Lean Startings

New Year’s 2017: Startup Resolution Revolution

This is an opus, a plea, a dream. This is 2017.
Let us agree to put an end, to the old startup trend.
Old startup was weak, it had a faint reek.
It smelled of false hopes, of untested dreams.

In 2017, we dream big still, but without the frill.
We dream and we test, and leave out the rest.
We give all we have to Lean, Lean Startup I mean.
No false hopes, just tested and true.  Lean Startup starts with you.

It’s a revolution, not just a resolution.
It’s a way of life, not just a passing trife.
Your way is simple, if you choose to accept it.
Just test your idea, before you reject it.

Get started today, if you want to, you may.
Don’t fear the failure spider, to fail is more righter.
It’s right to fail small, so try it all.
Lean Startup is trying, with the minimum of lying.

If your a funder, I plead. Demand more than greed.
Demand proof of their traction, before you do the deed.
Make sure they are tested, and validated and nested.
Make sure their growth, value, and problem, are all three fully vested.

So, this opus to you, this silly sentence so true?
It’s about you and your startup, and starting up too.
Get started with Lean, buy my book to help the team.
Make progress without funding, and deliver the dream!

Harlan T. Beverly, PhD
The University of Texas at Austin

Our Need for Validation & Startup Passion

When I started my first company in 2004, I was unsure.  Unsure of myself, my idea, and my ability to execute.  That self-doubt can be crippling; it makes you hesitate to go all in, to really believe.  And if you don’t believe, nobody else will.  You. Have to have the passion to show it.

That is one reason that finding an investor seemed so important to me on my first company.  I thought I needed their validation, even more than their money.  
Validation from a VC is the worst place to get that though!  I didn’t learn that until my second company.  It is far far better to get validation of your idea from preorders or even better, from paying customers.
I guess that is why I love The Lean Startup by Eric Reis so much.  It gives you permission to make an MVP and get going fast, get validation of all your assumptions from real customers!
However, The Lean Startup fails a bit too. It doesn’t tell you what it will be like, that you will hit bumps, and that you must persist (more than just pivot) but persist-pivot!   It also fails to tell you how to actually build that MVP and get it going!  
That’s part of Europe I wrote my book: Lean Startings.  Through storytelling, you learn what it means to persist, to fail, and to succeed.  You also learn how to build that website, how to take preorders or orders, and ultimately how to fulfill and satisfy customers!  
 Please get my book; I wrote it for you!