Intro to lean startup
hello!
Ryan MacCarrigan
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Chief Experimenter @ LeanStudio
Partner & VP @ Lean Startup Machine
Organizer - LSC: Corporate Intrapreneurship Meetup
Past Co-Organizer - NYC Lean Startup Meetup & SF LSC
Head of Marketing - Several tech startups in NYC & SF
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agenda
1. Intro to Lean Startup
2. Exercise 1: Identifying Risky Assumptions
3. Exercise 2: Risk Prioritization and Testing
4. Exercise 3: Customer Personas
5. Exercise 4: Mock Interview Prep
6. Scheduled Interviews + Critique
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special requests
1. Please speak English during exercises so
that we can listen in and assist you as
needed.
2. Use English and ALL CAPS when writing on
sticky notes.
3. Please be concise and legible when writing
on sticky notes.
4. Feel free to ask questions at ANY time.
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something is
fundamentally
wrong
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why do
startups
fail?
big idea #1
The vast majority of startups fail not because they couldn’t
build their product…
But because nobody WANTED their product.
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big idea #1
By the time the founders figure out their idea isn’t good enough
it’s too late to make it better.
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Source: www.cbinsights.com/blog/startup-failure-post-mortem
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why do
startups
succeed?
big idea #2
“The vast majority of [successful] startups abandoned
their initial plans and learned what did and did not
work in the market.”
Clayton Christensen, The Innovator’s Dilemma
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successful pivots
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background
& core concepts
customer development
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customer development
Four Steps…
Customer
Discovery
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Customer
Validation
Company
Creation
Company
Building
customer development
“Get out of the building!”
Learning activity focused on gaining deeper insight into the
PROBLEM your solution is solving for.
“No business plan survives first contact with customers.”
- Steve Blank
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customer development
Focus on customer behavior
to reveal underlying motivations:
Attitudes, Needs, & Goals
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customer development
Founders often fear talking to customers…
Fear that their idea is embarrassingly bad.
Fear that their ego will become tarnished.
Fear that they don’t possess innate wisdom.
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customer development
Search
Customer
Discovery
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Execute
Customer
Validation
Company
Creation
Company
Building
talk to people
customer development
Search
Customer
Discovery
Today’s Primary Focus
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Execute
Customer
Validation
Company
Creation
Company
Building