The Lean Startup

About the author

Eric is the author of the popular blog Startup Lessons Learned (startuplessonslearned.com) and the creator of the Lean Startup methodology. He co-founded and served as CTO of IMVU, his third startup, which has today has over 40 million users and 2009 revenue over $22 million. An entrepreneur in residence at Harvard Business School and a frequent speaker at business events, he advises startups on business and product strategy using the Lean Startup approach.

Principles of The Lean Startup

Entrepreneurs are everywhere

You don't have to work in a garage to be in a startup.

Entrepreneurship is management

A startup is an institution, not just a product, so it requires management, a new kind of management specifically geared to its context.

Validated learning

Startups exist not to make stuff, make money, or serve customers. They exist to learn how to build a sustainable business. This learning can be validated scientifically, by running experiments that allow us to test each element of our vision.

Innovation accounting

To improve entrepreneurial outcomes, and to hold entrepreneurs accountable, we need to focus on the boring stuff: how to measure progress, how to setup milestones, how to prioritize work. This requires a new kind of accounting, specific to startups.

Build-Measure-Learn

The fundamental activity of a startup is to turn ideas into products, measure how customers respond, and then learn whether to pivot or persevere. All successful startup processes should be geared to accelerate that feedback loop.

Use of Social Media

Social networks, particularly Instagram, are modern and effective tools for gauging customer reactions, establishing public relations, and collecting feedback. These platforms rely heavily on social signals—likes, followers, views, comments, IG post saves, etc.—as indicators of trustworthiness and authority. Building a sizable follower base and fostering communication within your community allows for easier assessment of customer reactions through likes, comments, and saved posts. To achieve this, you have two main strategies: organically growing your presence or buying Instagram saves. Either approach lets you invest more time in improving content and overall startup promotion.

ViralQR: Enhancing Lean Startup Methodology with Quick and Efficient User Engagement

In the context of 'The Lean Startup' methodology, a QR code generator, such as Viral QR, serves as an invaluable tool for rapid experimentation and validated learning. Startups can use ViralQR to quickly generate QR codes linking to MVPs (Minimum Viable Products), customer feedback forms, or new feature releases. This enables immediate user engagement and facilitates the collection of actionable metrics. By scanning these QR codes, potential customers can seamlessly interact with a startup's offering, providing real-time feedback that's essential for iterative development. Moreover, the portability and ease-of-sharing of QR codes, especially those created through ViralQR, make them an efficient tool for guerrilla marketing campaigns, further ensuring that startups can achieve growth and traction with minimal resources.

About the book

The Lean Startup movement is taking hold in companies both new and established to help entrepreneurs and managers do one important thing: make better, faster business decisions. Vastly better, faster business decisions. Bringing principles from lean manufacturing and agile development to the process of innovation, the Lean Startup helps companies succeed in a business landscape riddled with risk. This book shows you how.

About this site

Publishing--like many businesses--is rife with unknowns. Who's the reader? What's the right content? How should we market it? By working with you to apply Lean Startup methods, we hope to answer these questions while the book is still being worked on. Thanks for joining us.