Startups Live — ICYMI | Should Your Startup Use Lean Methodology?

Written by Keith Liles // Also shared on Startups.co.

As Emma McGowan rightly points out in her recent post, the concept of a Lean Startup appears frequently in startup conversations. But what exactly is the lean startup methodology? What does it look like put in practice? Is it possible that since ‘lean’ is such a common topic, that we’ve been mislead into thinking that everyone is adopting the lean approach? And if fewer people are actually employing the lean methodology than believed, why is it so hard to build lean — especially when there is so much to recommend using this model for building your business?

Juicy questions indeed, which the Startups Live community squeezes for all their worth…

“Excited to dive right in and chat about Lean Startups with y’all this morning!”announced moderator Steph Newton. “Has anyone followed the Lean Startup Method when starting up?”

“I’ve talked to plenty of startups who weren’t aware of the methodology but were following similar practices,” said Ryan Rutan. “And I spend a lot of time preaching about testing, MVP, proxies for your dream business.”

“I used to build out business plans for fun, and would use the lean methodology or business model canvas to work through ideas,” answered Lauren Tiffan. “But you have to start with a problem.”

“Did you actually get to the phase of getting feedback for these fun business plans, or was it more about sketching out the hypothetical framework?” asked Ryan.

“Mostly sketching. But I’d go out to validate some… once got ‘asked to leave the premises’ at IKEA for trying to validate my idea among the shoppers there — ‘How much would you pay for this?’”

“Haha — that’s when you know you are doing it right. Anyone here wish they had done more validation prior to launching something?”

“I use customer development religiously, other parts of the methodology less so,” shared Kevin Ball.

“I think that is true for a lot of folks,” Ryan followed up. “Ries essentially wrapped up several good behaviors in a package — things a lot of people were already doing.”

“My $0.02,” began Steph. “I feel like the Lean Startup Method is mostly common sense, no?”

“I don’t think it is that simple — or that common,” Ryan replied. “If that were true — we’d see far less solutions struggling to find a problem out there.”

Lauren added, “People love to overcomplicate and overthink. It’s almost counterintuitive sometimes to think ‘lean’ in a way, even though it seems like it should be common sense.”

“I think the inherent danger (probably too strong a word) in adopting any methodology / framework / system is that they can’t account for the unique factors of each business,” said Ryan.

This tension between what would seem common sense and what startups commonly do sparked fruitful insights.

“I feel like it’s common sense too,” Steve Johnson said to Steph, “… but I think when you are bootstrapping you pretty much have to live life this way… MVP and get out quick if it doesn’t work… we simply cant afford to spend time working on something no one wants.”

“I wish it was as common a practice as it is common sense,” Ryan reiterated.

“So many people build and build and build — working on what I call the ‘better yeti trap’ that they have no idea how people will react to.”

“Haha yeah i *feel* like it’s common sense,” said Steve, “but I know it’s not. People tend to think that with enough time and money they can create a market for ‘it’.”

“It is hard to go live with little [MVP],” Michael Kassing joined in. “It goes against our nature, I believe.”

“I always ask people,” said Ryan, “if they’ve got instant global marketing on tap — ie — if you launch with little — are you going to expose yourself to your entire market at once? Of course, the answer is no — and yet, to your point, we hate to release without at least 5 coats of varnish.”

“THIS is where mindfulness comes into play…”

“This may be a dumb question, but what’s the difference between bootstrapping and lean startup methodology?” asked Devon Milkovich.

Not a dumb question at all. The two terms are often used interchangeably, when they shouldn’t.

Ryan made an important distinction. “Lean is about what you build — bootstrap is how you pay for it.”

“How do you see the lean methodology playing out in startups once they’re up and running?” Lauren asked Michael.

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