10 things I learnt about lean startup: It's f*****g hard that's for sure!

In this talk (given at Lean Startup Brighton on 21/11/12) I highlighted the things I’ve learnt from applying lean startup techniques over the last couple of years and how that pans out in reality. In particular the challenges we face integrating lean within an agency environment, with a particular focus on the early stages of a lean startup – customer development.

Transcript

1. 10 things wot I learnt about lean startup It’s f*****g hard, that’s for sure! Laurence McCahill, Spook Studio
2. First, a bit of background
4. we startups
6. Why go Lean?
7. “Life’s too short to build something nobody wants” Ash Maurya, Spark59
8. Waterfall = fail? Chart by @lfittl
9. Agile/lean=wiggle it! Chart by @lfittl
11. “At least 2/3 of our ideas are never going to work. The other 1/3 will take 3/4 iterations to get right” Marty Cagan
12. Lean startup cycle
13. Lean UX cycle
14. Key principles of lean
15. Test your assumptions
16. Focus on customer needs
17. Reduce cycle times
18. More facts, less intuition
19. Less documenting more doing
20. Right action right time
21. So, onto my lean learnings…
22. RFPs suck! (requirements = hypotheses) 1
23. “I don’t care how smart you are. Every design solution you put out there is a hypothesis.” Jeff Gothelf, Neo
24. Egos and lean don’t mix well 2
25. © rhonda_liberman
26. It’s not about you anymore © rhonda_liberman
27. Context changes tactics 3
28. Startup prioritizer What’s most important for your startup? There’s a finite amount of resource available
29. Balanced teams make better products 4
30. business design technology
31. Cust dev is hard (& founders should do it) 6
32. “Customers don’t care about your solution. They care about their problems.” Dave McClure, 500 Startups
33. Bad news gets worse the longer you leave it 7
34. “How can I bounce my ideas off the market cheaper and faster?” Rob Fitzpatrick, Dex.io/FounderCentric
35. Opinions = guesses (& the founder always wins) 8
36. "Success is not delivering a feature; success is learning how to solve the customer's problem.” Mark Cook, Kodak
37. MVP ≠ minimum viable pants 9
39. 1 metric that matters beats 100 that don’t 9
40. “Vanity metrics make you feel good but don’t offer clear guidance on what to do.” Eric Ries, The Lean Startup
41. It’s ain’t no silver bullet (nor cheap/fast!) 10
43. In summary: How to get it right…
44. Rip up the spec and host a workshop 1
45. Biz, design & tech around the same table 2
46. Decide on key priorities from day 1 3 1
47. Work with people you like (that trust you) 4
48. Kill your ideas before you build them 5
49. Talk with customers throughout 6
50. Don’t guess, learn (there are no answers in the boardroom!) 7
51. Make your MVP minimum awesome 8
52. Find your one metric that matters 9
53. Own the process don’t let it own you 10
54. Lean © alykat anyone?
55. There are tons of tools out there…
57. But if you only use one…
58. The lean canvas
59. Some further reading
61. www.welovelean.com
62. Laurence McCahill @welovelean Thanks!