Lean Startups 101: Adapt faster, be better + never stop learning

Lean Startups have flourished in recent years, mainly because it’s a great business model for small businesses and larger companies alike.

What is a Lean Startup, exactly?

Just like in the Agile methodology of Lean Development, Lean Startups aim to eliminate waste in the work process. Teams that use Lean principles for their Startups take their initial idea and, instead of spending a lot of time perfecting and developing it, immediately get feedback from potential consumers. This way, if the consumer market doesn’t find it useful at all or if it needs a few tweaks here and there, the Lean Startup team can go back to work right away altering or changing their product.

This ensures that your product or idea is needed and wanted by consumers, and if it isn’t, you don’t spend time developing something that won’t sustain.

A long time ago when there weren’t any Lean methods being practiced, Startup companies would jump directly into their work without really knowing for sure if the product they were making was going to do well. But they ran with it anyway, whether it failed or not.

This ultimately wastes time and energy.

Some companies still do business the old way, and it can work sometimes. However, Lean Startups can save money, time, and resources — all of which are valuable.

“The ones that ultimately succeed go quickly from failure to failure, all the while adapting, iterating on, and improving their initial ideas as they continually learn from customers.” (source)

Principles of Lean Startup

There is a general set of principles that Lean Startups usually follow. According to Lean Startup Co., the following principles are the most common:

1) Entrepreneurs are Everywhere
Basically, entrepreneurs can be found in every sector, not just small teams.

2) Entrepreneurship is Management
There is a process that comes with being in a Startup, and the process will need some form of management.

3) Validated Learning
“Startups exist not to make stuff, make money, or serve customers. They exist to learn how to build a sustainable business.” (source)

4) Innovation Accounting
“…how to measure progress, how to set up milestones, how to prioritize work. This requires a new kind of accounting, specific to startups.” (source)

5) Build, Measure, and Learn
Build is referring to designing and producing a product, Measure is seeing how consumers like or dislike the new product, and Learn is how your team moves forward after hearing the feedback and learning from the process they just completed.

Who should use the Lean Startup method?

Even though this method was initially put in place to be used by Startups only, larger teams and companies have started using this method as well.

No matter the type of organization you are a part of or the size of your team, operating as a Lean Startup can help improve every aspect of your business.

How Stormboard can help Lean Startups

Stormboard is a virtual whiteboard software that can help those who are implementing Lean Startup in various ways:

Templates

Stormboard has hundreds of templates to choose from, many of which are targeted towards those who are using Lean methodology. To find the right Lean template for your team, sign up for an account or free trial, open a new Storm (your digital workspace), and click on the  ‘Template’ button at the bottom of your screen.

This will open a window that allows you to browse and choose from any of the templates we offer. To narrow your search, type ‘Lean’ into the search bar, and the templates that are related to that term will appear.

Different Pricing Options

Because different sized teams use Lean Startup, there will be different needs for everyone. Stormboard offers a few different pricing options, including a free personal account that works best with small teams or individuals, a Business Team plan that is $8.33 per user per month, and we also offer Enterprise plans (contact us for more information about Enterprise).  All of the paid plans offer a 30-day free trial.

Real-time editing

Stormboard allows users to edit, add, and share in real-time, from anywhere! If your product is getting some not-so-great feedback, our digital workspace makes it simple to go back in and make changes to anything you may need to rework. Co-editing can also be done so that team members don’t have to wait to add their input. Also, everything you do is saved to the cloud and can be accessed on any device.

Get Started

Part of a Lean Startup team? Make your work even more efficient with Stormboard and sign up for a free trial today.

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