Organization:The Lean Startup Movement

Overview

The Lean Start Up Movement (LSM) is a paradigm shift in product and business development that was introduced by Steve Blank and further popularized by Eric Ries, the author of the bestselling book, The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses. This concept was initially inspired by the Japanese “lean manufacturing” concepts from the 1980s & 1990s where companies would focus on processes that create value - more specifically, features and services that customers are willing to pay for. By producing minimal viable products, manufactures were able to bring the product to market quickly and iterate based on the feedback received. This is the core of the lean startup movement: rapid prototyping coupled with extensive analysis on customer interactions to pinpoint key values and product-market fit.

Purpose

Building off Steve Blank’s methodology on “customer development," the Lean Startup (LS) Movement has since boiled down to a simple mantra: Build, Measure, Learn. The full lean startup methodology has three key phases. Modeled with the business model canvas in mind, the first step begins with using the canvas to map out and organize business hypotheses. Founders test their theories by bringing minimal viable products to market and use real customer feedback to validate their hunches. Finally, using market insight and agile development methodologies, founders iterate and pivot their way to nirvana (product-market fit). Eric Ries is best known for his contributions to the third and final phase on his approach to agile methodology. The LS framework is one of the first to offer a clear understanding into successful startup development among investors, academics and entrepreneurs (Interview with Bhavik Joshi).

Distinct Differences From Other Offerings

In the past, all business development concepts were taught in the same dry language-- business plan, expensive product development and aggressive sales. But in the start-up realm, this approach is as effective as speaking French in an English class. The Lean Startup Movement is the rosetta stone to improving the odds of success when developing a start-up business. With the constant experimenting and iterating, founders turn failures into smart pivots that lead to product-market fit - a key metric supporting hypergrowth, steady robust income and future prosperity.

Impact Achieved For Students and Campus

The Lean Startup Movement is the supporting philosophy of several launch pads, accelerators and incubators found on campuses around the country. Steve Blank has strong academic ties with both Stanford and UC Berkeley. Having created the Lean Launchpad, Blank’s example has spread to prominent other start-up hotspots such as Launchpad Central and NYU’s Summer LaunchPad.

Steps Required To Bring Resource to Campus

Bringing the LSM to your campus is as easy as going to watching Steve Blank’s free lesson on Udacity, How To Build a Startup  where he breaks down the key tools and steps to build a successful startup (or at least reduce the risk of failure) . Upon learning the basics and understanding the Lean Launchpad offering, students can replicate the framework on their own campus.

Contact Information

Bhavik Joshi 
CEO / Co-Founder of LaunchPad Central
bhavik@launchpadcentral.com 

Or, connect with him on LinkedIn.