This is a continuation of our previous article – 3 Things You Should Know About The Lean Startup.
There are obvious advantages for a startup that wants to operate lean; one of such is the opportunity to study user behavior; the knowledge of which provides some sort of accurate prediction of a sustainable startup growth in revenue and scale looking forward. But what exactly is a lean startup?
The lean methodology has become an important method for developing businesses or products by quickly building prototypes first, pushing the prototypes to select market, generate early market data, and using it to develop the next phase as the iteration continues. This is as opposed to the traditional and more widely used means of production which follows this sequel: (1) identify a need, (2) develop a product that solves this need, usually taking a longer period before (3) pushing the final product to market. In a lean model, there’s actually no final product.
According to Ries, “startup success can be engineered by following the (lean) process, which means it can be learned…” This is so important for startups still refining their business model because “…by the time the product is ready to be distributed widely, it will already have established customers.”
Here are 5 reasons why you should operate lean:
- There are entrepreneurs everywhere, and you are one of them. The postulation here is that anyone can build a startup regardless of educational, financial, or social background.
- Entrepreneurship is not magic, it is 100% about how to manage effectively and efficiently
- Using a small target market, you can check to see if your startup idea will be successful in the long run by learning from your select smaller early market.
- You have the opportunity to build something, break it (if it’s not working out) and then rebuild.
- Whether your idea will become a global giant or a local champion, you would easily find out for yourself sooner rather than later.
The lean startup model seem like a cost-effective means of building a big business by starting small, but it should not be seen as that perfect excuse to take sales and marketing plans for granted as Andreessen noted; with some proponent arguing that if you build a good product, it will speak for itself and go viral. Notwithstanding, it could be a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.
In the end, the lean startup method is intended to help founders understand their market and its attendant challenges before it is comes, thereby eliminating uncertainties. Spending less money is not the ultimate objective of operating lean (that objective belongs to Bootstrapping); rather it is a scientific approach to ensuring that spent startups’ scarce resources count.
Till next time!
Author:ChuQDennis
