Product Strategy

Lean Startup

A methodology for developing businesses and products that aims to shorten product development cycles by adopting a combination of business-hypothesis-driven experimentation, iterative product releases, and validated learning.

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Components

1

Build

Create a minimum viable product (MVP) to test hypotheses quickly

2

Measure

Collect data on how customers interact with the MVP using actionable metrics

3

Learn

Analyze results to validate or invalidate hypotheses about the business model

4

Pivot or Persevere

Decide whether to change direction (pivot) or continue (persevere) based on learning

When to Use

  • ✓Launching new products with minimal waste and maximum learning
  • ✓Testing business model hypotheses before major investments
  • ✓Reducing time and cost of bringing innovations to market
  • ✓Building products that customers actually want

Benefits

  • +Reduces risk by validating assumptions early
  • +Minimizes wasted resources on unwanted features
  • +Accelerates learning about customers and markets
  • +Enables faster iteration and adaptation

Limitations

  • !May not work well for hardware or highly regulated industries
  • !Requires discipline to truly test hypotheses vs. just shipping fast
  • !Can lead to incremental thinking if not balanced with vision
  • !Metrics can be misleading if not carefully chosen

Real-World Examples

Dropbox MVP Video

Industry: SaaS

Tested demand with a simple video before building the product, validating market interest

Outcome: Waiting list grew from 5,000 to 75,000 overnight

Zappos Shoe Photos

Industry: E-commerce

Started by photographing shoes in local stores and buying them only when ordered, testing the business model

Outcome: Validated demand before investing in inventory

Resources

book

The Lean Startup

Related Frameworks

Design Thinking

Quy trình 5 bước lấy con người làm trung tâm để giải quyết vấn đề phức tạp và tạo ra giải pháp sáng tạo

Jobs-to-be-Done

A framework for understanding customer motivations by focusing on the 'job' they hire a product or service to do.

Outcome-Driven Innovation

A systematic approach to innovation that focuses on understanding and satisfying customer desired outcomes rather than product features.