What is the Lean Startup Methodology?

The Lean Startup methodology is an approach that combines the ideas of agile development and lean manufacturing to help startups build successful businesses.

This approach, which was developed by Eric Ries, places high value on the need to experiment with ideas faster, iterate on development, and gain customer feedback. With the examples he shared in his book, we saw how organizations from various sectors were able to grow user acquisition and retention.

The core principles of the lean startup methodology

1. Validated learning: The Lean Startup method stresses the importance of testing assumptions and hypotheses through experimentation and customer feedback. This helps startups avoid wasting time and resources on ideas that may not work.
   
   
2. Build-Measure-Learn: This is a feedback loop that involves building a minimum viable product (MVP), measuring how customers interact with it, and learning from the data gathered. This allows startups to quickly identify and adapt to changes in the market.
   
   
3. Pivot: The Lean Startup method encourages startups to change their plans if they find out that the assumptions they started with were wrong. This could involve changing their target market, product features, or business model based on feedback from customers.
   
   
4. Innovation accounting: This is a way of measuring progress and success in a startup. It involves tracking specific metrics that demonstrate validated learning and growth, rather than traditional financial metrics like revenue and profit.
   
   

Values that underpin the lean startup methodology

1. Empathy: It places importance on understanding customers’ needs and pain points and building products that solve their problems.
   
   
2. Experimentation: It encourages startups to experiment and try out new ideas rather than relying on assumptions or guesses.
   
   
3. Iteration: It involves iterating and improving products based on feedback and data rather than trying to build a perfect outcome from the start.
   
   
4. Continuous improvement: It is based on the idea that products and processes can always be made better by trying new things quickly and learning from them.
   
   

Wrap Up

The lean startup methodology is a flexible and adaptable approach to building successful startups that prioritize rapid experimentation and customer feedback to create products that customers truly want and need.