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Is the Lean Startup Dead?

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131–140 of 246 posts

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#131
As an aside to the discussion about lean, I don't understand why these guys got 2 billion, even if it is Katzenberg. Netflix already has short content specific to mobile. They're subtle about it, but if you browse on mobile you'll get presented with shorter bits of content in your recommendations.

I guess the idea is that they are starting a studio to create short content, and hope to make billions selling the content?

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#132
post #37

I wish it wasn't so but I do think to the degree you can declare something dead the lean startup is. The problem is that lean startups requires a number of things that aren't accessible anymore. A) Maybe the most important is time. You need time in a good environment to actually develop something. Which has become a lot more costly. B) Large companies are controlling more areas than ever. People often wary of regulat…

I would say B is right on the money. But, A and C. I don't see it. There's a vast oversupply of time and talent. Just look at producthunt. The ratio of attempts to successes is enormously staggering. This indicates a huge vast amount of talent and time. The biggest problem is lack of opportunity: due partially to incumbents, regulation, etc.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#133
post #37

I wish it wasn't so but I do think to the degree you can declare something dead the lean startup is. The problem is that lean startups requires a number of things that aren't accessible anymore. A) Maybe the most important is time. You need time in a good environment to actually develop something. Which has become a lot more costly. B) Large companies are controlling more areas than ever. People often wary of regulat…

With C - plenty of cheap talent around the globe, even in developed countries. There must be some way to arbitrage this.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#134
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>A) Maybe the most important is time. You need time in a good environment to actually develop something. Which has become a lot more costly. Why do you think that is? I'm not sure what you're referring to exactly. >B) Large companies are controlling more areas than ever. People often wary of regulation as a barrier, but as time goes by the market participants creates their own barriers. Many areas are just harder to…

> That one definitely sounds true to me, the complexity of modern software definitely makes it harder to be competitive with big shops. As software professionals, this is a problem of our own making. Nobody is asking for software to be complex. Users don’t want complexity. Development companies don’t want costly complexity. Software developers don’t even want complexity. Who has sat down at the start of a project and…

Some developers wallow in complexity. I dare say you could call it enjoyment. Especially if they work at a place that believes in hero worship.

Oh look at all the overly complicated crap I can put up with. I must be amazing.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#135
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>A) Maybe the most important is time. You need time in a good environment to actually develop something. Which has become a lot more costly. Why do you think that is? I'm not sure what you're referring to exactly. >B) Large companies are controlling more areas than ever. People often wary of regulation as a barrier, but as time goes by the market participants creates their own barriers. Many areas are just harder to…

> That one definitely sounds true to me, the complexity of modern software definitely makes it harder to be competitive with big shops. As software professionals, this is a problem of our own making. Nobody is asking for software to be complex. Users don’t want complexity. Development companies don’t want costly complexity. Software developers don’t even want complexity. Who has sat down at the start of a project and…

In many companies, big complex software is desirable, because of poor incentive structures. I've seen many projects ballon into vastly over-complex nightmares, because engineers are often rewarded for solving "hard" and "complex" problems. So with complicit management (who are also rewarded when their engineers are promoted), they invent complexity and then "solve" it.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#136
post #37

I wish it wasn't so but I do think to the degree you can declare something dead the lean startup is. The problem is that lean startups requires a number of things that aren't accessible anymore. A) Maybe the most important is time. You need time in a good environment to actually develop something. Which has become a lot more costly. B) Large companies are controlling more areas than ever. People often wary of regulat…

"C) And then there is just competition, especially for things like talent." I feel startups did this to themselves. It used to be that you'd work for a startup and the equity was supposed to pay off if the startup was acquired or took off. Now, even though a startup may sell for several billion or go public, most employee's equity has been diluted to hell and back, barely making up for the lower salary.

When equity and total compensation go down that's a sign of oversupply of talent, not undersupply.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#137
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>A) Maybe the most important is time. You need time in a good environment to actually develop something. Which has become a lot more costly. Why do you think that is? I'm not sure what you're referring to exactly. >B) Large companies are controlling more areas than ever. People often wary of regulation as a barrier, but as time goes by the market participants creates their own barriers. Many areas are just harder to…

Disruption doesn't come from direct competition. Writing another web browser isn't going to disrupt the market for web browsers. You need a new concept in how we access web-type material. That would disrupt, and wouldn't need much code. Look at Napster et al. They weren't massive but still disrupted the music industry. The gaming industry still has room for lone coders to make a difference. Many of the top indi games…

Love both gaming examples, but you’re proving OP’s point. Those are very specifically technologically limited games (ie not requiring the same resources as AAA games). Disruption is possible, but the complexity argument stands.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#139
post #49
post #37

I wish it wasn't so but I do think to the degree you can declare something dead the lean startup is. The problem is that lean startups requires a number of things that aren't accessible anymore. A) Maybe the most important is time. You need time in a good environment to actually develop something. Which has become a lot more costly. B) Large companies are controlling more areas than ever. People often wary of regulat…

>A) Maybe the most important is time. You need time in a good environment to actually develop something. Which has become a lot more costly. Why do you think that is? I'm not sure what you're referring to exactly. >B) Large companies are controlling more areas than ever. People often wary of regulation as a barrier, but as time goes by the market participants creates their own barriers. Many areas are just harder to…

It depends of the space you're operating in. From what I've seen in line of business software, the quality is mediocre at best, and Excel is still everywhere. Here a Lean approach on targeted business processes is still viable and can make wonders.

Also sometimes we self-impose complexity with our tools. For example I recently displaced a competitor with a full team having a hard time delivering because of the disproportionate complexity of their stack regarding the problem (full SPA for a simple CRUD app), where I could do it as a solo effort costing ten times less.

Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?

#140
post #9

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…

I think you're mixing some things. To me, entrepreneurs are people starting new businesses. Some new businesses are trying out new business models or other major innovations; we call those startups.

I agree that somebody making another burger joint or corner store is an entrepreneur, but is not doing a startup. But that doesn't mean that solo entrepreneurs can't do something new. It doesn't have to be big, just exploratory.

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