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Something amused me about this post - its a bit like a diet guru flying to Somalia and extolling the virtues of a low-carb diet. Innovation is born from constr
by jonmc12 15y ago
Something amused me about this post - its a bit like a diet guru flying to Somalia and extolling the virtues of a low-carb diet.
Innovation is born from constraint. Entrepreneurs are relentlessly resourceful because they have to be - not because they can be.
When a VC firm runs on a minimal team, its because it is the preferred model out of many choices. When a startup runs on minimal resources, its because they have no other choice.
The point of lean startup is to focus on learning about customers, and use every conceivable resource to evolve the product team's understanding of how to deliver a great user experience. Things change when the organization becomes well resourced - its not about saving up your pennies anymore to figure out how to learn - its about allocating the resources you have most efficiently to achieve a goal (Occam's razor).
Fred writes awesome posts, but being lean out of necessity will always create a different culture than being lean as a choice and the article did not make this very meaningful distinction.
- wpietri 15y agoI think being lean out of choice is substantially superior. If you're lean only out of necessity, then you're in deep trouble when necessity vanishes. Even in a startup where you're lean by necessity, there are plenty of opportunities to be more efficient still. That's especially true when you're talking about long-term efficiencies. Being lean in a considered way means you're more able to avoid the sort of penny-wise, pound-foolish decisions that a low bank balance can encourage.
- jonmc12 15y agoI didn't mean constraint in the sense of not having capital - more in the sense of not having enough resources (people, connections, knowledge, skills, time, capital, etc) to overcome the external obstacles your perceive on the way to accomplishing the goal of the company. You can have plenty of money in the bank and still be in a business where you need to capture a huge market that is cost prohibitive before the company is sustainable. Or perhaps fend off a competitor with more resources at their disposal. That is constraint, that is necessity vs choice - this kind of lean culture requires throwing everything you have at the problem plus getting clever to make up for the resources you lack.
- betterlabs 15y agoI don't quiet agree with that. I believe "lean" definitely is a "state of mind" and the truly lean entrepreneurs are lean irrespective of constraints and I have seen this first hand on several occasions. I know more than a handful founders who have made their money with multiple exits and yet they are lean across the board in every way.