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Is the Lean Startup Dead?

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Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#11

Post by lkrubner »

This needs to be balanced:

"All this is driven by corporate funds, sovereign funds and even VC funds with capital pools of tens of billions of dollars dwarfing any of the dollars in the first Dot Com bubble – and all looking for the next Tesla, Uber, Airbnb, or Alibaba."

Yes, but this is the other reality of today, from Calculated Risk:

"CR Note: Currently the target range for the federal funds rate is 1.75% to 2%. With inflation running close to 2% by most measures, the real Fed Funds rate is still negative."

In other words, investors still can't find enough investment opportunities that they find attractive, so they are still willing to give huge amounts of money to the government for free. Some of this can possibly be attributed to the Great Stagnation, the slowdown in innovation, growth, productivity and technology which began in 1973. Some of this can certainly be attributed to rising pools of savings all over the world. But it remains a fact that there are not enough software startups (nor enough manufacturing startups, nor enough legal startups, nor enough medical startups, nor enough of any kind of startup) to absorb enough capital to bring the world's capital markets back to "normal", if we can agree that "normal" means most investors expect to make at least a small profit on their investments, including their bond investments.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#12

Post by TekMol »

edanm wrote: post #9
1ba9115454 wrote: post #3

For every Startup raising $X million in funding there are probably a thousand solo entrepreneurs bootstrapping their way into profitability. The spotlight only shines on "Startup X raises millions in new round". Side projects are the new Lean startup.

Solo entrepreneurs are not starting a startup, not as I (and most people) understand the term. After all, those thousands of "solo entrepreneurs" are starting things like coffee-shops, restaurants, garages, etc. They're examples of entrepreneurship, sure, but not startups. Startups are specifically organizations that are trying to grow very big, or that are looking to try a new business model. The reason the spotligh…

By that definition many unicorns that are seen as prototypes of successful startups would never have been startups.

I think you have been tricked by YC and other VCs to accept this definition of 'built from the start for hyper-growth'. That's how they get their share of young promising companies.

To me and most people I know, a startup is a project or company in the growth phase.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#13

Post by sharemywin »

edanm wrote: post #9
1ba9115454 wrote: post #3

For every Startup raising $X million in funding there are probably a thousand solo entrepreneurs bootstrapping their way into profitability. The spotlight only shines on "Startup X raises millions in new round". Side projects are the new Lean startup.

Solo entrepreneurs are not starting a startup, not as I (and most people) understand the term. After all, those thousands of "solo entrepreneurs" are starting things like coffee-shops, restaurants, garages, etc. They're examples of entrepreneurship, sure, but not startups. Startups are specifically organizations that are trying to grow very big, or that are looking to try a new business model. The reason the spotligh…

There are lots of examples of bootstrapped startups. Which are a cross between the too.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#14

Post by eli »

Someone should make a site or project to highlight bootstrapped startups.

There are plenty of very successful ones but you just don't hear about them as often.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#15

Post by eli »

edanm wrote: post #9
1ba9115454 wrote: post #3

For every Startup raising $X million in funding there are probably a thousand solo entrepreneurs bootstrapping their way into profitability. The spotlight only shines on "Startup X raises millions in new round". Side projects are the new Lean startup.

Solo entrepreneurs are not starting a startup, not as I (and most people) understand the term. After all, those thousands of "solo entrepreneurs" are starting things like coffee-shops, restaurants, garages, etc. They're examples of entrepreneurship, sure, but not startups. Startups are specifically organizations that are trying to grow very big, or that are looking to try a new business model. The reason the spotligh…

This is a weird argument. Lots of people raise big money to start a restaurant. And lots of people don't raise any money to start a SaaS.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#16

Post by sharemywin »

akuji1993 wrote: post #4

$1 billion for a video streaming service?? Are these people actually insane? I don't see any way they will make back that much money with a service in a completely oversaturated part of the internet where YouTube, Netflix and other streaming services are pretty much meeting every desire any customer would have. I mean, power to the people that have invested, but this looks like an investment graveyard.

youtube leaves a lot to be desired from a quality stand point.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#17

Post by wavefunction »

lkrubner wrote: post #11

This needs to be balanced: " All this is driven by corporate funds, sovereign funds and even VC funds with capital pools of tens of billions of dollars dwarfing any of the dollars in the first Dot Com bubble – and all looking for the next Tesla, Uber, Airbnb, or Alibaba. " Yes, but this is the other reality of today, from Calculated Risk: " CR Note: Currently the target range for the federal funds rate is 1.75% to 2%…

I thought the wealthy were job creators, captains of innovation, stewards of the future...

We'd be better off taxing these folks who can't find anything to invest in and redistributing the funds to the worst-off. The economic activity would inevitably be captured by these same ineffectual investors but at least the material situation of the poorest among us would be slightly better.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#19

Post by jstandard »

1ba9115454 wrote: post #3

For every Startup raising $X million in funding there are probably a thousand solo entrepreneurs bootstrapping their way into profitability. The spotlight only shines on "Startup X raises millions in new round". Side projects are the new Lean startup.

You may have misunderstood the article and the Lean methodology.

From the article: "Still, unless your startup has access to large pools of capital or have a brand name like Katzenberg, Lean still makes sense."

Side projects, solo entrepreneurship are not mutually exclusive and can actually be complementary. Lean is a methodology to validate demand for a product. Solo entrepreneurs can and do benefit greatly from employing it.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#20

Post by bobmarley1 »

lkrubner wrote: post #11

This needs to be balanced: " All this is driven by corporate funds, sovereign funds and even VC funds with capital pools of tens of billions of dollars dwarfing any of the dollars in the first Dot Com bubble – and all looking for the next Tesla, Uber, Airbnb, or Alibaba. " Yes, but this is the other reality of today, from Calculated Risk: " CR Note: Currently the target range for the federal funds rate is 1.75% to 2%…

Or you know maybe investors have smartened up and are unwilling to give money to the 20th "Uber for X" idea from some Stanford bros.

Edit: Seems I hurt the feelings of Silicon Valley brogrammers selling their Uber for Dog Grooming with Blockchain AI startups lol.

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