The benefits of a scientific approach for startups

You have probably heard about the application of lean principles to the introduction of new products on the market. According to Eric Ries, the main ideologue of such an application, the most ineffective thing a startup can do when developing a product is to create something that nobody needs.

To avoid this, Rees proposes a trivial idea in theory: as soon as possible, understand what your potential clients need after all . But how to do that? And most importantly - where does the lean, and the scientific approach?


')
Let's start with a lean principle. By itself, “frugality” suggests that the company does not perform an action until its effectiveness has been proven.

And Rice suggests that it is precisely to obtain verified information about the world (market, customers, distribution channels, etc.) as a criterion for the effectiveness of a startup. Rhys himself calls this process validated learning .

But here is a surprise: for the most effective acquisition of this knowledge, Rees offers (ta-da!) The good old scientific method! Recall what is its essence:

1. An observation about the world around
2. Asked questions that are relevant to the observation.
3. Hypotheses are being formed - prospective answers to questions
4. An experiment is put forward that confirms / refutes the hypothesis.
5. The results of the experiment are interpreted and used to formulate new questions, create a conceptual apparatus, etc. The loop closes.

With Rhys, this all looks somewhat simpler, and is called the “Build-Measure-Learn Feedback Loop” :

First, the author recommends formulating hypotheses (the most critical - the so-called leap-of-faith assumptions - go first).

Then he advises to build a minimum product ( minimum viable product, MVP ), which is designed to test hypotheses, i.e. actually put the experiment.

Then we take the MVP, go with it “to the market”, and get quantitative (!) Results from potential customers. Which should confirm (or disprove) our idea of ​​whether we correctly understand the structure of the world: whether users need feature A, whether it is right to sell a product through channel B, whether consumers are ready to pay for product B, money for money, etc.

And repeat the cycle after receiving feedback. It turns out (we are surprised), the scientific method works here too!

“But what is the profit [1]?”, A curious and profit-seeking reader will ask.

And the profit, dear friends, is that we are launching a new format for SUMIT WarmUp events ! On which participants get the opportunity to work out their business model (or someone else's) ideas on the Lean Startup methodology over the weekend - in the course of conducting non-stop experiments on living people by potential customers.

First SUMIT WarmUp! will be held in St. Petersburg on November 9-11 . Urgently register here ! It will be fun, and most importantly - practical!

[1] (English) benefit, utility, benefit - approx. auth.