single mathematical term called the viral coefficient. The higher this coefficient is, the faster the product will spread. The viral coefficient measures how many new customers will use a product as a consequence of each new customer who signs up.
The Paid Engine of Growth advertising or sales force
A startup can evaluate whether it is getting closer to product/ market fit as it tunes its engine by evaluating each trip through the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop using innovation accounting. What really matters is not the raw numbers or vanity metrics but the direction and degree of progress.
Getting a startup’s engine of growth up and running is hard enough, but the truth is that every engine of growth eventually runs out of gas. Every engine is tied to a given set of customers and their related habits, preferences, advertising channels, and interconnections. At some point, that set of customers will be exhausted. This may take a long time or a short time, depending on one’s industry and timing.
Product market fit is not forever. Business is changing and growing and what was sufficient before is not guaranteed to work in the future
When Eric was CTO of IMVU
To accelerate, Lean Startups need a process that provides a natural feedback loop. When you’re going too fast, you cause more problems. Adaptive processes force you to slow down and invest in preventing the kinds of problems that are currently wasting time. As those preventive efforts pay off, you naturally speed up again.
At the root of every seemingly technical problem is a human problem. Five Whys provides an opportunity to discover what that human problem might be
A new release disabled a feature for customers.
1)Why? Because a particular server failed.
2. Why did the server fail? Because an obscure subsystem was used in the wrong way.
3. Why was it used in the wrong way? The engineer who used it didn’t know how to use it properly.
4. Why didn’t he know? Because he was never trained.
5. Why wasn’t he trained? Because his manager doesn’t believe in training new engineers because he and his team are “too busy
Five Whys sessions as new problems come up. Since baggage issues are endemic, they naturally come up as part of the Five Whys analysis and you can take that opportunity to fix them incrementally. If they don’t come up organically, maybe they’re not as big as they seem. 2. Everyone who is connected to a problem needs to be at the Five Whys session. Many organizations face the temptation to save time by sparing busy people from the root cause analysis. This is a false economy, as IGN discovered the hard way. 3. At the beginning of each Five Whys session, take a few minutes to explain what the process is for and how it works for the benefit of those who are new to it. If possible, use an example of a successful Five Whys session from the past. If you’re brand new, you can use my earlier example about the manager who doesn’t believe in training. IGN learned that, whenever possible, it helps to use something that has personal meaning for the team