This page is meant to provide an overview of a very specific method for market discovery, namely one that is based on the LEAN Startup principles. It’s important to note that the below described process is not perfect (you might find inconsistencies & things you disagree with), never finished (we should always keep learning, iterating & improving), and certainly not the single way to success. There are many ways in which you can develop a new business and be successful. The Lean Startup method is a proven method which can help an entrepreneur to increase their chances of success (if applied diligently). Please be noted that what follows is my interpretation of the method, I didn’t invent it, and I’m not an expert on the matter. I used the method multiple times to figure out potential business opportunities. Take from it what is useful for you and discard what isn’t. Either way, I hope it is of help while you start your new business.
Table of contents:
The underlying principle of the Lean Startup Method is to make sure that as you start to build your business, you don’t spend a lot of your valuable resources (money & time) on the wrong things. All too often startups fail to succeed because they forget to truly understand the needs of the market and the people they are trying to design for. They have a great idea, put lots of resources towards developing and marketing it, only to find out that the market doesn’t actually want it. Many millions of dollars later, the company shuts down, with only one key lesson learned; the market does not want our product!
By using the Lean Startup Method, you can avoid that situation. You will learn everything you need to know about your market BEFORE you start spending all those valuable resources. If you apply this method well, you will know exactly what to build, who will buy it, how much they’ll pay for it, and how to reach and build relationships with your customers. Furthermore, you will understand better what activities you need to undertake, what resources to deploy, who you should partner with, and what all of that will cost you. In other words, you will understand the key elements of your business even before building it.
This all sounds great, but how…?
<aside> 🔑 There are a few key principles to this method, namely:
Indeed it’s no rocket science! It really isn’t. If you keep these key principles in mind, you’re bound to be successful. Below I will provide more detailed steps on how this actually works. Before we go there however, I’m going to bring in the real expert to explain the most important concepts…
Steve Blank is one of the founding fathers of the Lean Startup Methodology. He worked closely with Eric Ries and Alexander Osterwalder to create and refine the method and the supporting educational content. I was lucky enough to take part in a class taught by Steve at UC Berkeley.
Thankfully, Steve Blank has made most of his teachings public. If you have time and want to be very diligent about this process, you can follow his online course on Udacity (see link below). If you prefer to go a bit faster, and skip the full course, I’ve gone ahead and added two Youtube video’s that I think contain the most important parts of Steve Blank’s teachings (see links below). The same video material constitutes a large part of the course on Udacity, the difference being that there it’s fragmented into little video’s for each topic.
<aside> 🗃️ Free course on Udacity:
How to Build a Startup | Udacity Free Courses
<aside> 🎬 Youtube video’s containing the most important parts of the Udacity course
Okay, you’ve understood what, why, how. Now let’s go do it. Below describes a step by step (action oriented) process, which is meant to provide a handhold for your customer development work. These steps are designed around several Notion databases and templates that I’ve created to make the process easier, more repeatable, and scalable.