Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

Accept that many successful companies are going to want to be backed by big-name firms in other cities. Inspiring ideas: real-time biz metrics; safe continuous deployment; A/B split testing. More recently it's skewed to software & web. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Lean 113

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

For software, we have many - you can enjoy a nice long list on Wikipedia. Instead, we do everything possible to validate the founders belief. The book takes its name from Steves theory of the four stages of growth any startup goes through. Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Saturday, November 8, 2008 What is customer development?

Customer Development 168

Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 168

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. Now, in some situations, this over-selling would lead to a secondary problem, namely, that customers would realize they had been duped and refuse to re-subscribe. More on that in a moment.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 20, 2008

They just assumed it was the way software companies worked. Unfortunately, threats work a lot better at incentivizing people to CYA than getting them to write quality software. When I first encountered agile software techniques, in the form of extreme programming , I thought I had found the answer. Sound good? It didnt work.

Software Review 164

Software Review Engineer Management Technical Review 164

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 29, 2009

To do that, we add specific speed regulators, like integrating source control with our continuous integration server or the more elaborate dance required for continuous deployment. Let's consider cases: Can you have a piece of software with good product design and bad technical design? One last thought.

Technical Review 168

Technical Review Software Review San Francisco Lean 168

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 3, 2009

MVP, despite the name, is not about creating minimal products. Alan mentions above what I believe is the critical learning element your team needs to gain insight into via the Minimum Viable Product, Compelling Product Offering or other named approach. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco Product Lean Continuous Deployment 168

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 11, 2009

The same is true of brand-name products in almost every category (and it can be measured ). Brands are so pervasive that even those people who want to make a statement against it (do you build all your own software from source?) Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Expo (and a call for he.

San Francisco 102

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 102

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 16, 2009

For those whove heard it, it contains a length discourse on the subject of agile software development and extreme programming, including its weaknesses when applied to startups. As Im pontificating about agile, I see the name Kent Beck in my peripheral vision. Eric Names matter. There is a dark side to naming.

Lean 140

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Startup 140

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 11, 2010

(I am often asked to explain how to apply Lean Startup approaches to domains beyond software. On the extreme opposite end are rapid iteration businesses like software or fashion. Thus, more and more industries are starting to look like the software business. My co-founders decided startup life wasn't for them.

Continuous Deployment 164

Continuous Deployment Technical Cofounder Cofounder San Francisco 164

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

I believe this is one reason why the myth of the dictatorial startup founder has such enduring appeal. Lean manufacturing , agile software development , and Theory of Constraints are all examples of this idea in action. 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

OCTOBER 7, 2008

Take a look at The App Store after the gold rush - FierceDeveloper : According to a recent BusinessWeek feature , the flood of new games, productivity tools and related iPhone software is making it difficult for the vast majority of apps to crack the consumer consciousness. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Retention SEM 68

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

In some businesses, especially in certain industries like traditional enterprise software, you simply cannot bring a new product to market on your own. Founders push for it. Who doesnt want to see their name in print? In some ways, founders are even worse. Establish credibility with potential partners. Great article.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 2, 2009

Pay attention to whether people are comfortable “naming names&# in the meeting. Furthermore, I think most of what you are suggesting is applicable in companies/ industries that are not software development. It's so old and so buggy that it's a real pain to ship 3D software on it.

San Francisco 164

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Software Review 164

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.) The first gen iPod was created using OS and GUI software from Pixo, which was a little start-up (I know because I was an investor and on the board of Pixo). The Mac came after Lisa, which was a flop.

San Francisco 166

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 166

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Even if men have an innate advantage at software development, the gap would have to be massive in order to explain why startup after startup has an all-male team. Now, whenever I screen resumes, I ask the recruiter to black out any demographic information from the resume itself: name, age, gender, country of origin.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Sweden Continuous Deployment 167

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

My favorite instance of this is scheduling software. Accurate - if youve ever been managed by task-tracking software, youll relate to the feeling that you either have to spend ludicrous amounts of time posting updates or the information goes stale. Simply put, we upload all the tasks and assign a name to each task.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco SCRUM Lean Continuous Deployment 68

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 4, 2009

Imagine you want to store data about customers, each of whom has "last name" field in your database. The problem should be familiar to anyone who plays Scrabble: not all letter are equally likely to be used as the first letter of someones name. Incremental and proportional software complexity. Give each entity a name.

San Francisco 151

San Francisco Architecture Startup Database 151

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 23, 2009

In the process, they learned a lot by asking initial prospects to sign a non-binding letter of intent to buy the software. – Eric Ries In April of 2009 my partner and I had an idea for a web app, a B2C platform that we are selling as SaaS [software-as-a-service].

San Francisco 144

San Francisco Customer Wiki Lean 144

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 12, 2009

Having worked with dozens of founders over the past few months, I think I can safely say, without naming any names, that most of us are not too clear on what were talking about when it comes to markets. Founders are constantly being barraged by incoherent and contradictory advice. Is a market a set of paying customers?

San Francisco 89

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Ruby Lean 89

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 12, 2009

Since then, PHP (as part of the LAMP stack ) has really been the dominant development platform, at least in the free software and startup worlds. Some of them are probably still cursing my name, because - lets face it - PHP can be pretty painful. Its one of the most effective paradigms for software devlopment in history.

PHP 166

PHP Software Review Ruby San Francisco 166

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

As a founder of a company, there is nothing more painful than to see your most loyal and devoted customers suffering. No, I am the troll who who stood proudly on the APC until a man who was nothing more than an egotistical and maniacal bully named Clifford Hicks proved once and for all that IMVU only cared about IMVU - and not its community.

Community 158

Community Management Lean Software Review 158