How does development look different at a startup where learning (rather than working software) is our most important measure of progress? Lean Startup is about creating companies with a BIG VISION, where we want to change the world and do something really significant. It's a methodology developed by Eric Ries to combine Agile Development with Customer Development so that we can be disciplined about how we create our startups. Come learn the concepts behind Lean Startup and discover how development looks different when you're creating things that nobody else done before. [Slides from my Beantown .NET Presentation (April 7, 2011)]

1. Lean Startup
How Development Looks Different
when you’re Changing the World
Abby Fichtner
Developer Evangelist for Startups, Microsoft
@HackerChick
http://HackerChick.com

3. “Considering the incredible amount of human energy, passion, and
creativity that we invest in creating new products & services…
@EricRies

4. … it’s a terrible waste that so many of them fail.”
@EricRies

5. Promise of the Lean Startup
Instead of building our startups according to myths
We can guide them with facts and knowledge
@EricRies

6. We won’t waste our time building
things that nobody wants.
@EricRies

14. “Most technology start‐ups fail not because the
technology doesn’t work, but because they’re making
something that there is not a real market for”
@EricRies

17. Furniture.com
3.5 Furniture.com
EddieBauer.com
3.0
Bhg.com
Living.com
2.5
% Reach
2.0
1.5
1.0
FAIL
0.5
‘99 ‘00 ‘01
Source: PCData Online

19. $5 BILLION
FAIL

20. @KentBeck

21. @KentBeck

22. Startups are NOT small versions
of large organizations

25. The unit of progress for entrepreneurs
is learning, not execution
@EricRies

26. What fun is spending months building
something that nobody wants?

27. muda
any activity that is wasteful and
doesn’t add value or is unproductive
wikipedia

28. Get through the whole
loop as fast as possible

29. Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
strategy for fast & quantitative
market testing of a product or feature
wikipedia

30. “Papa built our last tree house in a day!”
“Yeah, but that tree house was a couple pallets
and a ladder”
The Minimum Viable Tree House by Christian Wyglendowski

33. We had an idea for a new product.
We went off & built it, put it on our website.
Not a single person clicked thru to it
What did we learn from that?

34. We had an idea for a new product.
We went off & built it, put it on our website.
Not a single person clicked thru to it
Was there a faster way to get through
that learning loop?

41. Problem: Unknown Solution: Unknown

42. Customer Development
@SGBlank

43. Lean Startup
@SGBlank

44. Product/Market Fit
When a product shows strong demand by
passionate users representing a sizeable market
The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development: A “Cheat Sheet” to the Four Steps (@BrantCooper, @Vlaskovits)

45. Customer Development
is not gathering requirements

46. If Henry Ford had asked his customers
what they wanted…
They would have said a faster horse

47. Customer Development is
validating our vision

48. Get outside the building!

49. Customer Discovery
What is the problem?
Who has the problem?
@SGBlank

50. Customer Discovery
How important is the problem’s solution to the customer?
How valuable is the problem’s solution to the customer?
@SGBlank

51. Problem: Unknown Solution: Unknown

52. Problem: Unknown Solution: Unknown

53. Customer Validation

55. Problem: Unknown Solution: Unknown

57. OH at Lean Startup Circle Meetup

58. How do we maximize progress in a
Lean Startup?
Answer: By maximizing learning

59. @AshMaurya

60. @AshMaurya

61. @AshMaurya

62. @AshMaurya

63. @AshMaurya

64. @AshMaurya

65. @AshMaurya

67. Get through the whole
loop as fast as possible

68. @AshMaurya

69. @AshMaurya

70. @AshMaurya

71. @AshMaurya

73. WiredReach Case Study
BEFORE AFTER
2 week release cycles Multiple releases/day
Releases were all-day events Releases are non-events
Release size: 100’s LOC Release size: < 25 LOC
More emergency releases Less fire-fighting
@AshMaurya

75. @AshMaurya

76. @AshMaurya

77. How DOES development look
different at a startup?

78. Shared Principles, Practices
Agile Development Practices (XP)
Flexible & Iterative
Fail Fast
Stop the Line
Continuous Learning

79. Beyond Agile…
Agile Lean Startup
Solution Unknown Problem Unknown
Elicit Stories from Customers Validate Features with Market
Get Through the Loop
2 Week Sprints
as FAST as possible
Continuous Integration Continuous Deployment
Done = Software Ready to Go Done = Validated Learning

80. @KentBeck

81. @KentBeck

82. @KentBeck

84. Learn More
Eric Ries Steve Blank
@EricRies @sgblank
http://startuplessonslearned.com/ http://steveblank.com/
Kent Beck Ash Maurya
@KentBeck @AshMaurya
http://threeriversinstitute.org/
http://ashmaurya.com/
Abby Fichtner
@HackerChick
http://HackerChick.com