My Lean MBA talk given to business graduates from Uruguay who were visiting San Francisco.

1. The Lean MBA
September 2013

2. Intro to Neo
Neo is a global product innovation company. We create compelling mobile and Web products for our
clients, with a focus on creating customer value and business success. Our clients include large
enterprises, startups, and governments. Founded by Joi Ito (director of the MIT Media Lab) and Ian
McFarland (ex-CTO of Pivotal Labs) we count Eric Ries (author of “The Lean Startup”) among our
partners. We are dedicated to Lean Startup rigor and the close collaboration of business, technology and
design.
2
Lean Innovation
Our team of thought leaders has
literally written the manuals for
lean startup, lean UX and lean
product management. At Neo,
we put these ideas into practice
every day. We obsess about
value creation, as well as
shipping great code. We treat our
clients' products like our own.
Agile Development
We make great software, with
deep expertise in Ruby on Rails
and iOS development. We've
been doing agile for years, and
continue to lead the field. With
Neo, you get the best industry
talent, the very highest code
quality, and unparalleled
excellence in software
strategy, scalability, and
sustainability.
Education
We want to help you become
successful, and part of that is
teaching best practices. In our
lean and agile projects, we often
apprentice client staff. We also
run focused workshops for our
clients, run conferences on
technology and design, and
support the community through
open source software and
organizing meetups.

3. 3
Shorter Company Lifespan
http://thefifthwave.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/sp-index-lifespan.jpg

4. 4
We’ve structured our
companies around
scientific management
of the 1800’s
Frederick Taylor
1856 - 1915

5. 5
A business model
used to be static
and survived
many years.

6. 6
Replacing CEO’s with Outsiders
http://www.conference-board.org/press/pressdetail.cfm?pressid=4802
“In 2011, 19% of S&P 500
companies replaced CEO’s from
outside the company.”

7. 7
Replacing CEO’s with Outsiders
http://www.conference-board.org/press/pressdetail.cfm?pressid=4802
“In 2012, 27% of S&P 500
companies replaced CEO’s from
outside the company.”

8. 8
start
here
The Lean Startup – Eric Ries

9. 9
Cynefin Model – David Snowded
Unknown Known

10. 10
Cynefin Model – David Snowded
Business
Model
Business
Plan

11. 11
The Five Year Business Plan

12. 12
The Five Year Business Plan
• Numbers must go up & to the right
• Largely based in fiction
• Used to undermine coworkers
• Not consumable for the teams
• Too focused on Return on Investment

13. 13
What is the Business Model?
“A business model describes the
rationale of how an organization
creates, delivers & captures value”
-Alexander Osterwalder

14. 14
Business Model Generation

15. 15
“For whom are we creating value?”
Customer Segment

16. 16
“What value do we deliver to the
customer?”
Value Proposition

17. 17
“How do we deliver the value we create to
the customer?”
Channel

18. 18
“How do we create & maintain
relationships with our customers?”
Customer Relationships

19. 19
“How much will these customers pay for
the value we create?”
Revenue Streams

20. 20
“How much will this cost to create and
maintain?”
Cost Structure

21. 21
“Who and what will we need to create this
value?”
Key Resources

22. 22
“What will we do with these resources to
build value?”
Key Activities

23. 23
“Who would we partner with that will
provide us with Key Resources or Key
Activities?”
Key Partners

24. 24

25. 25
What do you
measure here?

26. 26

27. 27
Acquisition
Activation
Retention
Referral
Revenue
Pirate Metrics – Dave McClure 500 Startups

28. 28
Aware
Hopeful
Satisfied
Passionate
Lean Entrepreneur – Brant Cooper & Patrick Vlaskovits

29. 29
Aware
Hopeful
Satisfied
Passionate
Acquisition
Activation
Retention
Referral

30. 30
Questions?

31. Thank You!
@davidjbland
david.bland@neo.com