How to apply Lean Startup principles with internal teams such as HR, IT, Finance and Legal.

1. LEAP IN
Brant Cooper
@brantcooper
brant@movestheneedle.com

2. WHAT IS LEAN?
Elimination of waste in the
production and delivery of value
to the customer...

3. WHAT IS A STARTUP?
“A human institution designed to
create new products and
services under conditions of
extreme uncertainty.” – Eric Ries

4. WHAT IS LEAN
STARTUP?
Elimination of waste in the the
creation of new value.
Goal for lean startups: Learning!
Lean Startup Myths
• Cheap or poor quality
• Only for product teams (hint: it works internally)

5. LEARN vs. EXECUTE
Search for a scalable, repeatable
business model…
…or business impact.
If you don’t know, learn. If you do know, execute.

6. IS MY FUNCTIONAL
GROUP A STARTUP?

7. REMEMBER TOYOTA?
Anyone can stop the assembly
line - innovation is for everyone
Innovation can come from anywhere, so the best
way to have good ideas is to have many ideas.

9. INNOVATION IS
RELATIVE
What appears sustaining to you,
might feel disruptive to others…
New initiatives feel as scary as new products
might, especially to conservative groups.

10. WORTH THE EFFORT?
1) Wins are like oxygen
2) You can’t do it alone
3) Rising tide lifts all boats
To create systems and culture of lean within your
organization, you will need to win the hearts and
minds of others.

11. BIG IMPACT = LEAN
STARTUP FOR YOUR
FUNCTIONAL GROUPS

12. RAYTHEON (IT systems)
INTUIT (100x100 +
Finance)
EDMUNDS (sales process)

13. LEGAL
FINANCE
HUMAN RESOURCES
IT
SALES
MARKETING
TRAINING

14. ADVANTAGES
- Customers are “in the building”
- And they don’t expect it
- Minimal risk to $ / schedule
- Lots of waste present

15. HOW:
FROM PROJECT
TO PRODUCT
You are the product.

17. Startup Model

18. EXERCISE
Let’s try it…

19. TEAM UP
You can’t do it alone.
To create systems and culture of lean within your
organization, you will need to win the hearts and
minds of others.

20. CHALLENGE (:10)
What challenge is your functional
team is facing. (business impact)
TASK: Write down a bold challenge. Go for a
wide variety, then narrow.
EX: “Increase career development opportunities”

21. CUSTOMER (:10)
Who is your target customer?
TASK: Write down the customer segment you will
be addressing, AND the segment you will not be
addressing. Get uncomfortably narrow.
EXAMPLE: New employees (> 6 months) who are 5
years or less out of college, and engineers.

22. OUTCOME (:10)
What outcome would make our
customer passionate?
TASK: Write down the customer’s desired
outcome. Make sure it is measurable.
EXAMPLE: New employees want a clear career path
for advancement.

23. SOLUTION (:10)
How will you deliver the desired
outcome for the customer?
TASK: Write down your proposed solution.
EXAMPLE: 1-1 Mentorship program and Q&A
platform for career development.

24. EXPERIMENTS

25. Build the minimum required to test
your most important question
Hint: It’s probably a lot less than you think

26. HYPOTHESIS (:10)
If we do X, then Y number of
people will behave in way Z.
TASK: Write down your hypothesis using the
template above.
EXAMPLE: IF we create a mentor program, 30% of
early career employees will have a clear path.

27. EXPERIMENT (:20)
How will you test this? Be Lean!
TASK: Write down a lean experiment you can run
in 24 hours or less.
EXAMPLE: Live mentorship table set-up in the
cafeteria, offering 1-1 career advice.

28. RUN IT (24:00)
DO IT!
TASK: Go make to the mother ship, find a team
and run your experiment.

29. THANK YOU!
@brantcooper
brant@movestheneedle.com
www.movestheneedle.com