2. March 2018Nicola Mattina - CC BY AT SA
What is the lean startup
The Lean Startup provides a scientific approach to
creating and managing startups and get a desired
product to customers' hands faster. The Lean Startup
method teaches you how to drive a startup - how to
steer, when to turn, and when to persevere - and
grow a business with maximum acceleration.
Source: http://theleanstartup.com/principles
3. March 2018Nicola Mattina - CC BY AT SA
5 principles
1. Entrepreneurs are everywhere
2. Entrepreurship is management
3. Validated learning
4. Build-Measure-Learn
5. Innovation accounting
5. March 2018Nicola Mattina - CC BY AT SA
Scientifically validated learning
Startups exist not to make stuff, make money, or serve customers. They
exist to learn how to build a sustainable business. This learning can be
validated scientifically, by running experiments that allow us to test
each element of our vision.
Source: http://theleanstartup.com/principles
WRONG
6. March 2018Nicola Mattina - CC BY AT SA
Scientific method does not validate
Scientific Method is about falsifying
theories, not about validating them.
«No amount of experimentation can ever
prove me right. A single experiment can
prove me wrong.»
Albert Einstein
7. March 2018Nicola Mattina - CC BY AT SA
Scientific method is an open process
1. Define a question
2. Gather information and resources (observe)
3. Form an explanatory hypothesis
4. Test the hypothesis by performing an experiment
and collecting data in a reproducible manner
5. Analyze the data
6. Interpret the data and draw conclusions that serve
as a starting point for new hypothesis
7. Publish results
8. Retest (frequently done by other scientists)
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method
8. March 2018Nicola Mattina - CC BY AT SA
How to fix
Don’t pretend lean startup is a
scientific method. Instead, it is a
fuzzy set of tools that need to be
improved to work.
10. March 2018Nicola Mattina - CC BY AT SA
Ideas are the starting point
INEFFICIENT
«At its heart, a startup is a catalyst that
transforms ideas into products.»
Eric Ries, The Lean Startup, pag. 75
11. March 2018Nicola Mattina - CC BY AT SA
Ideas are the starting point
founders’ fantasies
Most of the times, founders’ ideas
are wishes based on a poor
knowledge and understanding of
a problem.
12. March 2018Nicola Mattina - CC BY AT SA
How to fix
Accept that ideas are the results of
a structured and disciplined
process that is part of the method
to create new products.
13. March 2018Nicola Mattina - CC BY AT SA
Design Thinking offers a good framework to generate ideas
Empathize
Define
Ideate
Prototype
Test
Learn about
the audience
for whom you
are designing,
by observation
and interview.
Create a point
of view that is
based on user
jobs and
insights.
Brainstorm
and come up
with as many
creative
solutions as
possible.
Design Thinking offers a
structured process that
starts from people instead
that ideas.
Empathizing with persons
means understanding their
jobs, pains and gains. This
process generally produces
better ideas.
14. March 2018Nicola Mattina - CC BY AT SA
Jobs to Be Done offers a good theory to understand people
«A Job to be Done is
the progress that an
individual seeks in a
given circumstances.»
Clayton Christensen, Competing Against
Luck, pag. 27
16. March 2018Nicola Mattina - CC BY AT SA
What the heck is a Minimum Viable Product
CONFUSING
«The MVP is that version of the product that enables a full turn of the
Build-Measure-Learn loop with a minimum amount of effort and the
least amount of development time.»
Eric Ries, The Lean Startup, pag. 77
17. March 2018Nicola Mattina - CC BY AT SA
What the heck is a Minimum Viable Product
Why and how do I use
a specific technique?
• Video
• Landing Page
• Crowdfunding
• Wizard of Oz
• Concierge
18. March 2018Nicola Mattina - CC BY AT SA
How to fix
Acknowledge that a startup create
experiments and prototypes to test
hypothesis about vision and
experience.
22. Nicola Mattina
Adjunct Professor Università Roma Tre
Co-founder Innovation School of Rome
Co-founder Stamplay
nicolamattina.it
linkedin.com/in/nicolamattina
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