Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 9, 2009

Thats the essence of so many of the lean startup techniques Ive evangelized: customer development , the Ideas/Code/Data feedback loop , and the adaptation of agile development to the startup experience. Creating a company-wide feedback loop that incorporates both customer development and agile development is a challenge.

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San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean Agile 132

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2010

And that narrow definition of entrepreneurship doesn’t count all of the managers inside established companies who are effectively engaged in the same process of building an internal startup (see What is a startup? for my more expansive definition). for my more expansive definition). What motivates all these entrepreneurs?

San Francisco 161

San Francisco Management Founder Lean 161

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

Inspiring ideas: real-time biz metrics; safe continuous deployment; A/B split testing. Thank you @ericries for drastically altering my perception of agile startup Thank you all so much for your kind words. Really enjoyed your speech, but Boulder's startup community is definitely older than 5 years.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Continuous Deployment 113

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Every board meeting, the metrics of success change. Their product definition fluctuates wildly – one month, it’s a dessert topping, the next it’s a floor wax. Stories like these are what has led me to this definition of progress for a startup: validated learning about customers. Go on an agile diet quickly.

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Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

Growth - when you have existing customers, the pressure is on to grow your key metrics day-in day-out. Your comment about the Innovation/R&D phase that it's hard to predict has definitely proven true in my experience. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. 1 comments: Andy Lawrence said. Expo SF (May.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 88

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

We lack a consistent and clear definition of the job. If youre trying to design an architecture to maximize agility, how can that work if some people are working in TDD and others not? And what about if deployment takes forever? Ive been looking for a good definition (if that makes any sense) for a CTO. Expo SF (May.

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CTO Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review 168

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 11, 2009

Definitely interested in the perspective of the open-source contributor solicited with a job offer. Im definitely curious about your thoughts on how to present the company right. . Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Labels: hiring 4comments: deskin said. Excellent post all around. Expo SF (May.

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Software Review Software Hiring San Francisco 68

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

This theory has become so influential that I have called it one of the three pillars of the lean startup - every bit as important as the changes in technology or the advent of agile development. Thanks for this post, I was going to buy the book anyway after reading Stevens blog but this post definitely made me get it faster (just ordered).

Customer Development 168

Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 168

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 11, 2009

Now they first had to go through a ritual that involved complex math, reached no definite outcome, and then proceeded to have a battle of opinions anyway! Every experiment has to be evaluated based on a single standard report of 5-10 (no more) key metrics. To their surprise, the metrics didn’t move at all.

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Lean Metrics Continuous Deployment 133

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 29, 2009

I hope to show why lean and agile techniques actually reduce the negative impacts of technical debt and increase our ability to take advantage of its positive effects. Yet other agile principles suggest the opposite, as in YAGNI and DoTheSimplestThingThatCouldPossiblyWork. Reconciling these principles requires a little humility.

Technical Review 168

Technical Review Software Review San Francisco Lean 168

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

Lean manufacturing , agile software development , and Theory of Constraints are all examples of this idea in action. No vanity metrics should be looked at. Lean manufacturing , agile software development , and Theory of Constraints are all examples of this idea in action. No vanity metrics should be looked at.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Software Review 167

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 29, 2008

The six key attributes spell ABCDEF: Agility. When talking about their past experience, candidates with agility will know why they did what they did in a given situation. To probe for agility, you have to ask the candidate questions involving something that they know little about. Excellent post on interviewing. Expo SF (May.

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San Francisco Lean Agile Java 146

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 3, 2009

Yet, I think this definition is too important to leave out. davemcclure : amazing concepts on Continuous Development => "Cluster Immune System" @EricRies #LeanStartup @fbFund [link] dalelarson : Because most features take longer to argue and prioritize than to build. Definitely like to see video of the full talk.

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Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Cofounder 60

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 5, 2009

Unfortunately, most decisions that confront startups lack a definitive right answer. In a startup context, numbers like gross revenue are actually vanity metrics, not actionable metrics. Luckily, we also discovered that certain other metrics, like LTV and CPA were much better than we initially projected. Expo SF (May.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 102

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 28, 2008

Now there was nothing wrong with their analysis: anyone who invents a technology as sophisticated as The Transformers is definitely going to make a lot of money. Startup Visa update ► February (5) Kiwi lean startup + Australia next Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Rev.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 128

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

So let’s turn our attention from what may happen in the future to what is definitely happening in the present. Despite all the energy invested in talking to authors about the size of their platform, very few gatekeepers have a rigorous set of metrics for measuring it. My blog has over 14000 subscribers, for example.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 28, 2009

Labels: agile , product development , Test-driven development 11comments: William Pietri said. Back when it first came out, Fowlers book Refactoring was what got me into the Agile world, so it holds a special place in my heart. Only one occasion was a substantial rewrite justified based on performance metrics. Great post, Eric.

San Francisco 79

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 79

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 14, 2009

I would definitely be interested any scholarship opportunities that might be made available. We changed our model to B2B and adopted Agile around 2002. Startup Visa update ► February (5) Kiwi lean startup + Australia next Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Rev.

Lean 60

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review 60

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 1, 2009

So I don't think the Apple experience should be used to discount lean, agile, or customer development-type approaches. Maybe Steve Jobs just has a different definition of "viable"? Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. What a normal person would view as acceptable, he would not. Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 166

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 166

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 20, 2008

When I first encountered agile software techniques, in the form of extreme programming , I thought I had found the answer. I explained it to people this way: agile lets you make the trade-offs visible to whole company, so that they can make informed choices. Even worse, agile wasnt really helping me ship higher quality software.

Software Review 164

Software Review Engineer Management Technical Review 164

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 14, 2009

Some companies definitely should. Others definitely shouldn’t. A business that strives for something like this should absolutely be charging money from day one, in order to establish baselines for their two key metrics: CPA (the cost to acquire a new customer) and LTV (the lifetime value of each acquired customer).

Customer 156

Customer San Francisco Viral Lean 156

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 7, 2008

As a last disclaimer, please consult the definition of the word hacker if youre not familiar with the controversies surrounding that term.) In school I was being pounded day and night with anything that has to do with agile software development. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Expo SF (May.

Software Review 94

Software Review Technical Review Part-Time VPE San Francisco 94

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, September 13, 2010 The Superbowl ad test I am a firm believer in the danger of vanity metrics , numbers that give the illusion of progress but often mask the true relationship between cause and effect. Vanity metrics are generally bigger. Vanity metrics. The solution? Is that really news?

San Francisco 154

San Francisco Metrics Lean PR 154

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 12, 2009

But today I believe that ruby and python, with RoR and Django are most definitely the best ways to go for a startup business that wants to get productive. Great article, Ive used many different programming languages, but for web development, I think PHP definitely takes the cake May 16, 2009 9:37 AM Prabin Jha said. Expo SF (May.

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PHP Software Review Ruby San Francisco 166

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 21, 2010

So let’s begin with a definition of a startup that captures its essential nature, and tries to leave behind the specific associations of the most famous startups. Isn’t the word human redundant in this definition? And yet the newness of a startup’s product or service is also a key part of the definition.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco Startup Lean Continuous Deployment 168

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 21, 2008

Everything else (including a lot of traditional "agile" or "lean" tactics) is waste. Basically, the definition of waste is different when you know less about your customer. Eric, what kind of agile or lean tactics are generally wasteful in a startup? Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Expo SF (May.

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Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Startup 121

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 19, 2009

By definition these 10,000 founders wouldnt be taking jobs from Americans: it could be part of the terms of the visa that they couldnt work for existing companies, only new ones theyd founded. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. They wouldnt all grow as big as Google, but out of 2500 some would come close.

San Francisco 150

San Francisco Founder DC Washington 150

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2009

Given the time constraints, I organized my presentation around two simple ideas: STARTUP = EXPERIMENT FASTER STARTUPS = MORE EXPERIMENTS PER DOLLAR I tried to make clear my usual definition of a startup, one that has nothing to do with size of company or sector of the economy. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 92

San Francisco DC Washington Lean 92

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 22, 2008

In fact, there were some definite skeptics about whether they measured anything of value at all, since it is always dismaying to get data that says the changes youre making to your product are not affecting customer satisfaction one way or the other. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Expo SF (May.

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.Net Operations San Francisco Lean 158

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 12, 2009

One definition of a market I like comes from Geoffrey Moores Crossing the Chasm: "a high tech market is a set of actual or potential customers, for a given set of products or services, who have a common set of needs or wants, and who reference each other when making a buying decision." Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 89

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Ruby Lean 89

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 1, 2009

Heres the working definition Ive started using: A startup is a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty. In a future post, Ill attempt to unpack this definition in detail. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. farazq : Awesome session @ericries.

Lean 60

Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 60

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 19, 2009

The theory predicts this, of course, because the definition of a startup as “a human institution creating a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty&# says nothing about sector, size of company, or industry. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 137

San Francisco Product Lean Continuous Deployment 137

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 16, 2008

Our goal is to understand the metrics, mechanics, and levers of engagement. Lets look at a specific example, and start to think through what the metrics might look like if we attempted to measure it: Customer gets a synthetic message saying: "upload some photos!" Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

Viral 140

Viral San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 140

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

I definitely subscribe to the idea of "it's on our roadmap, but we'll move it up in priority thanks to you" I even make a note of specific people who've requested a feature or reported a bug, and then personally let them know when it's been implemented or resolved. I still consider it sometimes. Expo SF (May.

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Community Management Lean Software Review 158

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 23, 2009

BUT it definitely does NOT have the super-duper-hyper-ultra-cool Web 2.0 It definitely explores ethical boundaries. BUT it definitely does NOT have the super-duper-hyper-ultra-cool Web 2.0 It definitely explores ethical boundaries. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. spit and polish about it.

San Francisco 144

San Francisco Customer Wiki Lean 144

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 31, 2009

I'll definitely try this out. Kent Beck keynote, "To Agility, and Beyond" Six streaming locations Interviews ► March (7) New conference website, speakers, agenda Two new scholarship programs for lean startups Speed up or slow down? Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Startup Continuous Deployment 68

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2009

And speaking of Facebook, I definitely didnt think it was a good idea when I first heard about it. Definitely one of the best posts from you. Startup Visa update ► February (5) Kiwi lean startup + Australia next Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Rev. And Google?

San Francisco 94

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 94