Building a Lean Startup (Austin Lean Startup Meetup, Feb 2010)

February 3, 2010
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We had a great turnout for the first Austin Lean Startup Meetup. Eric Ries called in to kickoff the event and there was a lot of entrepreneurial energy and ideas for how we can take Lean Startup theory to practice.
I presented a high-level overview on building a lean startup using CloudFire as a case [...]

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Deploying Desktop-based Software Continuously

January 18, 2010
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Of all the Lean Startup techniques, Continuous Deployment is by far the most controversial. Continuous Deployment is a process by which software is released continuously throughout the day – in minutes versus days, weeks, or months. While the biggest waste in manufacturing is created from having to transport products from one place to another, the [...]

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Lessons Learned in 2009

January 5, 2010
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I’ve been an entrepreneur for 7+ years now – self-funded the first 2 years and bootstrapped the last 5. Yes I subscribe to the true definition of bootstrapping as being customer-funded versus self-funded. To some people, that is quite an accomplishment. However, I feel like the last 7 years have just been an education and [...]

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Achieving Flow in a Lean Startup

December 8, 2009
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Eliminating waste is the fundamental principle of lean thinking.
As defined by Womak/Jones in their book “Lean Thinking” (a must-read):
Waste is any human activity which absorbs resources but creates no value.
Of all resources, there is no resource more valuable than time. Time is more valuable than money. While money can fluctuate up or down, [...]

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A First Look at Some Metrics Numbers

December 2, 2009
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Last time I shared my conversion dashboard and promised some numbers. I don’t have all the numbers yet. But enough to start identifying some actionable next steps.
First some tools discussion is in order
I had been using Mixpanel and evaluating KISSmetrics for my metrics data. While I still see lots of possibilities using Mixpanel for application [...]

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How I am Measuring Product/Market Fit

November 17, 2009
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I can summarize my last post with a strong call to action:
Focus on Product/Market Fit First.
Here I’ll be laying the groundwork for how I plan to measure and optimize the process of achieving product/market fit. Metrics are, of course, the answer. But I have spent enough cycles getting lost in Google Analytics’ numbers, that [...]

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The First Thing That Matters: Product/Market Fit

November 10, 2009
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After my last post on landing page (UVP) optimization, Nivi, from VentureHacks, pointed me at Sean Ellis’s blog and suggested that I might be better served achieving product/market fit before spending time on landing page optimization and positioning. While I completely agree that achieving product/market fit is the necessary prerequisite to kicking into growth mode, [...]

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From Minimum Viable Product to Landing Pages

November 3, 2009
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A lot (okay a ton) has been written already on landing page design. A great starting point is Chance Barnett’s Landing Pages That Convert. One of the most important elements of a landing page is the unique value proposition (UVP). It’s a headline, image, or tagline that needs to engage the visitor in the first [...]

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How I built my Minimum Viable Product

October 26, 2009
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The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a key lean startup concept popularized by Eric Ries. The basic idea is to maximize validated learning for the least amount of effort. After all, why waste effort building out a product without first testing if it’s worth it.
So for a new product idea or concept, what is [...]

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How I learnt to grok Customer Development

October 19, 2009
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Chapter 1: An Engineer’s Itch
I’d love to claim that I’ve subconsciously used Customer Development practices all along but that just isn’t true. My first product, 6Degrees, was a p2p address book that was created to basically test out the 6 degrees of separation concept – a sort of “trusted Napster” for contacts. I didn’t talk [...]

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