Lean Startup

This page collects links to blog posts, articles and books about lean startup logic and methods.

The list below focuses on core lean startup concepts such as hypothesis validation using minimum viable products, product-market fit, and pivoting. For posts on customer discovery interviewing and other user-centered design research techniques, see my list of UX Design resources. For posts on A/B testing, see my list of Marketing resources. For posts on agile software development, see my list of Product Management resources.

Companion lists, listed to the right and in this blog's nav bar, cover other topics relevant to startup management.

Lean Startup Overview
Skeptical Views
Product-Market Fit
Minimum Viable Products/Validation Methods: Concepts and Examples
Pivoting
Staying in Stealth Mode
  • Elad Gil outlines the pros and cons of staying in stealth mode
Metrics/Analytics
  • The book Lean Analytics, by Alistair Croll and Ben Yoskovitz, provides a practical guide to applying lean startup analytics to different tech startup business models, and presents metric to track for each model, along with benchmarks for good performance
  • Ben Yoskovitz of GoInstant on the value of focusing on "one metric that matters"
  • Ash Maurya discusses metrics that guide action
Case Studies
  • Case Study: The Nordstrom Innovation Lab, by Eric Ries. Watch the second video, which shows how a design team used customer feedback on MVP prototypes to rapidly refine a concept for an i-Pad app for sunglasses purchasers
  • video from one of Eric Ries's annual Lean Startup Conferences of the founder of Chef's Table discussing their pivots and hypothesis tests winner, Chef's Table. Many other case studies are captured in LSC videos 
  • Vin Vacanti on excuses that kept Yipit from launching early. 
Lean Startup Logic: Applicability in Big Companies