Lean Startup is a nimble innovation approach that uses "minimum viable products."
Lean Startup is a fast, nimble approach to creating new products, which was born in Silicon Valley… and has gained traction in the corporate world. You can learn more by reading the HBR article, “Why the Lean Startup Changes Everything,” by Steve Blank, and the book, The Lean Startup, by Eric Reis. Some key tenets are…
- Don’t create an elaborate business plan, which limits your flexibility and openness to learning.
- Instead, create a “business model canvas” which lays out your assumptions to be tested.
- Use “minimum viable products” to rapidly test product hypotheses with customers.
- Employ agile product development cycles with many nimble “pivot or persevere” decision points.
Lean Startup is based on a Build-Measure-Learn process. Imagine you are developing a new consumer phone app: You would create a quick prototype, or “minimum viable product” (Build), test this with consumers (Measure), and use their feedback to make needed changes to your design (Learn). You would “rinse and repeat”… with learning cycles that rapidly move you closer to a winning design.
In the next 3 articles you'll learn...
- How to adjust Lean Startup for B2B
- Limitations of Lean Startup in B2B
- The Marriage of Blueprinting and Lean Startup
For a more in-depth treatment of this topic, download the AIM white paper, Lean Startup for B2B.
Also, we can expect to see other innovation methods come up in the future. Many of these will provide us with useful new tools and ways of thinking. But before embracing them "whole cloth," it's wise to pass these new concepts through a B2B vs. B2C filter. Because--like Lean Startup--there may be aspects that don't work well for B2B. For more on this, watch this 2-minute video from our B2B Organic Growth video series.
Keywords: lean startup, minimum viable product, B2B, B2C, New Product Blueprinting, Eric Reis, Steve Blank, business model canvas, pivot