What does "Lean" mean around here

Not this

And not this

6 lbs 10 oz at birth. Sort of lean. ;-)

It comes from this book

And this one

And they both are derived from

Well not really this book. This book is the notes that build upon the course taught at Stanford (and a bunch of other colleges) by Steve Blank.

So why have we been impressed by this stuff?

Key principles + Innovative tools & techniques

to solve problems

First, this stuff is about starting a business.

Not just a tech start up or a silicon valley start up

"Lean" comes from the manufacturing world

Toyota originally called it "just-in-time production," and then "The Toyota Way"

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Production_System
• the goals were to "design out" overburden, inconsistency and waste
• the method was applied continuously and throughout the organization. Anyone could come up with something new and anyone could stop the line.

Key Principles

1. Eliminate Uncertainty

2. Work Smarter,
not harder

3. Build and manage the business
(not just the product)

4. Validated Learning

5. Measuring your progress means a different type
of accounting

• How to measure progress

• How to set up milestones

• How to prioritize work

Innovative Tools

1. MVP = Minimum Viable Product

2. 5 Whys

3. Get out of the room

4. Discover Product Market Fit

5. Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas

So what does mean for us? Lift isn't a lean startup.

We Offer

• Consulting on the business side of things
• Business model generation
• Value proposition generation
• Our experience with other clients to help make better decisions

We Do

• We incorporate the business into the product
• We build MVPs
• Build - Measure - Learn
• We offer to test the hypothesis before we dive in too deep
• Build with best practices in mind

Questions? Discussion.