The document summarizes key principles from Eric Ries' book on building successful startups using a "Lean" approach. It discusses 5 principles: (1) entrepreneurs are everywhere, (2) entrepreneurship is management, (3) startups exist to learn how to build a sustainable business through validated learning, (4) the build-measure-learn cycle allows for rapid iteration, and (5) innovation accounting helps prioritize work. It emphasizes the importance of rapid prototyping to validate assumptions and learn quickly from customers through metrics. Pivoting the business model based on learnings, rather than stubbornly sticking to initial ideas, is also highlighted as critical to the Lean approach for building enduring businesses.
This is an internal “brown bag” presentation I did at PlayHaven, introducing the fundamentals of Lean Startup methodology. Unfortunately, the Cookie Monster GIF doesn’t animate in the Slideshare presentation but you enjoy it 24/7 by clicking this link: http://gifsoup.com/view/1836944/cookie-monster.html :)
Also note that you may notice a few jumps in the included audio recording - I had to remove some sensitive material.
Ryan
@rrhoover
http://ryanhoover.me
Phil Dillard, Black Ant, @PhilD0210
The objective of the Lean Startup 101 training is to introduce the concepts, terminology and approaches — and, to help organizations overcome resistance accepting the new approach so that exploration and learning can begin. This practical, interactive session will provide a solid foundation for advanced sessions, including the Lean Startup 201 & 301. This training is designed for practitioners in both the enterprise and in startups who are relatively new to the Lean Startup approach or who are seeking a quick refresher. Lean Startup 101 is a perfect way to kick off your week of Lean Startup!
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.
This is an internal “brown bag” presentation I did at PlayHaven, introducing the fundamentals of Lean Startup methodology. Unfortunately, the Cookie Monster GIF doesn’t animate in the Slideshare presentation but you enjoy it 24/7 by clicking this link: http://gifsoup.com/view/1836944/cookie-monster.html :)
Also note that you may notice a few jumps in the included audio recording - I had to remove some sensitive material.
Ryan
@rrhoover
http://ryanhoover.me
Phil Dillard, Black Ant, @PhilD0210
The objective of the Lean Startup 101 training is to introduce the concepts, terminology and approaches — and, to help organizations overcome resistance accepting the new approach so that exploration and learning can begin. This practical, interactive session will provide a solid foundation for advanced sessions, including the Lean Startup 201 & 301. This training is designed for practitioners in both the enterprise and in startups who are relatively new to the Lean Startup approach or who are seeking a quick refresher. Lean Startup 101 is a perfect way to kick off your week of Lean Startup!
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.
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.
The Startup Design Toolkit - a design-thinking approach to startups and produ...Alejandro Rios Peña
When PMs or entrepreneurs tackle a new product venture, they need to acquire and combine skills and tools from the Development, Business and Design fields. In this session, the following topics will be introduced:
- Is there really a formula for new product or startup success?
- What is Design-Thinking and how it is driving innovation around the world?
- Building a Toolkit: a subset of practical tools curated from the Lean Startup, Customer Development, Design-Thinking and other methods, to really help entrepreneurs to accelerate and find a scalable business model.
http://productcampsf.com/proposed-session-a-design-thinking-approach-to-pm-and-startups/
Dan Olsen, The Lean Product Playbook , @danolsen
Room: C260
Everyone working on a new product is trying to achieve the same goal: product-market fit. Although product-market fit is one of the most important Lean Startup concepts, it’s also the least well defined. Dan Olsen shares the top advice from his book The Lean Product Playbook, including the Product-Market Fit Pyramid: an actionable model that breaks product-market fit down into 5 key elements. Dan also explains the Lean Product Process, a 6-step methodology with practical guidance on how to achieve product-market fit, illustrated with a real-world case study.
Lean Startup - by Hristo Neychev (bring your ideas to life faster, smarter, a...Hristo Neychev
Lean Startup ideas, trends, and best practices through the lens of my experience in four industries, three startups, and two continents.
Lean Startup methodologies are applicable to both small and large organisation focused on creating new products and services under conditions of extreme uncertainty.
How to re-frame business problems to customer-centric opportunity spaces that drive value. Design thinking is your shortcut to customer empathy. A good understanding on how this method could help you identify real customer problems and unmet needs is essential. Moreover we will share techniques and tools that you can implement directly after this crash course. Start inventing the future.
Every venture capitalist, board member and startup advisor counsels the entrepreneur to focus on building their minimum viable product (MVP). But how exactly does a company build out its MVP? Learn how the right framework guides your development from MVP to a mature product.
Eric Ries' presentation on lean startups. From Steve Blank's Customer Development course at Berkeley. Learn more and hear the audio at http://bit.ly/3qsvJ.
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.
The Startup Design Toolkit - a design-thinking approach to startups and produ...Alejandro Rios Peña
When PMs or entrepreneurs tackle a new product venture, they need to acquire and combine skills and tools from the Development, Business and Design fields. In this session, the following topics will be introduced:
- Is there really a formula for new product or startup success?
- What is Design-Thinking and how it is driving innovation around the world?
- Building a Toolkit: a subset of practical tools curated from the Lean Startup, Customer Development, Design-Thinking and other methods, to really help entrepreneurs to accelerate and find a scalable business model.
http://productcampsf.com/proposed-session-a-design-thinking-approach-to-pm-and-startups/
Dan Olsen, The Lean Product Playbook , @danolsen
Room: C260
Everyone working on a new product is trying to achieve the same goal: product-market fit. Although product-market fit is one of the most important Lean Startup concepts, it’s also the least well defined. Dan Olsen shares the top advice from his book The Lean Product Playbook, including the Product-Market Fit Pyramid: an actionable model that breaks product-market fit down into 5 key elements. Dan also explains the Lean Product Process, a 6-step methodology with practical guidance on how to achieve product-market fit, illustrated with a real-world case study.
Lean Startup - by Hristo Neychev (bring your ideas to life faster, smarter, a...Hristo Neychev
Lean Startup ideas, trends, and best practices through the lens of my experience in four industries, three startups, and two continents.
Lean Startup methodologies are applicable to both small and large organisation focused on creating new products and services under conditions of extreme uncertainty.
How to re-frame business problems to customer-centric opportunity spaces that drive value. Design thinking is your shortcut to customer empathy. A good understanding on how this method could help you identify real customer problems and unmet needs is essential. Moreover we will share techniques and tools that you can implement directly after this crash course. Start inventing the future.
Every venture capitalist, board member and startup advisor counsels the entrepreneur to focus on building their minimum viable product (MVP). But how exactly does a company build out its MVP? Learn how the right framework guides your development from MVP to a mature product.
Eric Ries' presentation on lean startups. From Steve Blank's Customer Development course at Berkeley. Learn more and hear the audio at http://bit.ly/3qsvJ.
An inside look at a $1M seed round. Props to Daniel Odio of Appmakr for working with me on this.
Check out the full map at http://brendanbaker.co/anatomy.pdf and join the Quora fun at http://b.qr.ae/m3xRAI.
مفهوم طبقه در دانش جامعهشناسی مفهومی بسیار قدیمی و ریشهدار است. «طبقه» به معنای پایگاه اقتصادی و اجتماعی افرادی است که در یک جغرافیای محدود با یکدیگر زندگی میکنند و «طبقه» افراد عموماً نشاندهنده وضعیت کلی زندگی آنهاست. در هر دورهای طبقه توسط جامعهشناسان مختلف تحلیل و تبیین شده و معناها و شاخصهای مختلفی به آن افزوده شده است. طبقه عمدتاً به پایگاه اقتصادی و شیوههای تولید اقتصادی در هرجامعه بازمیگردد.
کاستلز به عصری که ما در آن زندگی میکنیم عصر اطلاعات و به جامعه، لقب جامعه اطلاعاتی داده است. در این عصر شیوه تولید اقتصادی تغییر کرده و مشخصههایی یافته که پیش از این تجربه نشده بوده است. تکنولوژی بدون شک یکی از پیشرانهای مهم این تغییر است. فلوریدا این اقتصاد را اقتصادی دانشبنیان و مبتنی بر خلاقیت میداند. اقتصادی که میل به خلاقیت دارد و به این نیاز خود با به وجود آمدن طبقهای به نام طبقه خلاق پاسخ میدهد. طبقه خلاق از نظر او کسانی هستند که فعالیت اقتصادی آنها خلق تکنولوژی جدید، ایده جدید و یا محتوای جدید است. این طبقه با سه محور اساسی نداشتن محل کار مرکزی (هستهای)؛ سبک زندگی تجربی، کامیونیتی خلاقیتمحور و زمانبندی عجیب شناخته و تعریف میشود.
این طبقه از دید فلوریدا آینده گریزناپذیر جهان هستند. با اینکه امروز کمشمارتر از طبقات دیگر هستند و با اینکه هنوز در تولید ثروت سهم بزرگی ندارند ولی شکلدهنده اقتصاد و البته جامعه در آینده هستند. ارزشها و هنجارها و سبکزندگی خود را دارند و بنابراین باعث میشوند که ما نه تنها با اقتصادی متفاوت بلکه با جامعهای بسیار متفاوت روبرو باشیم که بر سر بهشت یا جهنم بودنش بحثهای بسیاری هست.
ایده دانش آزاد به عنوان جریانی مرتبط با خلق تکنولوژی جدید، محتوای جدید و ایده جدید که مختص عصر اطلاعات است میتواند یکی از محورهای شکلگیری بخشی از طبقه خلاق باشد. در واقع سؤال این است که آیا دانش آزاد آینده تولید دانش در دنیاست؟ اگر بتوانیم بگوییم که دانش آزاد توسط طبقه خلاق تولید میشود و این طبقه آینده تأثیرگذار دنیاست شاید بتوانیم ادعا کنیم که دانش آزاد آینده تولید دانش در دنیاست و به این ترتیب هنجارها و ارزشهای خود را برای جامعه نیز به همراه خواهد داشت. سؤال دوم این است که وضعیت این روند در ایران چطور است؟ آیا نشانههای بروز و ظهور این طبقه در ایران نیز وجود دارد؟
Startup marketing requires wearing a lot of hats. This startup marketing strategy case study explores building and launching a corporate brand from the ground up for a digital media startup serving financial services.
With increased connectivity, networks at both a global and local level are growing rapidly whilst new communities can develop and flourish through digital channels. These allow for resources to be shared, swapped, borrowed and traded; bearing a new economy that favours access over ownership.
This is a dramatically different user experience context that demands a transformation of our approach to service design. In this session we will share findings from our global research that explored the experiences and opportunities involved in moving from an ownership economy to one built on access and sharing. In this presentation we present guidelines for creating value exchange networks and share some tools we’ve developed for creating networked services and business models in the sharing economy.
See also video of the presentation being delivered: http://youtu.be/b22vSxLXMsY
Increasing Gender Diversity in Tech - International Women's Day 2016Angie Chang
On this International Women's Day, Angie will talk about gender parity in technology, entrepreneurship and business -- and how to reach for it. From companies (recruiting, retaining and advancing women), to individuals perspective (as mentee, mentor, parent, colleague, friend), she will provide research-based tips and tricks for bringing women into the fold. First, she will go over why things are the way they are now -- and how to move toward the future of gender equality.
About the speaker: Angie Chang is the VP of Strategic Partnerships & Mentorship at Hackbright Academy, where she focuses on Strategic Partnerships. Hackbright Academy runs a 12-week accelerated engineering fellowship exclusively for women quarterly in San Francisco. In 2008, she started Bay Area Girl Geek Dinners to network women in technology. Dinners are sponsored by companies including Google, Facebook, Yahoo! and Palantir. Prior to that, she co-founded Women 2.0, a media company which promotes women in high-growth, high-tech entrepreneurship. She was named in Fast Company's 2010 "Most Influential Women in Technology" and more recently Business Insider named her one of "30 Most Important Women Under 30 In Tech". She has been invited by the U.S. State Department to speak on women's high-tech, high-growth entrepreneurship in the West Bank, Switzerland and Germany. Angie has held positions in product management and web/UI production at various Silicon Valley startups. She holds a B.A. in English and Social Welfare from UC Berkeley.
Hackbright Career Services - talk on how to ask for what you want and need. Includes networking tips, encouragement to give a tech talk, how to maintain a growth mindset ...
Eric Ries is the author of the popular blog Startup Lessons Learned and the creator of the Lean
Startup methodology. He is an
entrepreneur in residence at Harvard Business School and a frequent speaker at business events. In his talk on “The Lean Start-up” at google he explained how most of the new start-up fails and the methodology that should be followed for a new start-up to be successful. Here I explained his talk at google in my words.
Some thoughts for any business, consultancy or agency looking to transform and grow through the power of purpose....would love to hear from you
ralph@thebrandexperienceconsultancy.com
A Sharing of Gary Hamel's Book
Part 1: Facing up to the revolution
Part 2: Finding the revolution
Part 3: Igniting the revolution
Part 4: Sustaining the revolution
The Profit Pendulum: How Entrepreneurs Can Stop the Futzing Failure SyndromeRob Schultz
Are you caught in the Forever Futzing Trap?
That's when your business never gets ahead, because you're always delaying doing what will actually bring in money until after you:
Update my website with a fresh new look!
Add this cool new video thingamabobber to my sales page!
Rewrite my eBook to reflect my "new outlook"!
Take this cool new class I just found out about that will "change everything"!
The problem is: You are always discovering new things. This will always be true. And there will always be "one more thing" you feel you must do before you're happy getting your offers out there.
Here's a flash: That's a fast road to ruin.
Successful business owners learn to launch and integrate their discoveries at the same time. In fact, its the reason WHY they are successful. If you'd like to be one of them (instead of constantly "getting ready" to be one of them, you need this:
Key elements of transitioning from intrapreneur to entrepreneureTailing India
Every forward-thinking firm seeks to nurture its employees, and most will say they already do, but intrapreneurship goes further. It’s about embracing creativity and innovation, and enabling employees to turn ideas into something of real value to the business.
Key elements of transitioning from intrapreneur to entrepreneurAshish Jhalani
Every forward-thinking firm seeks to nurture its employees, and most will say they already do, but intrapreneurship goes further. It’s about embracing creativity and innovation, and enabling employees to turn ideas into something of real value to the business.
Boost startup – 5 wonderful tips to succeeddamienwoods
Every month, more than 476,000 new businesses come into existence, which look for a business model that will help them succeed in this competitive market.
Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology:
Ethnobotany in herbal drug evaluation,
Impact of Ethnobotany in traditional medicine,
New development in herbals,
Bio-prospecting tools for drug discovery,
Role of Ethnopharmacology in drug evaluation,
Reverse Pharmacology.
How to Create Map Views in the Odoo 17 ERPCeline George
The map views are useful for providing a geographical representation of data. They allow users to visualize and analyze the data in a more intuitive manner.
Instructions for Submissions thorugh G- Classroom.pptxJheel Barad
This presentation provides a briefing on how to upload submissions and documents in Google Classroom. It was prepared as part of an orientation for new Sainik School in-service teacher trainees. As a training officer, my goal is to ensure that you are comfortable and proficient with this essential tool for managing assignments and fostering student engagement.
Synthetic Fiber Construction in lab .pptxPavel ( NSTU)
Synthetic fiber production is a fascinating and complex field that blends chemistry, engineering, and environmental science. By understanding these aspects, students can gain a comprehensive view of synthetic fiber production, its impact on society and the environment, and the potential for future innovations. Synthetic fibers play a crucial role in modern society, impacting various aspects of daily life, industry, and the environment. ynthetic fibers are integral to modern life, offering a range of benefits from cost-effectiveness and versatility to innovative applications and performance characteristics. While they pose environmental challenges, ongoing research and development aim to create more sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives. Understanding the importance of synthetic fibers helps in appreciating their role in the economy, industry, and daily life, while also emphasizing the need for sustainable practices and innovation.
How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
Unit 8 - Information and Communication Technology (Paper I).pdfThiyagu K
This slides describes the basic concepts of ICT, basics of Email, Emerging Technology and Digital Initiatives in Education. This presentations aligns with the UGC Paper I syllabus.
2024.06.01 Introducing a competency framework for languag learning materials ...Sandy Millin
http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iateflwebinar2024
Published classroom materials form the basis of syllabuses, drive teacher professional development, and have a potentially huge influence on learners, teachers and education systems. All teachers also create their own materials, whether a few sentences on a blackboard, a highly-structured fully-realised online course, or anything in between. Despite this, the knowledge and skills needed to create effective language learning materials are rarely part of teacher training, and are mostly learnt by trial and error.
Knowledge and skills frameworks, generally called competency frameworks, for ELT teachers, trainers and managers have existed for a few years now. However, until I created one for my MA dissertation, there wasn’t one drawing together what we need to know and do to be able to effectively produce language learning materials.
This webinar will introduce you to my framework, highlighting the key competencies I identified from my research. It will also show how anybody involved in language teaching (any language, not just English!), teacher training, managing schools or developing language learning materials can benefit from using the framework.
2. Each and every
day, new
entrepreneurs
around the
world are
starting their
own
enterprises.
Most of whom
are armed with
an idea for an
amazing
service or
product (so
they think), but
not armed with
the tools they
need to build
an enduring
business.
3. Each and every
day, new
What awaits you in these
That’s where author Eric Ries comes
entrepreneurs literally the keys to a
pages is
in. He has seen numerous
around the system that – almost
businesses start and fail – most
world are
without fail – will lead you
notably, his own. However, he
starting their a successful business.
to
has also learned the lessons
ownSo if you are willing to put
from these false starts and has
enterprises. you think you know
what
gone on to great success
Most of whom
aside, you are about to
building a multi-million
are armed with way almost every
learn the
dollar enterprise, and
an idea for an
new business in the world will
coaching others to do the
amazing
be run in less than 10 years.
same.
service or
According to Ries, there are 5
product (so
principles that are critical
they think), but
to the success of a
not armed with
startup, and what
the tools they
makes a startup
need to build
a “lean” one.
an enduring
business.
4. What does it mean to run a Lean Startup?
First is the idea that entrepreneurs are everywhere. They are the person who just lost their job
in the recession and have struck out on their own. They are the person who has started and
sold his first 5 businesses, and is on to his sixth. These are the people we traditionally read
about in magazines and books – the self-made success stories. However, entrepreneurs are also
found in global corporations, working on the next big idea.
The second idea is that entrepreneurship is management. The goal of an entrepreneur is to
build a sustainable enterprise, and so there needs to be a new (and predictable) method
of doing so – especially in the middle of the cool digital revolution we find ourselves in.
5. ENT
GEM
M ANA
OD
METH
ABILITY
SUSTAIN
ABILITY
PREDICT
The third idea is that startups exist – not to make money or even to serve customers – but to
learn how to build a sustainable business. This is the idea that is the most critical to Ries’ entire
premise, and it’s a revolutionary one. Most entrepreneurs start a business with a new idea
thinking (most of the time, incorrectly) that they have an idea that will be a huge success. Why
else start a business and take all that risk? They then plod along, hustling the hell out of that
idea until it either succeeds or fails – usually in spectacular fashion.
6. LAUNCH
T
AP
LE
AD
AR
N
VALIDATED
LEARNING
RN
AD
EA
A
L
PT
LAUNCH
However, Ries argues, if the organization can learn as quickly as possible what the
marketplace values enough to pay for, they will be able to adapt their business
and grow it into a sustainable enterprise. He calls this validated learning.
7. Fourth is the method in which companies should approach
this task – build, measure and learn. The idea is to
get back to “build” as quickly as possible after
learning from the marketplace. The quicker you
can get through this cycle, the faster you’ll
learn what the market values, and the better MEASURE
chance you have of surviving and building a
sustainable business.
LEARN
BUILD
8. Lastly is the idea of innovation accounting. Although it sounds sexy, this is
actually the boring stuff that will make a company successful. It’s the
measurements you take, the milestones you set, and how you prioritize
your work.
9. What these 5 principles add up to is a new way of thinking
about management. Because if you value innovation
Biggus Bloatus Corpus
as a company – whether you are
a startup or a multi-billion
behemoth – this is the way
you will accomplish it.
Ventura Capitalista
Startupitus
Optimus
10. The first thing you need to do is to build a
quality product or service for the
marketplace. And if you don’t know who
the customer is, you don’t know what
quality is. So the first step is to create
something called a customer archetype.
The purpose of the archetype is to
humanize the target market for your
business. It will guide all of the decisions
you make about product development and
allocation of resources moving forward. So,
before you make anything, make sure you
know exactly who you are making it for.
SUPERbot
BUILD A PRODUCT
11. Second, you are going to need to take a
leap of faith at some point. No matter
how much research you’ve done, and
how certain you are of your chances of
success, your new venture is going to
have to make some assumptions on
some very important things. The key is
to know just what part of your plan is a
leap of faith. A simple tool for this would
be the analogue/antilog. There’s no
problem basing the strategy for your
new business based on the success of
some other company or industry, as long
as you also know what you don’t know.
12. be the analogue/antilog. There’s no
problem basing the strategy for your
new business based on the success of
some other company or industry, as long
as you also know what you don’t know.
For instance, when they were building
the iPod, Apple knew that people would
listen to music in public places wearing
earphones based on the success of the
Sony Walkman. This answered a critical
question for Apple. However, what they
didn’t know was whether or not people
would pay for music. The anitlog to this
is that Napster had just proven that
people – in record numbers – would stop
paying for music when offered a free
(albeit illegal) alternative. So they built
their now insanely successful business on
a leap of faith, but they knew exactly
where the risk lied.
13. The next step on this process
is to build a rapid prototype.
Most people have heard of
Zappos by now – the billion
dollar a year online shopping
portal. It had started out as a
rapid prototype by founder
Nick Swinmurn. In fact, his
original idea was to build a
brand new retail experience –
which he could have pursued
at great cost and risk.
Instead, he chose to run an
experiment. He wanted to
see if people would buy
shoes online. So, he went
around to shoe stores in his
area and asked if he could
take pictures of the shoes the
stores had in stock. He would
take those pictures and put
them up on a website, and if
people bought the shoes
from him, he would return to
the store and buy them at full
price. There, for next to
nothing except for time and
energy, Nick had figured out
that people would indeed
buy shoes online.
14. There are a few important lessons to glean here. The first is to always build what the startup
community now calls a “minimum viable product” (MVP). It’s the smallest product or service
that you can create and start generating learning from. Nick didn’t need anything more than a
simple website to start Zappos, and it’s likely that you need a heck of a lot less than you think
you do to launch your new product. Second, you should be attempting to attract the early
adopter market with this MVP. Because these early adopters know that they will almost always
get a product with “bugs” in it, you don’t need to worry about having the best possible
product to launch. In fact, any effort beyond what you need for an MVP is considered waste –
because it wasn’t driven in a response to the marketplace.
15. WHERE ARE WE?
The startup’s job is to figure out where they are right now, confront the cold hard facts, and
then design experiments to move the numbers closer to what they laid out in the business
plan. These come together in what Ries calls the 3 Learning Milestones:
(1) establish the baseline (2) tuning the engine (3) pivot (or persevere)
16. In establishing the baseline, you need to make sure you are setting the right metrics. One thing to be wary
of are “vanity metrics”. In the web startup world these metrics might include “website visitors”, and in
some cases even “registered users”. In almost every case, these metrics will lead you to focus on actions
that, at best, limit your chances for success. In order to prevent this, you should sure your metrics meet
the “3 A’s test”, where your metrics are actionable, accessible and audit-able.
17. Actionable: demonstrate a clear cause and effect
relationship so that you can take definitive action in
response to it.
Accessible: be easily understood and available
widely to people in the company.
Auditable: be able to go back to the source of
data to prove that the metrics were telling the true
(and entire) story.
18. One example of these kinds of metrics would be the ones
used by IMVU (Ries’ company) in their startup phase. The
company sold a 3D avatar/social networking service that I
would describe as a chat service where you can dress up
your character. Using $5 a day in pay per click advertising,
they were able to get 100 visits to their website to test their
product. They considered each day’s visitors to be one
cohort, and tested each cohort on the following data points:
• Registration – how many people signed up
• Activation – how many people then went on to
actually login to their account
• Retention – how many people had 1 chat, how many
people had 5 chats, and how many people became
paying customers.
A good way to do this for your own business is to pick
metrics in the following buckets: registration, activation,
retention and referral.
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20. Didn’tyou
hear?
Moneyis
goingout
ofstyle!
P.S. This is the only way a
company should be
implementing a product
development strategy. Unless,
of course, you somehow have
millions of dollars somewhere
that doesn’t need to be
accounted for to anybody,
and that you don’t need to
provide a positive return on.
21. PIVOT?
At some point, you will need to
make the decision about whether or
not your business strategy has a reasonable
chance of success. This is the time where you
will need to decide to either “pivot or persevere”.
Of course, if things are working well and you can see a path
the great success and profits, keep working on the idea you’ve
started with. Just make sure to make your decision based on the cold hard facts.
PERSEVERE?
22. A pivot is a fundamental change in business strategy. If
you conclude that your business strategy isn’t likely to
succeed, you can change your strategy. This is where
the mindset of an entrepreneur comes in. A true
entrepreneur is learning how to build a sustainable
enterprise, not make a single product idea a success.
There are many kinds of pivots you could make.
23. • Zoom-in: where a single feature of your product becomes the entire product.
• Zoom-out: where your product is too narrow to support a business, and you
decide to make a broader product.
• Customer segment: where you realize that you are building a product that
solves a need for a segment of customers that is different than the one you
started with.
• Customer need: based on an intimate understanding of the customers
developed during your iteration process, you realize that the need you were
solving for isn’t very important. But you find new needs you can solve instead.
• Business architecture: this is where you go from a high margin, low volume
solution to a low margin high volume solution.
• Technology: where you realize that you could solve the exact same problem
using a completely different (and usually less expensive) technology.
There are other pivots you could make, and we’d encourage you to buy
the book to find out what they are. But most importantly, realize that
whatever pivot you make, it’s only the next hypothesis in your business
model, and that it should be rigorously tested just like everything else.
24. One company that took this idea and ran with it built a technology called Aardvark – an
alternative to other search engines where the answer needs some form of human
interaction. For instance, a question like “where’s the best place to get a drink after the
movies tonight” is not something that Google will give you a great answer for. However,
Aardvark will. But this wasn’t the first product launched by Max Ventilla and Damon
Horowitz. In fact, is was the sixth product they launched. In fact, it was their sixth product
in less than six months. Because they had used the Lean Startup model of the MVP along
with rapid prototyping and measuring the results, they found out very quickly that their
first 5 products were destined to become flops. Aardvark was the first and only product
that pointed to success, and not surprisingly, it’s the product that they are now growing
using the same principles we’ve discussed so far.
25. One company that took this idea and ran with it built a technology called
Aardvark – an alternative to other search engines where the answer needs
some form of human interaction. For instance, a question like “where’s the
best place to get a drink after the movies tonight” is not something that
Google will give you a great answer for. However, Aardvark will. But this
wasn’t the first product launched by Max Ventilla and Damon Horowitz. In
fact, is was the sixth product they launched. In fact, it was their sixth
product in less than six months. Because they had used the Lean Startup
model of the MVP along with rapid prototyping and measuring the
results, they found out very quickly that their first 5 products were
destined to become flops. Aardvark was the first and only product that
pointed to success, and not surprisingly, it’s the product that they are now
growing using the same principles we’ve discussed so far.
26. GROWTH
Now that you’ve found the product that
you know will help you create a
sustainable business, you need to have
sustainable growth. And the only way
you can build a sustainable business is
when your new customers come from old
customers. There are 3 ways to do this.
27. First, you can create a “sticky” growth
engine. This depends on having a
product or service that customers will
continue to pay for over time. In this model, if
you can bring in new customers at a faster
rate than your old customers leave the
service, your business will grow. The metric
that you’ll want to pay the most attention
to is your retention rate.
Stickytron 100
28. Second,
you could create
a “viral” engine of
growth. In this model, you
depend on your current
customers to bring in your new
customers. The most famous
example of this is Hotmail, which was
once a slow growth business struggling
to get traction. That was until they
decided to append each mail message
You sent with an invitation for other people
to sign up for the service, with a link directly to the sign
up page. The metric for this engine is something called the
“viral loop”. If you can get each new customer to bring
in 1 or more customers, the viral growth will continue.
29. LCV CAC = :)
The last engine for growth is the “paid”
model. In this model, you take the profits
you’ve earned from your old customers,
and invest it into advertising (or any new
business development tactic) to attract
new customers. The metrics to pay
attention to in this case are the Lifetime
Customer Value (the profits you’ll make
off each customer over the lifetime of
doing business with you) and the
Customer Acquisition Cost. As long as
your LCV exceeds your new customer
acquisition costs, you will grow.
30. gines
one o f these en
p ecialize in eat to
e band width to s engin e is too gr
on ly have th any particular f you star
t on
panies ng in urse, i
that most com ine-tun e everythi busin ess. Of co wth
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Ries make time it tak
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ngine tha pe, you ca
the the e ’d ho
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one of the engin nad ifferent on
ivot a nd focus o
engine” p
31. So there you have it – everything you
need to know in order to begin your
Lean Startup journey. If you are truly an
entrepreneur, you’ll take Ries’ advice and
get passionate about building a
sustainable enterprise rather than seeing
your new idea succeed at all costs. Good
luck, and I hope to see your next idea
and become one of your customers.
For more information about this book and our other
great book summaries, visit:
EFFECTIVE ENGAGING BOOK SUMMARIES