Start with Mindset with Ash Maurya
Ash Maurya makes the case that entrepreneurs must start with mindset to drive the skill development that will create traction and success. […]
Entrepreneurs Cannot Rely on a Cookbook or a Manual
Entrepreneurs starting their first business often hunt for a cookbook of recipes to make sense of a journey that is alternating between bewilderment and frustration. But startups fight for existence in a competitive and evolving environment, where changes in the technical or social substrates can invalidate their strategy or enable [...]
A Holistic Approach to Launching a Bootstrapped Startup
We outline the process of launching a bootstrapped startup, from creating an idea, to forming a team, to proving viability. […]
The Nitty Gritty of Setting Up Customer Discovery Meetings
David Telleen-Lawton has more than two decades of customer development. This blog post on the nitty gritty of setting up customer discovery meetings is adapted from his presentation at the 2015 Lean Startup Conference. […]
David Telleen-Lawton Presents at Lean Startup Conference 2015
If you missed The Nitty Gritty of Setting Up Customer Discovery Meetings by David Telleen-Lawton at The Lean Startup Conference 2015, he shared the down and dirty details of setting up meetings for Customer Discovery. Having set hundreds of B2B and B2C discovery meetings over the years, Telleen-Lawton tells how to [...]
Planning and Reflection
Ash Maurya rebooted his blog as “The Space Between”–experimental format where he is exploring the space between ideas–and has offered a number of short reflective posts. Here are excerpts from three where he explores the value of planning and reflection, and the need to prioritize learning over the illusion of [...]
Good and Bad Reasons to Pivot
Much has been written about a startup making a pivot in direction after Eric Ries first coined the term in a 2009 blog post “Pivot don’t Jump to a New Vision.” The word pivot has attracted almost as much wordplay as the word lean. What follows is a short list of [...]
See What’s Missing: Careful Observation Key To Success
Many a successful has been started based on careful observation, in particular seeing what’s missing. This post uses excerpts from The Verger by W. Somerset Maugham to highlight some practical truths of entrepreneurship. […]
Customer Interviews: Spend an Hour to Save a Minute
For customer interviews we have a rule of thumb that if an hour or research saves a minute early in the conversation it’s a good investment. When you look at the list of questions you have prepared to learn about the prospect’s business and their needs, it’s easy to say [...]
Tristan Kromer: You Can Tell a Good Advisor by Their Questions
Three interesting answers from Tristan Kromer's interview with the folks at Startup Commons Startup Commons: What's the best way to get started? Tristan Kromer: Find someone you really want to help. Someone in pain. That's your vision. Helping someone and solving a real problem. Find team members with complementary skill sets [...]
Steve Hodas’ Lean Startup 2013 Talk Offers Recipe for Re-Invigorating Intrapreneurs
Steve Hodas packs a lot of insight packed into this 15 minute talk from the Lean Startup 2013 conference. A recent conversation reminded me how much I enjoyed this talk and the savvy approach Hodas outlines for enterprise or large organizations who want to encourage innovation by partnering with startups [...]
Discovery Kanban Helps You Manage Risks and Options In Your Product Roadmap
I came across this presentation from LLKD13 (#LLKD13 / storify) by Patrick Steyaert (@PatrickSteyaert) of Okaloa on Discovery Kanban after following some links off a Kanban discussion group last year. […]
Video from Lean Innovation 101 Talk at SF Bay ACM Nov-20-2013
The video from my "What is Lean--Lean Innovation 101" talk is up: Here is the description for the talk "Lean" provides a scientific approach for creating a product and developing new businesses. Teams can iteratively building products or services to meet the needs of early customers by adopting a combination [...]
MVP: What’s Really Under Your Control
We use this definition in our "Engineering Your Sales" and "Validating Your MVP" workshops and our MVP clinics. Our focus is on developing and selling products to businesses so that biases the definition a little bit but it's important to remember what's under your control in crafting your MVP: The [...]
MVP: Are You Building a Death Star?
Empires build a Death Star, Rebels build X-Wing fighters If your startup’s minimum viable product is a Death Star you are doing it wrong. […]
Validating Your MVP For B2B Startups at SF Lean Startup Circle Tue-Jun-4
We have been invited back the SF Lean Startup Circle to present our "Validating Your MVP and Value Proposition for B2B Startups" workshop on June 4, starting 5:30pm. This interactive workshop will address: How a B2B startup should think about message, MVP, and launch. Understand who buys your product and how [...]
Learning the Right Lessons From Failure
John Finneran recently wrote a postmortem on a startup that aspired to be “the 37 Signals of non-profit software entitled “Fat startup: Learn the lessons of my failed Lean Startup.” My concern is the he did not learn the right lessons from failure. […]
Validating Your MVP & Value Proposition at Lean Startup Circle SF Apr-2
Join us in San Francisco for an interactive workshop "Validating your MVP & Value Proposition." We will cover a variety of proven techniques for validating your MVP & value proposition for B2B startups. When: 5:30-8:30 PM Tue-Apr-2-2013 Where: 1355 Market, Suite 488, San Francisco Cost: $60 This interactive workshop will provide: [...]
A Conversation With A Bootstrapping EdTech Startup On Customer Interviews
What follows is a sequence of E-mails with an entrepreneur bootstrapping an EdTech startup around the challenges of doing customer interviews that have been recast as a conversation, with the original content edited for length and clarity. Entrepreneur (E): I am working with a couple of friends--we all have day [...]