the Lean Startup — What’s That?
Disruptech for Maritime series — issue 2
As a Maritime professional interested in innovation you might have heard this term, the Lean Startup. Let’s get an understanding of what it is and what it means for us.
The Lean Startup is a way of doing startup which in 2013 has turned into a movement, affecting how startups are built as well as how innovation is done in large organisations.
The Lean Startup concepts which have become the best practice for a successful startup, have been made explicit less than 10 years ago. Before then the typical startup process was “have an idea, write a business plan describing what you will do to transform it into reality, look for investors, get funded and execute on the plans.” The Lean Startup has turned this process on its head, after Steve Blank, a forward looking Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor asked himself, “what is that makes a successful startup, successful?” The answer was not sticking to the plan as much as experimenting and learning on the go, knowing that the business plan was just an illusion built on assumptions.
Experimenting made it possible to transform the assumptions into facts on which to build a successful business. This approach is much more effective, as well as efficient, to find the right fit between the product and what the market needs.
Maritime stakeholders need to learn and become comfortable with the Lean Startup concepts. They have been in business for long and have developed tried and tested practices and processes to run the business. Planning and executing is in the genes of any company. That’s what “management” is all about. And it works great in a relatively stable business environment. Not so much for innovation. It’s very difficult to “plan” innovation. Sure you can manage R&D as always, but innovation is not about “just” R&D anymore. It’s not just about technical innovation, as much as about business model innovation. “How is this technical innovation going to change my business?” And conversely “what is the tech implementation that allows me to adopt this new business model?”
Tech has become an enabler of business model innovation much more than what it has ever been. And the most successful approach to innovating a business has shown to be the Lean Startup. Which does not apply only to startups in spite of the name. It’s a mindset which focuses on finding the best fitted response to a rapidly changing business environment. We could say that contemporary startups are the business evolutionary response to the rapidly changing market environment we are living in. So it is essential for incumbents to learn the new mindset in order to support it in the startups rather than asking them to be — quoting Steve Blank — small versions of large companies. And develop internal acceptance for this new mindset.
When you are in Lean Startup mode, “we are not ready to launch” is always true, yet it shouldn’t stop you from launching the experiment anyways. And learn from its outcomes rather than waiting forever to be ready and then end up being late or plain wrong.
“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.” — Eric Ries, the Lean Startup
For a closer look at the Lean Startup mindset have a look at the Methodology page.
Let’s Talk
Any doubts or questions arising about the Lean Startup? I’m happy to engage in a conversation in the comment section below or directly, just get in touch via LinkedIn.
Disruptech for Maritime series — earlier issues
Content in this post was previously published in the article/interview London’s First Maritime Startup Accelerator on Knect365/Maritime.
We are building the London Maritime Startup Accelerator. Interested industry players, potential sponsors and startups can get in touch with us at Startup Wharf. Where Digital Disruptors and Maritime meet.
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