One of the greatest lessons I've learned through Eric Ries, The Lean Startup, is the importance of proper management when starting any business. You need to be agile and adaptable like a car, not set like a rocket.
Some people tend to believe that entrepreneurship is about taking a "just do it" approach, others believe that it is about planning things out to the last detail to ensure success. After reading The Lean Startup, I've come to understand that business and entrepreneurship is about proper management.
It's about "radically altering the way supply chains and production systems are run" based on the information we receive from our most precious resources, our customers. According to Ries, one of the biggest mistakes most people make when starting a business is that they view its creation very similarly to the preparation needed for launching a rocket. They work extremely hard on perfecting every aspect of their product and often find themselves making assumptions as to what their customers want or truly need. Once they have what they consider to be a "polished" product, they place it into the market, and often find that there is little to no demand for it.
Some people tend to believe that entrepreneurship is about taking a "just do it" approach, others believe that it is about planning things out to the last detail to ensure success. After reading The Lean Startup, I've come to understand that business and entrepreneurship is about proper management.
It's about "radically altering the way supply chains and production systems are run" based on the information we receive from our most precious resources, our customers. According to Ries, one of the biggest mistakes most people make when starting a business is that they view its creation very similarly to the preparation needed for launching a rocket. They work extremely hard on perfecting every aspect of their product and often find themselves making assumptions as to what their customers want or truly need. Once they have what they consider to be a "polished" product, they place it into the market, and often find that there is little to no demand for it.
Where was the mistake made?
Wasn't the launched product "perfect".
Perfectly planned out and perfectly created?
Wasn't the launched product "perfect".
Perfectly planned out and perfectly created?
The mistake was that the product wasn't tested, and thus, a lot of TIME, MONEY, and RESOURCES, were invested into creating something that didn't fulfill a customer niche.
Although this mistake is associated with business, I find it prevalent in the planning of any project. For instance, when Drew and I were making our documentary--whether it was with our script, filming, or editing--we always tried to make sure that it was "perfect" before receiving feedback on it. As I look back, I realize that we could have saved a lot of time and energy if we would've done otherwise because we would've known what we had to improve on and how we could make our documentary better while we were still creating it, rather than waiting until we thought we were "done" to show our work and have to come to the realization that it was actually full of flaws.
Thus, if anything, the book has taught me that we must move away from the "perfection" approach, and move more towards making "constant adjustments with a steering wheel called the BUILD-MEASURE-LEARN feedback loop.
Although this mistake is associated with business, I find it prevalent in the planning of any project. For instance, when Drew and I were making our documentary--whether it was with our script, filming, or editing--we always tried to make sure that it was "perfect" before receiving feedback on it. As I look back, I realize that we could have saved a lot of time and energy if we would've done otherwise because we would've known what we had to improve on and how we could make our documentary better while we were still creating it, rather than waiting until we thought we were "done" to show our work and have to come to the realization that it was actually full of flaws.
Thus, if anything, the book has taught me that we must move away from the "perfection" approach, and move more towards making "constant adjustments with a steering wheel called the BUILD-MEASURE-LEARN feedback loop.
Through this process of steering, we can learn when and if it's time to make a sharp turn called a pivot, or whether we should persevere along our current path".
Since our current unit is entrepreneurship--and we are starting a Smoothie business at school--the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop is something that will be of huge guidance to us throughout the process. Just last week we did a test run of three smoothies to three potential clients: two students, and one teacher. We received their feedback regarding the taste of the smoothie, their vision of the business and where they could picture it being located, the amount of money they would be willing to pay for a smoothie, the size they found most convenient, and the importance of hygiene when serving the smoothies. The challenge now is taking everything they've mentioned and improving our product to best fulfill the wants of our customers.
At the end of the day, however, the only way you can ensure your start up is a success is by testing your product along the way and making sure that it is not simply feasible and viable, but that it is desirable.
Since our current unit is entrepreneurship--and we are starting a Smoothie business at school--the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop is something that will be of huge guidance to us throughout the process. Just last week we did a test run of three smoothies to three potential clients: two students, and one teacher. We received their feedback regarding the taste of the smoothie, their vision of the business and where they could picture it being located, the amount of money they would be willing to pay for a smoothie, the size they found most convenient, and the importance of hygiene when serving the smoothies. The challenge now is taking everything they've mentioned and improving our product to best fulfill the wants of our customers.
At the end of the day, however, the only way you can ensure your start up is a success is by testing your product along the way and making sure that it is not simply feasible and viable, but that it is desirable.