Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2008

Maybe youd like to start with The lean startup , How to listen to customers , or What does a startup CTO actually do? ) That institution will touch many people in its life: customers, investors, employees, and everyone they touch as well. Eventually, I came to summarize these themes with the phrase " the lean startup."

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

When Ive asked mentors of mine who have worked in big companies about the role of the CTO, they usually talk about the importance of being the external face of the companys technology platform; an evangelist to developers, customers, and employees. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0. I dont think so.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

Plus, as product development teams in lean startups become adept at learning-and-discovery (as opposed to just executing to spec), its clear that some bugs shouldnt be fixed. We always have to avoid that dysfunction - even the lean manufacturing greats realized that they couldnt afford to see their manual-labor workforce that way.

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 26, 2009

Every two months, the company would have a big end-of-milestone meeting, with our Board of Directors, Business Advisory Board, and all employees present. And at each meeting, we’d also include an unedited, uncensored report direct from the Customer Advisory Board. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 17, 2010

Not to be outdone, the technologists on the team had also brought their big guns, and the meeting was packed with employees of every level – from VP’s all the way down to me. Lets start holding people accountable solely for their contribution to the only thing that matters: validated learning about customers. Expo SF (May.

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Technical Review San Francisco Lean Software Review 164

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

This is why companies often get out-competed by former employees (Palm vs Handspring to name just one), even though the upstart lacks all of the familiar resources, tools, processes, and support they used to have. For more on how this plays into the process of scaling up, see the Customer Creation stage of the customer development model.)

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 28, 2008

We pitch to potential partners, vendors, publishers, conferences, employees, and even lawyers. Ill exclude those non- lean startups who basically exist for the purpose of raising bigger and bigger sums of money. How does a lean start-up find the all-star team worthy of pitching? 2comments: King of the Herd said. Expo SF (May.

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 20, 2008

I now believe that the "pick two" concept is fundamentally flawed, and that lean startups can achieve all three simultaneously: quickly bring high-quality software to market at low cost. A new employee is more likely to make a mistake than an experienced one, but everyone makes mistakes. August 29, 2009 1:24 PM The Caretaker said.

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 30, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, October 30, 2008 John Doerrs 10 lean startup tips I just saw video of John Doerrs talk yesterday at VentureBeat’s “How to manage your start-up in the downturn&# roundtable event. Over-communicate with employees, investors, customers. All cash in most secure possible instruments.

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Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 26, 2009

But I want to talk about a different kind of leverage, the kind that you can get in product development. Its a key lean startup concept. Its an amazing thing when you can hire an employee who knows more about your code base than you do, and this turned out to be a big source of advantage. Expo SF (May. . Expo SF (May.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 1, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Friday, May 1, 2009 Lean Startup webcast post-game Wow, what an incredible turnout for webcast this morning, right on the heels of a phenomenal crowd at startup2startup last night. Its been a great twelve hours for the lean startup! wogsland : Still not understanding the "lean" aspect. What a thrill.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 23, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, June 23, 2009 Join the lean startup discussion at Facebook on Thursday I recently agreed to join Facebook s fbFund incubator as a mentor. Part of that includes giving a presentation for the fbFund companies on the lean startup methodology. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0.

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Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 20, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, August 20, 2009 The Promise of the Lean Startup Im honored to have a guest post on GigaOm to introduce the concept of the lean startup to their audience. The ultimate goal of a lean startup is to identify where its vision intersects with what reality can accommodate.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 4, 2009

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0. 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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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 31, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, March 31, 2009 The Lean Startup workshop coming soon I am currently gearing up for my talk tomorrow at the Web 2.0 And today I am excited to announce a new experiment: the Lean Startup workshop. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 23, 2009

Part one is up on their site today , in text, audio and slide format. To hear full audio and a complete transcript, click through to Venture Hacks. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0. Expo SF (May. .

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 19, 2009

It isnt until a customer actually clicks or calls to place an order that TPGTEXs developers will build the software. "We We do not develop a product until we get a paying customer," says Orit Pennington , who co-founded the six-employee company with her husband in 2002. Read the rest.

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Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

Whether youre a US citizen or an immigrant, entrepreneur or investor, founder or employee, theres something you can do. Whether youre a US citizen or an immigrant, entrepreneur or investor, founder or employee, theres something you can do. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 19, 2009

In fact theyd cause there to be more jobs for Americans, because the companies they started would hire more employees as they grew. Its actually part of a lean startup story. Recently, hes been engaged in a customer validation exercise around a new concept for a political action-oriented social network.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 21, 2010

Yet, the real stories of successful startups are full of activities that can rightly be called institution-building: hiring creative employees, coordinating their activities, and creating a company culture that delivers results. I emphasize this point because it is necessary to motivate large amounts of the theory of the lean startup.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 3, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, March 3, 2009 Employees should be masters of their own time Every startup should have a culture of learning. The rule is simple: every employee is 100% responsible for how they spend their time. The suggestion is that you implement one single company-wide rule. I asked why.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 2, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, July 2, 2009 How to conduct a Five Whys root cause analysis In the lean startup workshops , we’ve spent a lot of time discussing the technique of Five Whys. My intention is to describe a full working process, similar to what I’ve seen at IMVU and other lean startups.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 7, 2009

We eventually discovered (via five whys ) that we also had to get each new employee acculturated to a fearless way of thinking. Because this was such a big cultural change for most new employees, we didnt leave them to sink or swim on their own. For one, it required us to keep our developer sandbox setup procedure simple and automated.

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San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review Lean 131

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

He was a life-long entrepreneur and the first business he created out of college (actually, he founded it while he was at Caltech) was a company that manufactured high quality audio speakers. He wanted to build direct customer relationships to get product feedback but only 2% of customers would ever return their registration cards.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Do some Customer Development instead. I wont recount what happened next (although your can hear us recount it in audio ). For example, if your employees are feeling frustrated that they dont get much third-party validation for their work, use a board of advisers to fill that role. Help you raise money. Expo SF (May.

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Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 29, 2008

On the one hand, it gives you insight into what kind of employee the candidate might be. It amused me because I knew that these things rarely matter and my answer conveyed very little of my value as an employee, but it frustrated my interviewer. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 6, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 6, 2008 When NOT to listen to your users; when NOT to rely on split-tests There are three legs to the lean startup concept: agile product development , low-cost (fast to market) platforms , and rapid-iteration customer development. I think Drucker said it best. Expo SF (May.

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Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 1, 2009

One of the most common questions I get about the lean startup methodology is, "but what about Steve Jobs ?" When I try to unpack what people mean by the question, heres my best take on what they are asking: "Look, Steve Jobs doesnt go out and ask customers what they want. He tells customers what they want, and he gets it right.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

Lean manufacturing , agile software development , and Theory of Constraints are all examples of this idea in action. Its easier to believe in a glorious future when you have only zeroes, for everyone: founders, investors, and employees. I won’t apologize for this aspect of the Lean Startup methodology.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2009

Then I wouldnt have the chance to work with the incredible employees and mentors from whom I learned so much. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0. And yet, missing out on these trends wasnt the end of the world.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 27, 2009

In lean times, it’s most important to focus on cutting costs in ways that speed you up, not slow you down. In fact, every single lean transformation documented in books like Lean Thinking took place in the midst of serious external threats. And, of course, theres the Lean Startup session at the upcoming Web 2.0

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Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

Hes a new employee, and he was not properly trained in TDD So far, this isnt much different from the kind of analysis any competent operations team would conduct for a site outage. Instead, five whys kept leading to problems caused by an improperly trained new employee, and wed make a small adjustment. why did that code get written?

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Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 11, 2009

Thats all helpful for recruiting, retaining, and ramping-up a new employee. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0. Amazing lean startup resources Is Entrepreneurship a Management Science? Expo SF (May. .

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Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

It has to balance competing goals of establishing clear ownership, while avoiding talented employees getting stuck. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0. Expo SF (May. . Expo SF (May. for Harvard Business Revie.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 24, 2009

March 26, 2009 12:18 AM Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) Subscribe via email Blog Archive ► 2010 (48) ► October (3) Case Study: Rapid iteration with hardware The Lean Startup Bundle Stop lying on stage ► September (4) Good enough never is (or is it?) Expo SF (May. . Expo SF (May.

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Metrics San Francisco Lean Viral 88

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 7, 2008

This is one of the bedrock practices of any lean startup , and so its a common piece of advice I give out. Our online media company is small, we have 6 employees, great proven leaders, great talent, great cashflow. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Expo SF (May. .

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Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 6, 2008

Thats OK; like all lean transformations , you need to undertake this one in small steps. These are facets that are conspicuously missing from the lives of employees in most organizations I would speculate but with this agile/scrum type methodology these can be the "juice" that keeps the team engaged and productive. Expo SF (May. .

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