This document provides an overview of lean startup concepts and methods. It discusses the lean startup movement which aims to minimize wasted resources through validated learning. The key aspects covered include the lean canvas for outlining a business model, conducting problem and solution interviews to validate hypotheses, and building minimum viable products to quickly iterate through the build-measure-learn loop to achieve product-market fit. The overall goal is to apply a scientific, experimental approach to developing startups through continuous learning and pivoting if needed based on customer feedback.
3. Getting to know you...
1. Who is running a startup?
2. Who is thinking about running a startup?
3. Who is thinking about working for a startup?
4. Who is thinking about working for a big
company?
5. How do you evaluate if a startup idea is worth
pursuing?
16. In Lean Manufacturing, a stack of car doors
that never get placed onto an automobile is
waste.
In Lean Software, a stack of requirement
documents or .PSD files that never make it
into a product is waste.
In Lean Startup, a stack of features you’ve
built that never get used by a customer is
waste.
Link
17. A startup is a temporary
organization used to search
for a repeatable and
scalable business model
Steve Blank
32. WHY LEAN CANVAS?
1. Writing and updating biz plans takes too
much time
2. Hard to get feedback because nobody
wants to read biz plans
3. Key points for pitch deck or biz plans
4. Provides focus
33.
34. CUSTOMER SEGMENTS
● Whose problem are we solving for?
● Customers pay for the product and users
just use
35. EARLY ADOPTERS
● A specific subset of a targeted customer
segment that can be monopolised quickly
● Develop a persona
36.
37.
38. PROBLEM
● What’s preventing the customer from
fulfilling their needs?
● Be specific to this customer segment
● Include context/situation
● Ask why a few times
39. EXISTING ALTERNATIVES
● How do customer solve these problems
today?
● Existing behaviours
● Incumbents and competitors
40.
41.
42. UNIQUE VALUE
PROPOSITION (UVP)
● Why is it important to solve these
problems?
● What’s the end goal benefit for the
customers?
● Marketing headline
43. HIGH-LEVEL CONCEPT
● How your product feels like?
● The big vision
● Easy for people to talk about
44.
45. SOLUTION
● Corresponds to problem hypothesis
● How is the problem solved in order to
deliver the UVP?
65. 3 STAGES OF A STARTUP
STAGE 1
PROBLEM/SOLUTION
FIT
STAGE 2
PRODUCT/MARKET
FIT
STAGE 3
SCALE
66. STAGE 1
Do I have a problem worth solving?
STAGE 1
PROBLEM/SOLUTION
FIT
STAGE 2
PRODUCT/MARKET
FIT
STAGE 3
SCALE
67. STAGE 2
Have I built something people want?
STAGE 1
PROBLEM/SOLUTION
FIT
STAGE 2
PRODUCT/MARKET
FIT
STAGE 3
SCALE
68. STAGE 3
How do I accelerate growth?
STAGE 1
PROBLEM/SOLUTION
FIT
STAGE 2
PRODUCT/MARKET
FIT
STAGE 3
SCALE
69. 3 STAGES OF A STARTUP
STAGE 1
PROBLEM/SOLUTION
FIT
STAGE 2
PRODUCT/MARKET
FIT
STAGE 3
SCALE
FOCUS
VALIDATED
LEARNING
&
PIVOTS
GROWTH
&
OPTIMIZATIONS
70. 3 STAGES OF A STARTUP
STAGE 1
PROBLEM/SOLUTION
FIT
STAGE 2
PRODUCT/MARKET
FIT
STAGE 3
SCALE
SEED
FUNDING
SERIES A
FUNDING
71. ACHIEVING PRODUCT/MARKET FIT
STAGE 1
PROBLEM/SOLUTION
FIT
STAGE 2
PRODUCT/MARKET
FIT
UNDERSTAND
PROBLEM
DEFINE
SOLUTION
VALIDATE
QUALITATIVELY
VERIFY
QUANTITATIVELY
80. PROBLEM INTERVIEW STRUCTURE
1. Profile
Demographics and psychographics for developing persona of early adopter
2. Validate
Lean Canvas: Problem, Existing Alternatives, Customer Segment
3. Ask
Test commitment level (follow up, referrals)
84. SOLUTION INTERVIEW STRUCTURE
1. Profile
Skip this for old prospects from
earlier problem interview.
2. Qualify
Confirm if problem is true for the
prospect. If untrue, switch to problem
interview.
3. Demo
Show how your solution can deliver
the UVP by solving the prospects
problem. Ask for feedback at the end
of the demo.
4. Test Pricing
State pricing and observe reaction.
5. Ask
Test commitment (follow up,
pre-order, letter of intent, referrals)
The answer lies in this joke. If people laugh, it’s the probably the truth.
Distribution of the “future”
E-signature vs fax machine
Anybody wants to make a guess?
Would this be possible 5 years ago?
Existence of early adopter is the evidence of good timing
Time, money, engineering hours. Misconception to think that lean means fast and cheap.
Treat all ideas as hypotheses to be validated
Learn by doing, Learn through concrete experience. As a startup founder you need to learn about your business as fast as a child learning about the world.
Use pilot as example
Approach depends on your current situation
Lean startup is discovery driven innovation
A way to organize hypotheses in one page
Biz model canvas by Alex Osterwalder is more suitable for big companies. I try to be a bit more specific than the running lean book.
Serves as the backbone for pitch deck and business plans
A way to organize hypotheses in one page
Good problem statements comes from asking the right questions
Very often existing behaviour is the biggest competitor
Uber for laundry, airbnb for pets, dropbox for physical items
This is very often overlooked!
For a product priced around $1,000, there might be no good distribution channel to reach the small businesses that might buy it. Even if you have a clear value proposition, how do you get people to hear it?
The product needs a personal sales effort, but at that price point, you simply don’t have the resources to send an actual person to talk to every prospective customer. This is why so many small and medium- sized businesses don’t use tools that bigger firms take for granted. It’s not that small business proprietors are unusually backward or that good tools don’t exist: distribution is the hidden bottleneck.
For a product priced around $1,000, there might be no good distribution channel to reach the small businesses that might buy it. Even if you have a clear value proposition, how do you get people to hear it?
The product needs a personal sales effort, but at that price point, you simply don’t have the resources to send an actual person to talk to every prospective customer. This is why so many small and medium- sized businesses don’t use tools that bigger firms take for granted. It’s not that small business proprietors are unusually backward or that good tools don’t exist: distribution is the hidden bottleneck.
CAC determines the sustainability of the business. CAC is the most uncertain cost.
Timeframe in not to scale!
P/M fit is the 1st significant milestone
Full product launch usually happens after “validate qualitatively”
Processes for customer engagement and product delivery
Lean startup is about having the discipline to know where you are on the roadmap and when to move to the next stage
You can start this process even if you are non-tech.