This Startup School lecture posted today about how to find product market fit is literally all lean methodology https://www.startupschool.org/videos/38
Is the Lean Startup Dead?
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Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?
#192I think the problem with Lean today is that everybody knows about it. Starting a startup in 2002-2005 was hard , just the mechanics of it. Incorporating took several thousand dollars of lawyer time; there was no Clerky, and online LLC-generators were largely unknown. Accepting payments meant getting a merchant account with a CC; no Stripe, Square, or other payment processors. Payroll meant dealing with ADP or PayChex…
You are thinking to big. Look for a niche. If there are 2 dozen startups already competing in that space, it's not very niche.
There are plenty of opportunities out there big enough to make a founder very wealthy, but not big enough to attract the least bit of interest from a VC.
Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?
#193Uber changed the game by growing globally at an breakneck pace. Now, if you have a successful product, you need to globalize as quickly as possible otherwise people in Europe, China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, etc will all copy your idea and you will be left flat-footed.
Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?
#194I think the problem with Lean today is that everybody knows about it. Starting a startup in 2002-2005 was hard , just the mechanics of it. Incorporating took several thousand dollars of lawyer time; there was no Clerky, and online LLC-generators were largely unknown. Accepting payments meant getting a merchant account with a CC; no Stripe, Square, or other payment processors. Payroll meant dealing with ADP or PayChex…
You are thinking to big. Look for a niche. If there are 2 dozen startups already competing in that space, it's not very niche. There are plenty of opportunities out there big enough to make a founder very wealthy, but not big enough to attract the least bit of interest from a VC.
Care to share?
Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are thinking to big. Look for a niche. If there are 2 dozen startups already competing in that space, it's not very niche. There are plenty of opportunities out there big enough to make a founder very wealthy, but not big enough to attract the least bit of interest from a VC.
Care to share?
Consumables. The big players are brain dead in terms of product innovation which means you get successful small companies entering all the time. Greek yogurt, deodorant, energy bars (Hi! I'm the cofounder of Mealsquares!), coffee, you name it. Tech founders don't want to touch this stuff.
Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?
#196$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.
What about Mark Cuban?
Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?
#197I thought the whole idea of the "lean" methodology is not to waste the dollars you raise. Even if you have raised $2 billion, shouldn't you know if people want short form content? Actually, isn't it more important to know if people want it if you have a lot of money you spend? Can't you still launch an MVP quickly, and iterate up and then pour on the rocket fuel? This idea that scarce capital is what made lean startu…
> Even if you have raised $2 billion, shouldn't you know if people want short form content? This has already been proven with Youtube. The bigger question is whether there is a ~$100 billion market for a Netflix style service selling 10min videos, which justify a $1-2 billion investment. And whether this company can recruit the talent in a sustainable business model, where they can produce enough good content to keep…
I don't disagree with most of what you said, I was using "short form content" as shorthand for the business model, however:
But Hollywood has remained skeptical in the year since he announced his venture. Several executives have argued that there is little evidence to support the notion that viewers are craving short programming. And beyond the initial hype, Mr. Katzenberg has been short on specifics.
and
Higher production values will distinguish NewTV’s programming from the majority of video shorts that gain traction on YouTube, Mr. Katzenberg said. And he trusts that viewers will appreciate the difference.
from:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/07/business/media/katzenberg...
Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?
#198Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?
#199If you don't test your idea before you spend a lot of money implementing it .. you stand to lose a lot of money.
It's common sense. And that's how I'd summarise much of the philosophy involved in the lean startup.
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And conversely; if you invest a lot of money in an idea without testing it, you're gambling.
Re: Is the Lean Startup Dead?
#200Overfunding is an existential risk for startups. Scaling a team before finding PMF seems like a blunder in most circumstances. Instead of setting your best engineers to work creating the best product, they're busy recruiting and dealing with company growing pains from the get-go. The mythical man-month and scarcity of great people combine to diminish your returns on this hiring. Furthermore, battleships don't turn on…
Did you read the article? Blank is saying that the lean approach is still highly relevant unless you have a huge amount of risk capital available to essentially throw away on mistakes.
I don’t disagree with the article, I believe Blank accurately describes the current vc mindset. I just think he missed an opportunity to point out its pitfalls and in doing so implicitly endorsed overfunding.
My argument is that even as a vc with unlimited funds, overfunding a startup may be suboptimal. You paradoxically decrease its probability of success by misaligning the startup leadership’s incentives at a crucial pre product-market fit development stage.