Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

One of the sayings I hear from talented managers in product development is, “good enough never is.&# And the rest is history: Google Maps was a huge success. This is precisely the dilemma that the doctrine of minimum viable product is designed to solve. It works to undermine excuses for poor or shoddy work. Ship it.&#

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Software Review 167

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 7, 2009

I spent some time with his company before the conference and discussed ways to get started with continuous deployment , including my experience introducing it at IMVU. They were deploying to production with every commit before they had an automated build server or extensive automated test coverage in place.

San Francisco 131

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review Lean 131

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 1, 2009

He doesnt put out crappy, buggy products and then ask for feedback. My normal answer is that I dont really think thats how Apple products are built. Thats what so many techniques that I advocate are all about: customer validation , minimum viable product , vision pivots , and even throwing away working code. It just wasnt great.

San Francisco 166

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 166

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 7, 2008

Thats the conclusion Ive come to after watching tons of online products fail for a complete lack of customers. Our goal is to find out whether customers are interested in your product by offering to give (or even sell) it to them, and then failing to deliver on that promise. Nothing made any difference.

Demand 167

Demand San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

When we build products, we use a methodology. We know some products succeed and others fail, but the reasons are complex and the unpredictable. a roadmap for how to get to Product/Market Fit." The theory of Product/Market Fit is one key component of customer development, and I highly recommend Marcs essay on that topic.

Customer Development 168

Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 168

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2008

So if youre new, consider not paying any attention to the rest of this post, and just diving into the archives, if you havent already. Every startup has a chance to change the world, by bringing not just a new product, but an entirely new institution into existence. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 155

San Francisco Technical Cofounder Fractional CTO CTO 155

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2009

We spent the rest of our time pretending to work on the assigned homework, but really trying to do interesting side projects, like sending juvenile messages across the school network or building primitive video games. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable (for Ha.

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Programming San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 143

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Announce a new product, start its PR campaign, and engage in buzz marketing activities. Marketing launch) Make a new product available to customers in the general public. Product launch) In todays world, there is no reason you have to do these two things at the same time. Establish credibility with potential partners.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 5, 2010

You can easily take from it whatever makes sense for your business, and leave the rest. The results of the Customer Development process may indicate that the assumptions about your product, your customers and your market are all wrong. You can easily take from it whatever makes sense for your business, and leave the rest.

Customer Development 166

Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 166

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2010

You can read the rest of his posts on his blog : Introduction , Part 1 , Part 2.) You can read the rest of his posts on his blog : Introduction , Part 1 , Part 2.) Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. All video from the conference is available for free at Justin.tv

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Software Review 133

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

But, as any startup can tell you, this opens up a tremendous set of opportunities for the rest of us. There are too many products clamoring for attention. As the costs of production fall, it’s getting easier and easier to send in a proposal or even a complete work. For established media empires, this is a scary fact.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 6, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 6, 2008 When NOT to listen to your users; when NOT to rely on split-tests There are three legs to the lean startup concept: agile product development , low-cost (fast to market) platforms , and rapid-iteration customer development. The most common need is becoming more customer-centric.

San Francisco 128

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Agile 128

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 25, 2010

This is the first post that moves into making specific process recommendations for product development. Everyone was in the flow; the team was hyper-productive. In many cases, they did the impossible, building a new product faster, cheaper, and better than anyone could have predicted. This is the speed-up-or-slow-down moment.

Software Review 141

Software Review San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 141

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 2, 2008

but rest assured they would be. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Towards a new entrepreneurship ► 2009 (88) ► December (4) Continuous deployment for mission-critical applica. A Fundraising Survival Guide [link] Raising money has a mysterious capacity to suck up all your attention.

San Francisco 125

San Francisco Software Review Technical Review Continuous Deployment 125

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 2, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, June 2, 2010 The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business Review) I continue my series for Harvard Business Review with the Lean Startup technique called Five Whys. Five Whys has its origins in the Toyota Production System. Read the rest of The Five Whys for Start-Ups.

Technical Review 132

Technical Review San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 132

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

If you dont have customers, a product, investors, or a board of directors, you can pretty much stay focused on just one thing at a time. This technique rests on three things: identifying the kinds of work that need to get done, creating the right type of teams for each kind, and steering the company by allocating resources among them.

San Francisco 88

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 88

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 7, 2010

Read the rest at The Conversation - Harvard Business Review. Read the rest at The Conversation - Harvard Business Review. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Towards a new entrepreneurship ► 2009 (88) ► December (4) Continuous deployment for mission-critical applica.

San Francisco 119

San Francisco Management Continuous Deployment Lean 119

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 15, 2010

Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review Way back when the money was doled out, the team made a compelling pitch about the large market that was going to adopt their new innovative product or service. Read the rest here. Read the rest here.

Hockey Stick 105

Hockey Stick San Francisco Entrepreneur Lean 105

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 30, 2009

Building on this, I’ve recently become fascinated with the notion of continuous deployment , a concept that has been popularized by Eric Ries and others. Read the rest. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Tell your Startup Visa story Speaking 2010: Webstock, GDC, Web 2.0,

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Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 30, 2008

When doing the post-interview team meeting, it was common for the first opinion expressed about a candidate to become the prevailing opinion of the rest of the team members. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. The engineering team varied from 5-8 people, with a variety of skill-sets and personalities.

San Francisco 83

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 83

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 2, 2009

For the rest of us, there is an alternative: to create credibility by building a lean startup. At IMVU, we were terrified by how early we shipped (and charged for) our first product. My son is planning a software product that will take the mystery out of wikis and make the technology easier for consumers to use.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Tampa Continuous Deployment Lean 60

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 4, 2009

If you are willing, please take a moment to fill it out before proceeding with the rest of the post; itll mean less biased results, and youll have a better idea what Im talking about later. Every product ultimately is satisfying a need in the customers who buy it or use it. Before I go any further, heres the link to the new survey.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

Heres my favorite part: If youve got a team, part of the team should obsess about the backlist, honing it, editing it and promoting it, while the rest work to generate (as opposed to promote) the frontlist. You have customers, they are using your product, and you are trying to help them. I see startups struggle with this all the time.

San Francisco 76

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 76

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 19, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 19, 2009 Inc Magazine on Minimum Viable Product (and a response) Inc Magazine has a great new piece up about the increasing use of the Minimum Viable Product by businesses (and not just startups). Like many companies, TPGTEX rolls out new products several times a year. Read the rest.

San Francisco 137

San Francisco Product Lean Continuous Deployment 137

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2010

Failures, pivots , and crappy minimum viable products are generally elided. Journalists have the highest obligation to ask these kinds of questions, and conferences organized by journalists ought to be the exemplars the rest of us look up to. Failures, pivots , and crappy minimum viable products are generally elided.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean PR Metrics 167

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 23, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, March 23, 2009 Venture Hacks interview: "What is the minimum viable product?" So, the minimum viable product is that product which has just those features (and no more) that allows you to ship a product that resonates with early adopters; some of whom will pay you money or give you feedback.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 167

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 22, 2008

You could conduct an in-person usability test, which is very useful for getting a view of how actual people perceive the totality of your product. The tracking survey asks one simple question: How likely are you to recommend Product X to a friend or colleague? Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

.Net 158

.Net Operations San Francisco Lean 158

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 19, 2009

In my presentation this morning, I emphasized three key areas: reducing the personal cost of failure for entrepreneurs, innovation-friendly legal reforms, and access to the digital means of production (slides from my White House presentation are available at the end of this post). 2gov.org will take care of the rest.

San Francisco 150

San Francisco Founder DC Washington 150

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 12, 2010

Heres an excerpt from the official program: “A startup is a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.&# How do we know if customers will want the product we’re building? Read the rest here. Read the rest here.

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Lean San Francisco Web Continuous Deployment 129

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

Establish baseline metrics by building the minimum viable product — the minimum required to measure the response of early adopters. Consider a scenario where a team makes a product change, and the very next month page views go up. Consider a scenario where a team makes a product change, and the very next month page views go up.

Metrics 121

Metrics San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 121

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 11, 2010

- The Conversation - Harvard Business Review : Still, startups develop some kind of process — whether its disciplined, haphazard, bureaucratic or empowering — because building a great product depends on it. Read the rest: For Startups, How Much Process Is Too Much? - Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 120

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 120

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2009

If Id bought just a handful of the "best of the rest" domain names that were available at the time (for a whopping $70 each), I probably could have just retired right then. Neither can the rest of us (well, except for Matt Cohler). All my products and ideas focus on early cash and a business model that works from the first day.

San Francisco 94

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 94

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, September 3, 2009 Dont be the Ice Cream Glove I have a new post up today on OReilly Radar , called " Is your product an Ice Cream Glove or a Snuggie? " Ali G meets with business leaders and investors on Wall Street to learn how to create a new company around a new product idea.

San Francisco 104

San Francisco DC Continuous Deployment Lean 104

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

This is a designated web2open hybrid session - which means you can attend for free even if youre not attending the rest of the conference. This is a designated web2open hybrid session - which means you can attend for free even if youre not attending the rest of the conference. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

New York 94

New York Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment 94

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 31, 2009

They may not have an open req for a specific job, but if the right amazing person walks in the door, they will always find something productive for them to do. Id be happy to make it better (regular readers will recognize joblink as a minimum viable product ). Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Startup Continuous Deployment 68

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 5, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, May 5, 2009 More video "what to do if customers dont like your (initial) product" plus full webcast First up is an interview with Mixergy, about lean startups and what to do if customers dont like your (initial) product. Watch the rest here. You can watch the whole hour-long discussion here.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Video Lean Customer 68

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 20, 2009

Read the rest of the article here. How about a fictive short story about few guys starting up a web product company on lean startup way? Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Towards a new entrepreneurship ▼ 2009 (88) ► December (4) Continuous deployment for mission-critical applica.

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Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 68