Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 2, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Saturday, August 2, 2008 Paul Graham on fundraising I have found no better primer on the current realities of starting a new technology company in a startup hub like Silicon Valley than Paul Grahams essays. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. but rest assured they would be.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

What does your Chief Technology Officer do all day? 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. Just what is the CTO supposed to do?

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Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

But too often when its time to think about customers, marketing, positioning, or PR, we delegate it to "marketroids" or "suits." Many of us are not accustomed to thinking about markets or customers in a disciplined way. a roadmap for how to get to Product/Market Fit." Very few startups fail for lack of technology.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 7, 2010

So you can imagine how I expected some skepticism when pitching ideas about technology innovation to, say, the U.S. So you can imagine how I expected some skepticism when pitching ideas about technology innovation to, say, the U.S. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

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Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 9, 2009

and lean manufacturing to guide the creation of technology businesses that create disruptive innovation. Startup Visa update ► February (5) Kiwi lean startup + Australia next Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Rev. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

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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. Turns out, they were incredibly well-credentialed graduate students who had, in fact, developed some interesting new robotics technology. how big is the market?

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Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 30, 2009

I thought Id share a little bit of that, too: I’ve been interested in different approaches to software development going back to 1987 when – in my first company Feld Technologies – my partner Dave Jilk and I started talking about “semi-custom software development&# (way ahead of its time). Read the rest.

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Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

The other revels in the world as we all know it will be someday: limitless distribution enabled by new technologies, the importance of collaborative filters, and on-demand availability of all content for end-users. Now, helping potential customers discover new things they might like is the job of the discipline of marketing.

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Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 4, 2008

As Ive written previously , lean startups are built upon three main trends: Technology commoditization. It is becoming easier and cheaper for companies to bring products to market, leveraging free and open source software , cloud computing, open social data (Facebook, OpenSocial ), and open distribution (AdWords, SEO).

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Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 12, 2010

I continue to believe that the explosion of interest in the lean startup has very little to do with me. Recent economic events, technological change, and the rapid diffusion of information about the old models have combined to help us all realize just how important entrepreneurship is - and just how little we really know about it.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 12, 2008

vs. sustainable: Compare this to the renewable strategies, like viral marketing, SEO, widgets, and ads, which can scale into 10s of millions of users but are primarily centered around tough, non-user centric work. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Problem is, you inevitably become yesterday’s old news.

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Audience San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean 119

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

Focus on the output metrics of that part of the product, and you make the problem a lot more clear. To promote this metrics discipline, we would present the full funnel to our board (and advisers) at the end of every development cycle. Max Levchin of Slide and Paypal has noted that 10% of Slides headcount is devoted to metrics only.

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2008

He previously co-founded and served as Chief Technology Officer of IMVU. He serves on the advisory board of a number of technology startups, and has worked as a consultant to a number of startups, companies, and venture capital firms. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

Startup Visa update ► February (5) Kiwi lean startup + Australia next Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Rev. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Tell your Startup Visa story Speaking 2010: Webstock, GDC, Web 2.0,

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

Startup Visa update ► February (5) Kiwi lean startup + Australia next Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Rev. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Tell your Startup Visa story Speaking 2010: Webstock, GDC, Web 2.0,

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Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

Playing with new technologies. Strategy - startups first encounter this when they have the beginnings of a product, and theyve achieved some amount of product/market fit. Growth - when you have existing customers, the pressure is on to grow your key metrics day-in day-out. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

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Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2009

That data is completely consonant with the people I know who are successful technologists today, and similar patterns are documented in each recent wave of technology innovation. Third, you market it far and wide. And as for marketing it, this post is already on the first page of Hacker News. Its a good idea. Hint, hint.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

But if you want to practice rapid deployment, you need to be able to deploy that build in one step as well. If you want to do continuous deployment, youd better be able to certify that build too, which brings us to. For more on continuous deployment, see Just-in-time Scalability. Can you make a build in one step?

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

After an hour with a team talking dirty about deployment, youll know. Startup Visa update ► February (5) Kiwi lean startup + Australia next Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Rev. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 2, 2009

The core of the article is my first attempt to articulate the key metrics (in graph form) that I believe demonstrate customer value. My son is planning a software product that will take the mystery out of wikis and make the technology easier for consumers to use. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2010

Typical explanations tend to focus on the well-known anecdotes and larger than life archetypes we have in mind: the twenty-something college dropouts (men, of course) from Stanford inventing some radical new technology. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. The academic research tells a very different story.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 27, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, May 27, 2009 Austin: the Lean Startup tour continues Next week I head to Austin, TX for my first visit ever. and lean manufacturing to guide the creation of technology businesses that create disruptive innovation. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Learn more here.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 14, 2008

Startup Visa update ► February (5) Kiwi lean startup + Australia next Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Rev. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Tell your Startup Visa story Speaking 2010: Webstock, GDC, Web 2.0,

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Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 19, 2009

I want to talk specifics, and when you come right down to it, most technology startups dont have a very interesting cost structure. This is another sub-optimization caused by incentivizing the wrong metric. Particularly the Continuous Deployment and Split testing posts. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 18, 2008

As a shoestring entrepreneur with a SaaS (well, not really, but sort of) offering that we present to very large companies (think 10K+), I love your common sense suggestions about metrics and testing. My background isnt metrics, but we came to it as a matter of practicality. 4) More posts about metrics, scaling, and online games.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

Among his ideas are that todays kids should be taught in class in a way that is relevant to their actual lives, which necessarily means allowing them to use technology. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Why ban cell phones when we can take advantage of the fact that, in most classes, they are pervasive.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 1, 2008

Startup Visa update ► February (5) Kiwi lean startup + Australia next Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Rev. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Tell your Startup Visa story Speaking 2010: Webstock, GDC, Web 2.0,

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

The opportunity isnt to give into temptation and figure out how to recklessly and expensively market the frontlist. It is to adopt a long and slow and ultimately profitable strategy of marketing your ever-growing backlist. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. I see startups struggle with this all the time.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

We talk a good game about technology adoption curves and crossing the chasm, but most of us dont seem to recognize when its happening. For readers concerned about the chasm, I recommend reading Seth Godin's thoughts on "Being remarkable" and finding a unique edge/twist for your products and marketing (edgecraft).

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 16, 2008

Startup Visa update ► February (5) Kiwi lean startup + Australia next Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Rev. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Tell your Startup Visa story Speaking 2010: Webstock, GDC, Web 2.0,

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San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 60

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 6, 2008

Startup Visa update ► February (5) Kiwi lean startup + Australia next Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Rev. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Tell your Startup Visa story Speaking 2010: Webstock, GDC, Web 2.0,

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Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 17, 2010

The engineering team feels burned too, and feels that they were blamed for deficiencies in the spec as if it was their fault that the technology doesn’t really support what the artists want to do. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. So they react in two ways. So they react in two ways.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 29, 2009

Just as a business incurs some debt to take advantage of a market opportunity developers may incur technical debt to hit an important deadline. This was a huge win (and we were delighted to give credit where it was due), because it allowed our initial products to get to market much faster. One last thought. He’s right.

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 20, 2008

We were using it to get features to market faster, and that was working well. 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. Even worse, agile wasnt really helping me ship higher quality software.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

After some general lessons, he then proposes his first product idea, complete with flip charts, business plan, and marketing plan. If you look at the typical startup, you will see the vast majority of their energy and time invested in building new technology. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 21, 2010

And yet, we so often loose sight of the fact that startups are not their products, their technological breakthroughs, or even their data. Even the most radical new inventions always build upon previous technology. But most often, the entrant of a startup into a previously calm market precipitates this kind of crisis.

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Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 8, 2009

Each company would enroll two leaders in the series, one on the technology side, one on the business side. In particular, we would cover customer development, continuous deployment, minimum viable product, and actionable metrics. Tough to justify (but certainly cheaper than some of our previous marketing experiments!).

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