Remember the 80/20 rule? You get 80% of the results from 20% of the inputs. The Key Question is…How can startups maximize validated learning while minimizing effort and risk? Well, 80% of the results from using Lean Startup come from running experiments, in my opinion. Meticulously. First, focus around the product; prove your value hypotheses….
The main thing about launches that I’ve realized is that people put way too much emphasis on them. They end up focussing too much on a one-off event, rather than on building a successful business. Sometimes, they end up paying a price for suboptimal trade-offs they make. The goal of a traditional launch is to…
Even though an extreme product launch may sound like a new idea, it’s just a name for something already happening on a wide scale. There are many sites which promote selling a product before you have it. Kickstarter for products. LeanPub for books. Enroll.io for courses. Thanks to the take-down of private company funding regulations…
When releasing a new product, the first step is to get a minimum viable product (MVP) released. The minimum viable product encompasses the essence of the Lean Startup ethos. An MVP helps go through one cycle of the Build-Measure-Learn loop. Eric Reis warns “Customers don’t care how long something takes to build. They only care…
In a traditional marketing “hard launch”, you build up to a crescendo. The whole market trembles with excitement for the minute your product comes out, pulls out their credit card, and buys. You make 7 figures in one day, synchronously. This is particularly common for something like a highly anticipated event with limited availability of…
Since Apple was founded, a number of big changes have swept the technology world. Your clients live in a very different world. As a result, you market in a different environment. If you’re a technology entrepreneur, you need to be very clear on exactly how you are addressing the following: 1. Shortening Attention Windows: If…
The viral case is somewhat different than a paid engine of growth. While this is free from a financial point of view, it’s expensive in terms of time. The idea is to create content which people naturally want to share. Once you have their attention, you include some kind of call to action which then…
You may not have not realized it, but launching a new product-based startup requires that you navigate a number of chicken-and-egg problems successfully. Which comes first? While seemingly logical, there are a number of preconditions which you need to meet in order to stop being a startup and become a real business. I once visited…
Imagine you lived in Paleolithic times. Your name is Blug. You live in a cave. You’ve used fire for years, to cook game that you’ve caught or to prepare the hide in order to turn it into leather. In any case, you know it’s hot. You know fire burns. One day, as you’re sitting in…
In a previous life, Elon Musk was one of the main creators of PayPal. He’s pretty open about how the initial idea didn’t actually catch on very well. When he was doing customer interviews, he’d get that glazed-over look. Yeah, that one. At the time, the team was approaching consumers. They were saying they aimed…