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I Am Eric Ries, Author of the Lean Startup. AMA

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Re: I Am Eric Ries, Author of the Lean Startup. AMA

#61

Post by eries »

jcchin41 wrote: post #59

I work for a large aerospace company. How can we adopt lean startup ideas for hardware projects where the design iterations are much more expensive and lead times more severe?

Ask Corey Nelson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkdsYTlEGfQ

It all depends on what you are trying to learn. What has to be true in order for your new product or project to succeed? How can you find that out cheaply and quickly? And what if you chose tools for speed of testing rather than efficiency of production?

I've been amazed how many hardware and industrial companies have been able to adopt lean startup, even in situations I would have previously thought impossible.

Re: I Am Eric Ries, Author of the Lean Startup. AMA

#62

Post by eries »

ianbicking wrote: post #57

I hear people talk about Lean Startup methods at many established companies (where I work included). But I feel like we're deluding ourselves a bit, playing pretend startup. How applicable do you think the Lean Startup ideas are to a corporate environment? (One that purportedly wants to adopt these ideas) What features don't work at all? Who is doing good work to adapt these ideas for larger corporations?

There's plenty of "leanwashing" going on, that's for sure.

The key is to move from "pretend startup" to "real startup" - which is 100% possible inside an established company if the leadership wants it to happen. But it is not easy; it requires significant changes to many of the company's systems, including HR and Finance.

To know if it's likely to work ask yourself: 1. does the startup have the authority to operate autonomously or does it need endless approvals and permissions? 2. does the startup have a clear board that it is accountable to for both funding and pivot decisions? 3. is the statup cross-functional across all the functions required to build the product? 4. are the members of the startup full-time on just that one thing? 5. is the budgeting process metered (ie fixed rounds of funding) or entitlement based (ie annual appropriates with quarterly adjustments)?

If you don't have good answers to all five of these questions, you're probably playing startup more than real startup.

Re: I Am Eric Ries, Author of the Lean Startup. AMA

#63

Post by ilamont »

Hello Eric,

I saw you speak some years ago right around the time your first book came out. I have a media background, and I noticed some parallels with what you described at IMVU and what I have seen in my industry.

Typically, the projects have involved large media companies building high-quality products/brands, such as television shows or websites. They are designed and built in near-stealth mode with limited opportunities for user testing or audience feedback, and sometimes (but not always) fail miserably when they are released to the world. Conversely, there are examples of media programs/products/brands being developed in a highly iterative/audience-focused approach and sometimes (but not always) leading to a hit or at least becoming self-sustaining.

My question is this: Generally speaking, can “lean startup” concepts be applied to media or other industries, or do the unique characteristics of those industries — for instance, high cost structures or dependence on industry-specific business models - make it difficult to really leverage the software-focused product development concepts you outlined?

I hope to develop a framework with which to approach product development in my own industry (“lean media”) and would greatly value any feedback/ideas/suggestions for further reading you may have.

Thanks!

Re: I Am Eric Ries, Author of the Lean Startup. AMA

#64

Post by tptacek »

larrys wrote: post #46
eries wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's be honest: I almost didn't make the front page. My post got to about #25 on /newest with only like 9 upvotes. If it had rolled over to page two, I doubt I would still be answering questions right now. So no, I don't think this kind of technique is useful for marketing if you don't have name recognition. However, there are many other ways to build rep in a community like HN without being famous. I bet if any of…

My personal feeling is that the high karma that you are speaking of is not a good use of time (for that reason). I know it has helped tptacek and some others but it takes considerable time (and is a distraction) to comment on HN and essentially if you do it, you do it for fun and to learn. And if something comes from it then that's icing on the cake. I actually picked up a considerable amount of side consulting by be…

Being an active participant on HN has been very helpful to me professionally. HN karma, on the other hand, has not. The only thing that ever came from karma for me was a TechCrunch interview about HN.

There are great commenters who are very well-known who don't rank anywhere on the leaderboard. 'pbsd is a well-known cryptographer. 'tzs is the best commenter on HN. 'carbocation is a doctor/medical researcher.

Being engaged and available is important. The leaderboard is a really warped assessment of that. HN should get rid of it, along with the whole karma system.

An easy start: continue scoring comments, but stop revealing per-user karma totals.

I don't think anyone needs an AMA from me or Patrick McKenzie. The Ries AMA is interesting because he isn't a regular, and has interesting things to say.

Re: I Am Eric Ries, Author of the Lean Startup. AMA

#66

Post by 16bytes »

Hi Eric! I enjoyed "The Lean Startup" and I think the approach for the new book is very interesting.

Besides establishing the backer-only discussion community, what other lean methodologies are you using to write this book?

Along those lines, have there been any significant pivots yet? Obviously, the kickstarter seems to be doing well at over 3.5x pledged over the goal. Do you think that this is validation of the new content that the book promises to deliver or is it simply riding the coat-tails of the previous success you had with "The Lean Startup"? How are you measuring success?

I only now noticed that there's also a Reddit AMA, apologies if you've answered in that thread already.

Re: I Am Eric Ries, Author of the Lean Startup. AMA

#67

Post by gdilla »

Hi Eric,

Your first mass produced book was published by a traditional, 'big' publisher (Crown/Random House). Is this new book an independent effort or are you still working with a trade publisher? Do you feel they've added value to the process for what you got the first time (versus self publishing and retaining more revenue per sale)?

Re: I Am Eric Ries, Author of the Lean Startup. AMA

#69

Post by joshdotsmith »

eries wrote: post #6
martinblech wrote: post #4

Are there examples of lean startup ideas going wrong or being misunderstood and leading startups straight to failure?

tons! I think about this all the time, since I feel a responsibility to try and talk about lean startup in such a way that prevents misunderstanding. I would say the two most fatal misapplications are: 1. "up and to the right" disease. here you split-test everything and just do whatever moves the numbers. pretty soon you are selling porn or psychic hotlines. 2. "no vision, no problems" error. It's like trying to do s…

The struggle for me seems to be knowing how much is too little and how much is too much. Do you try to err on the side of doing too little at first?
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