The Lean Startup method It is a way of starting a business, based on the validation of an idea, the construction of a minimum viable product (PMV) and the low investment of money. In general, colleges, institutes and universities do not teach how to start a business. People often do it in a way that carries a lot of risk, so it is important to know this method before launching a business idea.
The Lean Startup method has been in the United States for several years and, although little by little it is becoming known in Spain, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina, it still has a long way to go..
Lean Startup is an entrepreneurship methodology to validate innovative business ideas and represents a change of perspective to what is usually done in Latin American countries. It allows you to avoid making huge expenses of money and time, and to come up with a business idea that is profitable.
Currently, with the recession situation, the number of entrepreneurs who want to start their own business is growing, so it is ideal that they try to apply this methodology without going bankrupt..
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Traditionally, when a person or team has a business idea they do the following:
1-You have an idea.
2-Invest time and money in the development of the product / service. Sometimes working for a year or more and spending thousands of euros. I know intuits that the service / product may be in demand although it is not really known and there is no information about the business and its potential customers.
3-Make your product or service known.
The results can be:
-Business is good. This happens a minority of the time. Only 5% of startups survive.
-The business fails and money and time is wasted.
The purpose of this methodology is not to risk starting a business that we do not know if it will be in demand, if it will solve a problem, if people will pay for it or if it will be profitable for us. Definitely, decrease the risk as much as we can to ruin us.
We want to go from our plan A (main business idea) to a plan that works, with the minimum necessary resources.
With Lean Startup there is a change of perspective:
Regarding this, I recommend that you dedicate yourself to something that you really like to do, for which you feel passion, have knowledge and that you can also turn into a business.
Passion, knowledge / training and business.
It is a product or service that meets the minimum characteristics that your final product will have. It is about not investing money in the product before you know that it is in demand, it will solve a problem and people will pay for it..
For example, the creator of Dropbox He uploaded a video to YouTube with what his service would mean. After receiving thousands of visits and positive comments, they offered him a millionaire investment.
You must know if your product / service is demanded by people, ideas that they can contribute, people's vision of your business, etc..
People will be shown the minimum viable product to know what they think of it, what you can improve, if it is sued, if it solves a problem, etc. You will do this through interviews (in each article I will detail each step).
For example, the creator of the billionaire Zappos (It was bought by Amazon) began by selling shoes that she displayed on a poster board, visiting from house to house. That was their minimum viable product..
2/3 entrepreneurs change their initial business idea and they end up doing things totally different from their initial idea. Therefore, it is very likely that your "plan A" will change completely. Although that is what it is about, going from a hypothesis that has not been proven (plan A) to a plan B in which you have verified a hypothesis.
Sometimes we see entrepreneurs who have succeeded with their product and have become billionaires. However, many of them tend to have been working on their product for years (the inventor of the gummy bracelets had been working on this simple idea for 3 years). Cases like Steve Jobs who have a fixed vision and still succeed do not usually happen.
When we get key information about the products / services that people want, if they will pay for them, if they solve a problem and if it will be profitable, we invest time and money in the development of the product / service. Only in that case. That is when we will have gone from plan A to plan B, C or D.
If you don't have an idea yet, I recommend that you comply with the following in what you think and what you are going to work on:
-Be your passion: in this way you will spend more hours effortlessly, you will be more motivated and you will always have new ideas to innovate.
-Have knowledge about it: If you are an expert in the subject of the business you want to develop, it will be easier for you to move forward and people will trust you more.
-Be a business: If you want to open an NGO, you don't have to worry about it being profitable, but if you want to make a living with it, you should think of something with which you can generate constant income. Try to make your idea solve a problem.
The first thing is to write your vision / initial idea and share it with a person to give you feedback.
Traditionally, the business plan has been used, which often exceeds 50 pages and takes a long time to finish. As I have commented to you, I will probably change your Plan A, So why spend so much time on a business plan for an idea that won't work?
Better to use something less static that you can change in case of giving a change to your initial idea. To do this, Lean Startup expert Ash Maurya uses the Lean Canvas.
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