1. Python Adventures
in Startup Land
Rachel Willmer
rachel@luzme.com
Slides: http://slideshare.net/rwillmer
Website: http://luzme.com
2. What is Startup Land?
• You aim for “MinimumViable Product”
• You don’t have a long-term development plan
• You write code you know you’ll throw away
• You know that you don’t know what you’re doing
4. What is a Startup, anyway?
“A Project in search of a
Business Plan that works”
5. Which Means Continuous Change
• Design Changes
• Test Changes
• DeploymentChanges
• EVERYTHING changes
6. The Agile Manifesto, 2001
• http://agilemanifesto.org/
• KEY POINTS:
– Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and
continuous delivery of valuable software
– Welcome changing requirements, even late in development...
– Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a
couple of months ...
– Simplicity, the art of maximizing the amount of work not done, is
essential
– And others….
7. WhatThis Means in Practice
• Have a long-term Big Idea
• Plan only short-term work plans, a “sprint”
• Continuously engage with customers
• Be very willing to change everything as you learn
• Change != Failure
• Change at an early stage = cheap
9. The Lean Startup, 2011
• Term coined by Eric Ries, based on earlier work done by Steve
Blank
• KEY POINTS:
– Product/Market Fit
– Minimum viable product
– Continuous deployment
– Split testing
– Actionable metrics
– Pivot
11. Fail Early, Fail Often, (Fail Cheap)
• “Fail” = “Try,Learn,Change” not “Failure”
• Mark Suster’s motto:
– “Good judgement comes from experience,
– But experience comes from bad judgement”
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/
12. How to Fail Early
• Don’tWait until it’s ready until you talk to your customers
• Customer Discovery interviews
• MinimumViable Products
• Verifiable Hypotheses
• Landing Pages
• Ask for money early!
