Article · 15 min read

Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything

Steve Blank · Harvard Business Review Freemium Intermediate

Steve Blank's argument for searching for a business model before building one, the get out of the building philosophy in short form. It contrasts the old write a plan and build in secret approach with testing hypotheses on real customers. A crisp, credible piece to send anyone who thinks planning can substitute for talking to people.

  • No business plan survives first contact with customers.
  • Get out of the building and test your assumptions with real buyers.
  • Favor experiments and customer feedback over elaborate up front plans.
Open on hbr.org ↗

It answers 5 questions

  1. Should I build an MVP at all, or can I validate without one?
  2. Is it a mistake to fall in love with my solution before I understand the problem?
  3. How many customer conversations should I do before I start building versus building a rough version to learn faster?
  4. How do I tell the difference between a nice-to-have problem and one people will actually change their behavior to fix?
  5. How do I keep learning from customers after launch instead of only doing research once at the start?

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