Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2008

Every startup has a chance to change the world, by bringing not just a new product, but an entirely new institution into existence. Your blogs are full of rational thoughts and has nuggets of information. It is encouraging to know someone with your reputation and connections is evangelizing truly valuable information for start-ups.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 8, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, June 8, 2009 Datablindness Most of us are swimming in a sea of data about our products, companies, and teams. I had it all set up to a jury-rigged SurveyMonkey - PayPal minimum viable product. So the product development team was busy creating lots of split-tests for lots of hypotheses.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 16, 2009

In most agile development systems, there is a notion of the "product backlog" a prioritized list of what software is most valuable to be developed next. But, over the years I’ve realized that the toughest problem - the one that matters most and was consistently the most challenging - was figuring out what the product backlog should be.

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Agile Customer Development Developer San Francisco 111

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 17, 2010

The team hired only the best and the brightest. The art team would often be involved in the specification phase of a new feature, since they were responsible for the look-and-feel of the product. Meanwhile the drawbacks of functional departments can cause real and lasting harm. Here’s why.

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Technical Review San Francisco Lean Software Review 164

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 5, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Friday, June 5, 2009 It’s a startup, not a spreadsheet Some people, when they start to realize the power of using data to inform their decisions, become obsessed with optimization. Sometimes an early negative result from an experiment is a harbinger of doom for that product, and means it should be abandoned.

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 28, 2008

Its different from selling a product, because it is not part of our regular business practice, is not something that relates to our core competence, and tends not to happen in a repeatable and scalable way. Most important slide: lessons learned Working product Key questions: what does the product do? whats the launch plan?

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 128

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 6, 2009

Before I close, let me quote just one additional bit of twitter feedback from one of the video beta-testers: bmeschke : @ ericries This is such GREAT information. Say you're not creating a product but doing a service? Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Take a look and let me know what you think.

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Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 8, 2009

One of the topics that raised heated debate was whether I had conflated technical design with product design , because I made the admittedly counter-intuitive claim that sometimes good technical design actually leads to increased technical debt. The argument itself got me thinking a lot about design and its role in building products.

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Software Review Design Software San Francisco 87

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

If the CEO wants to completely change the product in order to serve a new customer segment, you need someone in the room who can digest the needs of the new (proposed) business, and lay out the costs of each possible approach. Labels: product development 15comments: mukund said. Very good and informative.

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CTO Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review 168

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 17, 2009

It wont even get passed the registrant information screen to even get to selecting what you want to register for. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Towards a new entrepreneurship ▼ 2009 (88) ► December (4) Continuous deployment for mission-critical applica. Ill be there! Nope, no love.

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Lean San Francisco Web Continuous Deployment 76

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

Because of the incredible array of information available, we have a desperate need for filtering mechanisms. Mass blasts of information are ineffective, because the broadcast channels are suffering from information overload (even in social media). There are too many products clamoring for attention. No longer.

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San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

This may sound crazy, coming as it does from an advocate of c harging customers for your product from day one. 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. What’s going on?

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Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 29, 2009

Startups especially can benefit by using technical debt to experiment, invest in process, and increase their product development leverage. The biggest source of waste in new product development is building something that nobody wants. Unfortunately, customers hated that initial product.

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Technical Review Software Review San Francisco Lean 168

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 27, 2009

Sorry about this being out of context but I wonder if youve read "What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services". The presentation was informative, insightful, and humorous - as you pointed out the many ridiculous assumptions we make as entrepreneurs! Thanks for an enjoyable evening.

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 20, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 20, 2008 The engineering managers lament I was inspired to write The product managers lament while meeting with a startup struggling to figure out what had gone wrong with their product development process. He has a good team, and theyve shipped a working product to many customers.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 18, 2008

You can find out what it would take for them to adopt your product, and then follow up a week later and see if they did. Same with finding out what it would take to get them to recommend your product to a friend. I agree with the other comments, more information on yourself and what topics youll focus on would be helpful.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 133

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 13, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, July 13, 2009 The Principles of Product Development Flow If youve ever wondered why agile or lean development techniques work, The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development by Donald G. Reinertsen is the book for you.

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Product Development Developer San Francisco Product 153

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 19, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 19, 2009 Inc Magazine on Minimum Viable Product (and a response) Inc Magazine has a great new piece up about the increasing use of the Minimum Viable Product by businesses (and not just startups). Like many companies, TPGTEX rolls out new products several times a year.

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San Francisco Product Lean Continuous Deployment 137

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 4, 2009

Today, Id like to spend some time on two techniques: the problem presentation and learning what channels of information reach customers. If this was a startup, Id be asking it of a sample of customers even more often, because getting a regular tracking result is helpful for informing your decision loop. Thats an early adopter.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 23, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, March 23, 2009 Venture Hacks interview: "What is the minimum viable product?" So, the minimum viable product is that product which has just those features (and no more) that allows you to ship a product that resonates with early adopters; some of whom will pay you money or give you feedback.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Audio 167

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 24, 2010

And, in the survey that was attached, I learned a lot of useful information about how to make this blog better. I sometimes use these surveys to test new product ideas and even to engage in some customer validation. And, in the survey that was attached, I learned a lot of useful information about how to make this blog better.

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San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 104

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

Establish baseline metrics by building the minimum viable product — the minimum required to measure the response of early adopters. Consider a scenario where a team makes a product change, and the very next month page views go up. Consider a scenario where a team makes a product change, and the very next month page views go up.

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Metrics San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 121

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 4, 2010 Stop lying on stage Entrepreneurs crave information about successful startups, and they should. This is the same issue we see with vanity metrics : companies are giving the appearance of sharing information while actually engaging in spin or outright deception.

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San Francisco Lean PR Metrics 167

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 16, 2010

First, SlideShare is a fantastic product (that I use on a regular basis) and an impressive company example of Lean Startup practices in action. If your company is using minimum viable product , you’ve probably said the same thing yourself. But I have decided to make an exception today, for two reasons.

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San Francisco Lean Analytics Continuous Deployment 167

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 26, 2010

Lean mindsets and methods for innovation in any company a free webinar featuring: Eric Ries April 28, 2010 at 2:00 PM EDT The "Lean Startup" is the application of lean thinking to the process of innovation in startup companies — defined as a type of business where both the problem (customer need) and the solution (product) are unknown.

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Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 113

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 27, 2009

These are companies that generate revenue by offering a free product with an upsell or premium version. Use that data to make an informed choice about whether you want to change strategies. Is it that they act as free advertising for our premium product? Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 148

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 15, 2010

My belief is that the root cause of the IPO shortage is that successful startup companies cannot find productive ways to invest large amounts of money to scale anymore. New products become commoditized too fast. We can’t even rely on a suite of line-extension products. New products become commoditized too fast.

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IPO San Francisco Lean Silicon Valley 166

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 11, 2009

The same is true of brand-name products in almost every category (and it can be measured ). Beyond their brand, I want to argue that every product contains both tangible and intangible sources of value, and that everything you buy has at least some "virtual goods" component.

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San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 102

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 1, 2009

My challenge for the new year is getting the word out about our product (AwayFind), while of course improving on conversions, etc. I see that as a great way for my product to grow, but while Ive partnered with companies in my consulting business, its not something Im as familiar with now that Im on the product side.

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San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 60

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 31, 2009

A common question I get asked is "do you know someone amazing that we can hire?" I do my best to play matchmaker, but as those of you who have ever tried to fill a job in a startup know, the most important and elusive quality for a startup hire is fit. Great startups are always hiring, if the fit is right.

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Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 5, 2008

Youd better be able to speak their language and translate what your product does into benefits that they understand. This blog is very informative for me. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. And once you understand who to talk to, youll also need to know how to convince them to do what you want.

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Advertising San Francisco Media Continuous Deployment 60

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 20, 2009

Specially because of Twitter and this information overload, I think many people have been struggling to reduce the number of RSS feeds they actually follow (it is my case), so it´ll become easier for us to keep track of your writing even if we´re not reading those blogs that often. Eric, I do think you should cross-post them here.

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Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 68

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

After all, if you already have an all-male startup, you’re already at a disadvantage when it comes to hiring the very women that could fix that imbalance. 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.

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San Francisco Lean Sweden Continuous Deployment 167

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, November 13, 2008 Five Whys Taiichi Ohno was one of the inventors of the Toyota Production System. His book Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production is a fascinating read, even though its decidedly non-practical. This last step is difficult, but I think its very helpful.

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Software Review Technical Review San Francisco Continuous Deployment 167

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 9, 2009

But that team may also include product marketers or other in-house customers who can give insight into the impact that solution trade-offs might have on customers. Its not good enough to hit product milestones and conduct usability tests. Heres the promo; more information is available on their site. Register here.

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San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean Agile 132

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. Need some isight into this if you have any information.

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San Francisco Lean Retention SEM 68

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 1, 2009

He doesnt put out crappy, buggy products and then ask for feedback. My normal answer is that I dont really think thats how Apple products are built. Thats what so many techniques that I advocate are all about: customer validation , minimum viable product , vision pivots , and even throwing away working code.

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