Metodología Canvas

Running Lean
A systematic process for iterating your web application from Plan A to a plan that works

by Ash Maurya

Copyright © 2010 by Ash Maurya All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from Ash Maurya, except for brief excerpts inreviews or analysis. “Customer Development” is a term coined by Steve Blank and is used to describe the parallel process of building a continuous feedback loop with customers throughout the product development cycle as defined in his book: “The Four Steps to the Epiphany”. “Lean Startup” is a term trademarked by Eric Ries and represents a synthesis of Customer Development, Agile software developmentmethodologies, and Lean practices. “Lean Canvas” is a term trademarked by Ash Maurya and is used to describe an adaptation to the business model canvas released under the Creative Commons license by Alex Osterwalder. Formatting inspired by 37signals and Venture Hacks. First edition

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION! ROADMAP! 4 15

PART 1: PROBLEM/SOLUTION FIT!
CREATE YOUR LEAN CANVAS! GET READY TOINTERVIEW CUSTOMERS! THE PROBLEM INTERVIEW! THE SOLUTION INTERVIEW!

38
40 80 106 126

PART 2: PRODUCT/LAUNCH FIT!
GET TO RELEASE 1.0! GET READY TO SELL! GET READY TO MEASURE! THE MVP INTERVIEW!

149
151 175 183 199

PART 3: PRODUCT/MARKET FIT!
MEASURE PRODUCT/MARKET FIT! DON’T BE A FEATURE PUSHER! BUILD YOUR FEATURE BACKLOG! EXPERIMENT WITH PIVOTS! CONCLUSION! APPENDIX!

215
217 229239 249 259 265

INTRODUCTION

What is Running Lean? About the Author Disclaimers

RUNNING LEAN

5

What is Running Lean?

We live in an age of unparalleled opportunity for innovation. With the advent of the Internet, Cloud Computing, and Open Source software, the cost of building software is at an all time low. Yet, the odds of building successful products haven’t improved much:
9out of 10 startups still fail.

And of those that succeed, more than two-thirds report changing their plans drastically along the way. What separates successful startups is not necessarily starting with a better initial plan (Plan A), but finding a plan that works before running out of resources. Up until now, finding this better plan was based more on gut, intuition, and luck. There has been nosystematic process for rigorously stress testing a Plan A. That is what Running Lean is about:
Running Lean is a systematic process for iterating from Plan A to a plan that works.

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INTRODUCTION

Why are startups hard?
First, there is a misconception around how successful products get built. The media loves stories of visionaries that see the future and chart a perfect course tointersect it. The reality, however, rarely plays out quite as simply. Even the unveiling of the visionary computer, the iPad, in Steve Jobs words were years in the making, built on several incremental innovations (and failures) of software and hardware. Second, the classic product-centric approach front-loads some customer involvement during the requirements gathering phase but leaves most of thecustomer validation until after the software is released. There is a large “middle” when the startup disengages from customers for weeks or months while they build and test out their solution. During this time, it’s quite possible for the startup to either build too much or be led astray from building what customers want. This is the fundamental dilemma described by Steve Blank in “The Four Steps to theEpiphany” in which he offers a process for building a continuous customer feedback loop throughout the product development cycle that he terms: “Customer Development”. And finally, even though customers hold all the answers, you simply cannot ask them what they want. Given the right context, customers can clearly articulate their problems but it’s your job as the visionary entrepreneur to come...