Lean startups

1. April 30thth, 2015
LEAN STARTUP
Techniques
BryanStarbuck@gmail.com
Applied to build a
startup company
Bryan Starbuck

2. TalentSpring Founder & CEO - Acquired in 2010
B2B Enterprise SaaS company with Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning
SPARKON Founder & CEO
B2C Online learning & Passion Discovery
Owner at WhiteHat Engineering:
Our engineering team builds startup companies & products
Bryan Starbuck
STARTUPS & ENGINEERING BryanStarbuck@gmail.com

3. Remove big risks first
Lean Startups
is about removing big risks early
• You can still shoot for the moon
• But test cheaply & quickly
ASSUMPTIONS

4. First, a story: Writing in space
In the 1960s, NASA
found that normal pens
didn’t write in space.
Over $1 million was
spent to engineer a
pen that can write in
space.

5. You are assigned to fix this problem
NASA assigns you as the project
manager to solve this problem:
Your task:
How many months?
Would take you to run a project
to solve their problem (writing in
space)

6. You are assigned to fix this problem
NASA assigns you as the project
manager to solve this problem:
Your task:
How many months?
Would take you to run a
project to solve their problem
(writing in space)
Your Answer:
a) 12 months or longer
b) 6 to 12 months
c) 3 to 6 months
d) 1 to 3 months
e) Less than 1 month

7. Smart people lead to highly engineered solutions
Great, smart and educated employees can create highly engineered
solutions.
Often is it better to…
Save time with a simple solution, and redirect resources
elsewhere

8. Principles of LEAN STARTUPS
1) Don’t over engineer
2) Validate plan early
3) Validate your assumptions
Bryan’s recommendations on focus points of Learn Startups:
4) Quick validation passes
5) Short execution pushes
(Learn, adjust, repeat)
6) Metrics to focus on what
is important

9. Validate by Pitch-Deck
Force Planning in all
Critical Areas
Brief enough for
feedback from
Customers,
Employees, Advisors,
Investors, etc.

10. Do a push to:
1) Validate with 15+ target customers
2) Within 5 days
3) Focus on “ON TARGET” matches
instead people close to you
Validate with TARGET Customers
2) Validate plan early
3) Validate your assumptions
CUSTOMER
Validation

11. 1) Validate with 6+ target experts
2) Experience building businesses in this industry
3) Get people with experience marketing to ACQUIRE your types
of target customers
Validate with TARGET EXPERTS
2) Validate plan early
3) Validate your assumptions
EXPERT
Validation

12. A QUICK PUSH is often powerful:
Quick validation passes
4) Quick validation passes
1) A guy created a dating startup
2) He had 8 friends over to his house
3) They posted on MechTurk. Asked for people with experiences dating
to give them a call. For $20
4) All night, his friends talked to people on the phone
5) Validation done in 1 day

13. Steve Blank & VP of Marketing
4) Quick validation passes
Steve Blank’s story
as a as a new
VP of Marketing

14. Marketing example of LEAN process
• You are a VP of Marketing
• You hire a COLLEGE HIRE to your marketing team
• Your company sells to consumers.
• You will launch a new product that sells to businesses, in your
industry
• Your new marketing hire’s job is to build the marketing plan
4) Quick validation passes

15. Business model

16. Activities to validate

17. High Risk
Balancing
Low Risk
Cheap
validation Most important
Metrics
Connect to
Reality

18. Professor of Pottery
A professor of Pottery
has a new class.
He divided the students
into 2 teams.

19. Professor of Pottery
Team A:
Their grade was on
QUANTITY of art created.
Team B:
Their grade was on QUALITY. They can
get an “A” by only creating one piece

20. Validating pottery
1) Create a landing page
2) Drive people to pay
3) Test pricing
4) Test conversion rates
5) Compare certain customers
6) Compare quickly

21. Principles of LEAN STARTUPS
1) Don’t over engineer
2) Validate plan early
3) Validate your assumptions
Bryan’s recommendations on focus points of Learn Startups:
4) Quick validation passes
5) Short execution pushes
(Learn, adjust, repeat)
6) Metrics to focus on what
is important

22. KPIs
Are you correctly picking you KPIs?

23. Validating a Hotel on a Cliff
1) Create a landing page
2) Drive people to pay
3) Test pricing
4) Test conversion rates
5) Allow feedback
6) Zoom in on your target
demographic

24. Questions?
Bryan@TheStarbucks.com
@BryanStarbuck

25. BLOG: bryanstarbuck.typepad.com
Next Steps for Learning (1 of 3)
People often ask how to learn more. Here is the best way:
ABSOLUTE Must Read Strategic Thinking or Execution
Other
Innovator’s Dilemma On Amazon
By: Clayton Christensen
Crossing the Chasm On Amazon
By: Geoffrey Moore
Blue Ocean Strategy On Amazon
By: W. Kim
Good to Great On Amazon
By: Jim Collins
Maverick On Amazon
By: Ricardo Semier
The Four Steps to the Epiphany On Amazon
By: Steven Blank
Inspiring Excellence On Amazon
By: Michael Schutzler
The Ten-Day MBA On Amazon
By: Steven Silbiger
Founders at Work On Amazon
By: Jessica Livingston
ABSOLUTE Must Read
Venture Deals On Amazon
By: Brad Feld
Art of the Start On Amazon
By: Guy Kawasaki
The Lean Startup On Amazon
By: Eric Ries

26. BLOG: bryanstarbuck.typepad.com
Next Steps for Learning (2 of 3)
People often ask how to learn more. Here is the best way:
Marketing
The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding On Amazon
By: Al Ries
Full Frontal PR On Amazon
By: Richard Laermer
Positioning: The Battle for your Mind On Amazon
By: Jack Trout
The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing On Amazon
By: John Hogan
Purple Cow On Amazon
By: Seth Godin
Other
Founders at Work On Amazon
By: Jessica Livingston
Startup Weekend On Amazon
By: Marc Nager
Don’t Make Me Think On Amazon
By: Steve Krug
ABSOLUTE Must Read

27. BLOG: bryanstarbuck.typepad.com
More Learning (3 of 3)
(My) Bryan Starbuck’s Blog on Company Building:
http://bit.ly/StarbuckBlog
Dave McClure – Marketing Model for Startups:
http://500hats.typepad.com/500blogs/2007/06/internet-market.html
http://vimeo.com/26277733
http://www.slideshare.net/dmc500hats/startup-metrics-for-pirates-long-version
http://www.slideshare.net/dmc500hats/startup-metrics-101-367863
More from Dave McClure:
http://www.slideshare.net/dmc500hats/why-not-to-do-a-startup
http://www.slideshare.net/dmc500hats/do-marketing-its-not-evil
Presenting to Investors:
http://www.slideshare.net/dmc500hats/how-to-pitch-a-vc-aka-startup-viagra-how-to-give-a-vc-a-hardon
Strategic economics of SaaS https://salesforce.adobeconnect.com/_a13852757/buildingasuccessfulsaasco/
Startup Marketing: http://howtolaunchastartup.com/2011/06/20/21-must-read-resources-for-start-up-marketing/
57 Things I’ve Learned Founding 3 Tech Startups:
http://betashop.com/post/1417413108/57-things-ive-learned-founding-3-tech-companies
ABSOLUTE Must Read

28. Remove big risks first
Lean Startups
is about removing big risks early
• You can still shoot for the moon
• But test cheaply & quickly
ASSUMPTIONS

29. The New Model for Startups

30. Backup Slides
Bryan@TheStarbucks.com
@BryanStarbuck