Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

The application of agile development methodologies which dramatically reduce waste and unlock creativity in product development. See Customer Development Engineering for my first stab at articulating the theory involved) Ferocious customer-centric rapid iteration, as exemplified by the Customer Development process.

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Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 168

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 25, 2010

This is the first post that moves into making specific process recommendations for product development. Labels: product development Speed up or slow down? This is the first post that moves into making specific process recommendations for product development. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0.

Software Review 141

Software Review San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 141

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 28, 2010

Up next is an extremely brief stop in Australia. Most of the events I did here were private, so there arent as many videos and slides available. Hopefully, video of that talk will be available soon. Up next is an extremely brief stop in Australia. Hopefully, video of that talk will be available soon.

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Australia Lean New Zealand San Francisco 111

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 3, 2009

Note: there is video from this event, but its not online yet. I had a flip cam with me, and the organizers captured their own video with a tripod and everything. Ive been there: is it me or my cofounder thats crazy? Use some customer development to find out. Without further ado. Iterating at whiteboard !=

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Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 2, 2008

Its to everyones advantage to let the world think the founders thought of everything. I say this as a founder: the contribution of founders is always overestimated. The danger here is that new founders, looking at existing founders, will think that theyre supermen that one couldnt possibly equal oneself.

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San Francisco Software Review Technical Review Continuous Deployment 125

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 2, 2010

And yet the key to startup speed is to maintain a disciplined approach to testing and evaluating new products, features, and ideas. As start-ups scale, this agility will be lost unless the founders maintain a consistent investment in that discipline. Techniques from lean manufacturing can be part of a startups innovation culture.

Technical Review 132

Technical Review San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 132

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 7, 2008

In a startup, both the problem and solution are unknown, and the key to success is building an integrated team that includes product development in the feedback loop with customers. 2008 09 06 Eric Ries Haas Columbia Customer Development Engineering View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. Sure, Id be delighted to.

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Customer Development Engineer San Francisco Developer 131

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

VentureHacks did a great summary , which includes slides and video. a roadmap for how to get to Product/Market Fit." The theory of Product/Market Fit is one key component of customer development, and I highly recommend Marcs essay on that topic. Instead, we do everything possible to validate the founders belief.

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Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 168

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Expo SF (May. Want to learn more about me?

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San Francisco Continuous Deployment Agile Lean 94

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Sometimes we have the attitude that the Product Development team is the one responsible for Activation and Retention (hey, a great product would do that naturally) or that the Marketing team is responsible for Revenue and Referral (hey, go get me some money or free customers already). Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2010

Sean Murphy has an excellent and comprehensive roundup of resources about the conference: all of the slides, videos, summaries, notes and write-ups are listed on his blog here. All video from the conference is available for free at Justin.tv If not, youd better watch video of his talk ASAP. And then you can buy a t-shirt.

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Software Review 133

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 28, 2009

None of it would have happened if we had plenty of cash, or were content to count our progress by traffic or product development milestones. Luckily for me, my co-founders eventually prevailed and we went on to build a product that customers actually wanted. Labels: product development 4comments: Doug said.

San Francisco 98

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 98

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

Its inspired by the classic OODA Loop and is really just a simplified version of that concept, applied specifically to creating a software product development team. There are three stages: We start with ideas about what our product could be. Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you?

San Francisco 142

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 142

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Expo SF (May. Want to learn more about me?

Software Review 68

Software Review San Francisco Technical Review Continuous Deployment 68

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 30, 2009

Without conscious process design, product development teams turn lines of code written into momentum in a certain direction. This is why agility is such a prized quality in product development. As far as I know, there are no products that are immune from the technology life cycle adoption curve. Expo SF (May.

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San Francisco Lean Agile Continuous Deployment 150

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 30, 2009

Weve got slides , video , audio and twitter commentary. ► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. Read the rest. That way, you can know what youre in for in advance. Expo SF (May.

Lean 68

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 12, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Expo SF (May. Want to learn more about me?

Audience 119

Audience San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean 119

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 16, 2009

Ever since that time, I have struggled to explain how the feedback loop in customer development should interface with the feedback loop in product development. Eric Ries Lean Startup Schematic View Of Agile Development And Customer Development View more presentations from Eric Ries. Expo SF (May.

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Agile Customer Development Developer San Francisco 111

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 30, 2008

This basic pattern is useful in all aspects of product development. ► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0. Expo SF (May.

Software Review 74

Software Review San Francisco Design Continuous Deployment 74

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 3, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, May 3, 2009 Videos galore Two new videos are online from recent speeches. The first is my talk on engagement loops and the levers of engagement from the Kontagent/Facebook Developer Garage. Ive embedded the slides below the video feed. Slides from this talk are available here.

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Video San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 104

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 22, 2010

For example, over 25% of the technology companies founded between 1995-2005 had a key immigrant founder. Similarly, 24% of all the patents filed in the US in 2006 had a foreign resident as inventor or co-inventor. For example, over 25% of the technology companies founded between 1995-2005 had a key immigrant founder.

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San Francisco Indiana Lean Startup 121

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

It should be even more important to the founders themselves, because it demonstrates that their business hypothesis is grounded in reality. Their product definition fluctuates wildly – one month, it’s a dessert topping, the next it’s a floor wax. In fact, this company hasn’t shipped any new products in months.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 29, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, April 29, 2010 Video update on the Startup Visa Act The Startup Visa Act continues to gain momentum on Capitol Hill, thanks to grassroots support of all of you. They feature two of the rock stars of the Startup Visa team, Shervin and Brad, looking like, well, rock stars.

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San Francisco Video DC Continuous Deployment 143

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 5, 2008

But first I think we need to save the product manager from that special form of torture only a waterfall product development team can create. Labels: product development 8comments: Vincent van Wylick said. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

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San Francisco Management Software Review Product 158

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

One of the sayings I hear from talented managers in product development is, “good enough never is.&# And, most importantly, it helps team members develop the courage to stand up for these values in stressful situations. I believe this is one reason why the myth of the dictatorial startup founder has such enduring appeal.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Software Review 167

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 14, 2008

Most of the people building our product werent themselves target customers. So there was simply no substitute for seeing actual customers with the product, live. Today, when I talk to startup founders, the most common answer I get to the question "do you talk to your customers?" The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0.

San Francisco 131

San Francisco Customer Lean Continuous Deployment 131

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 10, 2009

This was an effective approach to discovering a business by using a sequence of product prototypes to get early customer feedback. The first version of the 3D IMVU client took about six months to build, and as the founders iterated towards a compelling user experience, the user base grew monthly thereafter. If it didnt, wed trash it.

Continuous Deployment 123

Continuous Deployment San Francisco Software Review Lean 123

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 5, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Expo SF (May. Want to learn more about me?

Open Source 107

Open Source San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean 107

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

I had the opportunity to pioneer this approach to funnel analysis at IMVU, where it became a core part of our customer development process. To promote this metrics discipline, we would present the full funnel to our board (and advisers) at the end of every development cycle. The Lean Startup Intensive is tomorrow at Web 2.0.

San Francisco 166

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Continuous Deployment 166

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 4, 2008

(tags: lean startup ) Labels: customer development , events , lean startup , slides 8comments: Nivi said. Im working on a post that links to those videos too. Eric, Any thoughts on how forum feedback fits into customer development and agile product development? How dare you! =) November 4, 2008 10:58 PM IMVU said.

Lean 102

Lean San Francisco Agile Continuous Deployment 102

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 12, 2010

Last, Ive tried to keep this blog updated with events , slides , audio , video and books that are helpful as well. Last, Ive tried to keep this blog updated with events , slides , audio , video and books that are helpful as well. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

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Lean San Francisco Wiki Startup 146

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

So what does CTO mean, besides just "technical founder who really cant manage anyone?" Labels: product development 15comments: mukund said. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thats an important job, for sure, and Ive been called upon to do it from time to time.

CTO 168

CTO Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review 168

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 7, 2010

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Expo SF (May. Want to learn more about me?

San Francisco 119

San Francisco Management Continuous Deployment Lean 119

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 9, 2009

sachinrekhi : "Visionary customers are as smart if not smarter then the founders" #leanstartup Theres no skipping the chasm. At IMVU, I remember spending an incredible amount of time iterating on the model that would power our third-party developer economy. No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

San Francisco 132

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean Agile 132

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

If you watch the video/audio below, youll get to see some of the questions I was asked after my presentation. I did my best to capture video and audio; a YouTube playlist and Slideshare slidecast are below: Slides (with audio): 2009 08 19 The Lean Startup TechStars Edition View more presentations from Eric Ries.

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San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Lean 113

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 1, 2009

For startups that are tempted to mimic this behavior, I suggest reading the great account of the early Apple in Founders at Work.) Also SJ's obsession with better taste (positively) contributes to the overall product development process. There are a couple of videos that are relevant to this discussion.

San Francisco 166

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 166

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

Apparently a school in Australia has taken his suggestion, and you can read all about it at Marc Prenskys Weblog: Cell Phones in Class -- A Huge Breakthrough. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you?

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San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC Lean 60