The Lean Start-Up and MVP
Launching a new enterprise — whether it’s a tech start-up, a small business, or an initiative within a large corporation — has always been a hit-or-miss proposition. According to the decades-old formula, you write a business plan, pitch it to investors, assemble a team, introduce a product, and start selling as hard as you can. And somewhere in this […] -Steve Blank
Whether it’s a tech start-up, a small business, or an initiative within a large corporation, launching a new enterprise has always been a hit-or-miss proposition. You write a business plan, pitch it to investors, assemble a team, introduce a product, and start selling as hard as you can, according to the decades-old formula. And somewhere along the way, you’ll almost certainly suffer a fatal setback. The odds are stacked against you: According to new research by Harvard Business School’s Shikhar Ghosh, 75% of all start-ups fail.
However, a significant countervailing force has recently emerged, one that can make the process of starting a business less risky. The “lean start-up” methodology favours experimentation over elaborate planning, customer feedback over intuition, and iterative design over traditional “big design up front” development. Although the methodology is only a few years old, its concepts, such as “minimum viable product” and “pivoting,” have quickly taken root in the startup world, and business schools are already adapting their curricula to teach them.
However, the lean start-up movement has not yet gone mainstream, and its full impact has yet to be felt. In many ways, it is similar to where the big data movement was five years ago, consisting primarily of a buzzword that is still not widely understood and whose implications businesses are only now beginning to grasp. However, as its practices spread, they are upending conventional wisdom about entrepreneurship. New ventures of all kinds are attempting to improve their chances of success by adhering to its principles of failing quickly and learning constantly. Moreover, despite the methodology’s name, large corporations that adopt it may reap some of its most significant benefits in the long run.
What Is the Lean Startup Methodology?
The lean startup methodology is used to rapidly develop products and businesses, allowing the creator of the product or business to quickly determine if their business model is viable. When using the lean startup methodology, a company will focus on developing a product while also gathering customer feedback, which usually entails releasing a minimum viable product to the market or a small subset of your customers.
The Objective
The goal of using this methodology is to eliminate wasteful practices during the early stages of a company, giving the company a better chance of long-term success. Early-stage startups can achieve success by utilizing the lean startup methodology, which does not necessitate large amounts of funding, comprehensive business plans, or a flawless product.
To be successful with the lean startup process, the startup must focus on obtaining customer feedback on the initial product. This feedback will assist you in making changes and iterations to the product, allowing it to be improved over time in accordance with customer preferences. Customer feedback should also prevent you from wasting resources on services and features that your customers do not want. The lean startup methodology aims to use as few resources as possible.
References
Blank, S. (2018, February 9). Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2013/05/why-the-lean-start-up-changes-everything
What Is the Lean Startup Methodology? (n.d.). University Lab Partners. Retrieved May 5, 2021, from https://www.universitylabpartners.org/blog/what-is-lean-startup-methodology
