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Is the Lean Startup Dead?

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21–30 of 246 posts

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#21

$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.

Yet it still has a massive first mover advantage.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#22

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 emp…

My take was the article left the reading feeling most startups are raising large amounts of capital.

When actually, most probaly are not. But this is almost impossible to measure as who can survey everyone with a side project.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#23

$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.

Funny, as I'm starting to use it more and more.

If I want windsurfing, snowboarding or skateboarding tips the quality can be excellent.

There are some great SEO channels and stuff for CSS Grid.

Even with my son, we can get short lectures on the stuff he is studying at school.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#24
post #8

As a bootstrapper, I see the point of what this article is trying to say. It's been increasingly difficult to create products that can find product market fit/validation and reach a scale where the income justifies the effort. And to top it off, the MVPs are becoming much more full product than simple landing page MVPs of years past -- and all of this requires a lot of capital (time, money, connections, volunteers, e…

Why is it increasingly difficult? Has something really changed in the past few years?

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#25

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.

That sounds like it'd be solving a different problem.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#26
post #15
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Which is why raising money isn't the defining feature of a startup. And being a SaaS is likewise not a defining feature of a startup, necessarily.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#27
> the amount of customer discovery and product-market fit you need to find is inversely proportional to the amount and availability of risk capital

businesses and risk capital are not related. Proof: businesses existed long before risk capital.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#29
post #8

As a bootstrapper, I see the point of what this article is trying to say. It's been increasingly difficult to create products that can find product market fit/validation and reach a scale where the income justifies the effort. And to top it off, the MVPs are becoming much more full product than simple landing page MVPs of years past -- and all of this requires a lot of capital (time, money, connections, volunteers, e…

> MVPs are becoming much more full product than simple landing page MVPs of years past -- and all of this requires a lot of capital

It depends. If you're a developer then it's just your time.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#30
post #12
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It looks like you are mismatching popular meaning of the word with it meaning in professional slang.

Yes, for most people I know, a "startup" is just new word for a new company, or even new pizzeria or barbershop. For entrepreneur I know, startup is "built from the start for hyper-growth", as he explained it for me.

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