lean startup

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

Speaking Opportunities Help Your Personal Brand

What do you want to be known for?  The guy or gal that never shows up? The friendliest person who never sparks controversy?  Or, maybe the most energized and opinionated person in the room?

Me, I have opinions.  The only way anyone will care about them though is if I show up.  And the best way to show up is for a speaking opportunity.  That’s why I try to accept as many as I possibly can.
Do you have a unique brand to yourself? Do some volunteering, and let people know, You’d love to speak.  It will help your brand grow!
Recently l, I spoke at Sartup Grind Austin.  I got extreme.  I know, maybe too far?  It’s okay, I will hopefully be remembered as a result!  Don’t just have an opinion, have a FUCKING EXTREME opinion.  If nothing else, it will spark discussion.

A few “extreme points” I made:

1.) Austin is great because we genuinely want to see each other succeed.  We can celebrate successes of our peers and it motivates us more!
2.) California sucks because it is the opposite of Austin.  People there engage in success theatre, and then make Each other feel bad to get motivated.
3.) Just do something!  Stop making plans and instead, launch something already!  Lean Startup trains this, and my message, now part of my new book http://leanstartings.com is that you can learn to launch: my book teaches you how to build a webpage and collect money in about an hour.  No More Excuses!
So, get out there, show up, volunteer, have a message, and speak when invited. I do!

See me next at Austin Game Conference on Sept. 21st!  Game Funding Panel!

UT Austin Campus-wide Cofounder Speed Date 9/29 6 PM @ McCombs School of Business

UT Austin Campus-wide Cofounder Speed Date 9/29 6 PM @ McCombs

Being run by Dr. Harlan Beverly, McCombs lecturer of Lean Startup Essentials (MAN 338) at UT Austin (open to students campus-wide)
Join a Student Startup
-or- Find a Cofounder
  RSVP Required

  • Who:   Any UT Austin full-time student interested in joining a student startup or finding a cofounder
  • Where:   McCombs School of Business, CBA 3.304
  • When:    Thursday, Sept. 29 from 6 PM – 9 PM
  • What:    Students will meet in a speed-date format for five minutes each.  Students with a skill looking to join a startup (part of the RSVP process) will circle through the students with ideas looking for cofounders. Each student will be given a stack of 20 business cards with their name, email and EITHER their startup idea or their skill. Matches will be made at the option of the student.  Learn more at http://bit.ly/utcofounder  

A formula to tell if your idea is good: for Engineers & logical thinkers.

Is your idea good?  This comes up in a ton of contexts, from entrepreneurship and startups to brainstorms and even into big companies and small projects.   Even if you are just coding up something, you are usually working from an idea.

Wouldn’t it be nice to know if your idea is good, perhaps even BEFORE you’ve tried it?

The following logical flowchart is designed with that in mind.  Enjoy!

Step 1: Do you think your idea is good?
IF YES: Proceed to next step.
IF NO: STOP!  BAD IDEA!

Step 2: Do others think your idea is good?
IF YES: Proceed to next step.
IF NOT: STOP!  MEET with those others and talk through what’s not good about it, improve it, then go back to Step 1!

Step 3: Will your idea take less than 1 day to build and test?
IF YES:  GOOD IDEA!  Build and test it!   It’s almost always worth it to test an idea you think is good, and get the results of the test.
IF NO: Proceed to next step.

Step 4: Can you build a “fake version” of your idea in less than 1 day and test it?
IF YES:  GOOD IDEA!  Build and test it!   It’s almost always worth it to test an idea you think is good, and get the results of the test.
IF NO: Proceed to next step.

Step 5: Can you build a “REAL or fake version” of your idea in less than 1 day and then test it in less than 1 week?
IF YES:  GOOD IDEA!  Build and test it!   It’s almost always worth it to test an idea you think is good, and get the results of the test.  Sometimes the testing takes longer (like an A/B experiment requires time to gather data).  Still, worth it!
IF NO: Proceed.
Step 5: Is there a way to measure if your idea is good?
IF YES:  Proceed.
IF NO: Rethink the idea to include a way to measure if it’s good or not, then go to Step 1.

Step 6: Work hard to see if you can build it faster in a way that can get you ‘measurable results’ if your idea is good or not….   and then build it and measure it.

That’s it!

I know maybe you were thinking there is some algorithm to “actually” tell you if your idea is good or not… newsflash, it cannot exist.  What can exist though is a new kind of thinking: think measurement first!  If you can’t tell if your idea is good or not (by some measure) then why even ask the question?

No go out there and Measure!

The Lean Startup Toilet Bowl Trap of Getting Nowhere Slowly

Progress.  That’s a nice word.  “We’re making progress…”, says the workers cutting the road through the forest.   Then, a wise leader climbs a tree and says “but you’re going the wrong way!”

That’s all fine and good, and a good lean startup does this often.  It’s called “Pivot” and it’s central to the Lean Startup concept.  But what happens when you just keep pivoting?  Aren’t you chasing your tail?  Suddenly, you have a road to nowhere, or worse, a road that goes in circles.

This is a TRAP!  Your “lean startup” just got into a slowly dieing spiral of doom.  Your dream is getting flushed in the toilet because you keep climbing that tree and realizing that you’re going the wrong way!

Here’s an example of the Lean Startup in the Toilet Bowl Trap:

  1. You build a website and collect some preorders (yeah, progress!)
  2. You ship the preorders and get feedback from customers that they love/hate certain features (yeah, progress!)
  3. You fix the product based on the feedback, and nobody buys it (yeah, progress!)
  4. You PIVOT to a new product and collect some preorders (yeah, progress!)
  5. Jump to step #2, repeat, all the way to the toilet’s flush.

So, how do you get out of this toilet bowl trap?

First, remember, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing expecting different results.

You have to do something different!

In many cases, the problem is not ‘your product’ or ‘your idea’, but the marketing instead!

Instead of constantly pivoting on “product” you might need to pivot on some of the other 4 P’s of Marketing:

  1. Place: Maybe your lack of orders is because it’s not available where the customers are… and particularly where the customers are that are in the buying mood for what you offer!
  2. Price: Maybe your lack of orders is related to the pricing or pricing structure of your product.  Maybe you need to sell it in parts, or with different options.  It could even be too low!
  3. Promotion: Maybe your lack of orders is related to how you are attracting customers.  Sure, you’re getting a lot of ‘views’, but are those customers: the right ones, in the right mood (buying), with the right goals, with the right problems, with enough education about your solution, etc.?  Or Maybe, your just not reaching your right audience, or just not ‘appealing’ enough to their needs (messaging).
So, avoid the Toilet Bowl Trap: run Lean Startup Experiments on more than just ‘the product’…
Enjoy!