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My last startup was a lean startup. We had a tiny team (1 founder, 1 designer and then me the engineer) we failed because we just didn’t have the resources and

My last startup was a lean startup. We had a tiny team (1 founder, 1 designer and then me the engineer) we failed because we just didn’t have the resources and spread ourselves thin. Coupled with the fact we opted to wait and raise revenue once we reached a certain amount of users, so all we had was the initial fundraising and YCs lump sum (which just went up) and we really didn’t stand a chance. We had almost no investors interested in the product and I can’t say I blame them. My current startup has went the other way, initially I thought it was too far in the other direction. But because we have enough people we are hitting our milestones, we are able to have a few people who only interact with customers and investors and that really does make all of the difference.

Swizec 5y ago
Correct me if I’m wrong — isn’t the core lesson of lean startup to have enough but not too much? It sounds like your previous startup didn’t fulfill the “enough” portion. As in it was a minimal company but not a minimal viable company?
- WisNorCan 5y ago
  If that's the core lesson, it doesn't seem like very helpful advice. How many resources should I have? Don't have too few resources and don't have too many resources. Have enough resources! Presumably one of the reasons people have too few or too many because they think that is the right amount of resources at the time. It is only in retrospect that you can tell whether you have enough.
  - mgkimsal 5y ago
    Viability is tied to survivorship bias, I'd guess. If you didn't survive, you weren't viable.
  - davidw 5y ago
    I felt the book was a bit hand-wavy this way. It all sounds ok, but there did not seem to be a bunch of practical advice.
- edgyquant 5y ago
  I would say that should be the going framework regardless. Having come from a failing startup thanks to being lean, I think the lesson I’ve learned is mostly “it depends.” The company I’m at now went on a hiring spree once we landed in YC and got our first few investors. We then ended up having too many engineers, at least for the problems we could reasonably expect people to pay us for, and had to let two people go.
tomhallett 5y ago
It sounds like you failed for many reasons, lean being the least of them. "Lean Startup" doesn't mean you should wait to raise, it means that you can get more "at bats" with the money you do have. Just because "lean" made it possible to not raising more money right away, that doesn't mean it's part of lean - that was a bad idea by the founder. And think about it this way, let's say you decided to "go big" and not raise right away - how much faster would you have gone bankrupt? The issue here is the lack of fundraising, not lean. It feels like you took a bootstrapper approach to building your company, but within a YC incubator talking to VC investors. No matter what methodology you use, that team sounds very small. I really hope the "1 founder" was a developer and an amazing design was crucial for your companies success.... :)
raptorraver 5y ago
I just resigned from an early stage startup where I was the CTO. I burned out. Last summer I started asking our CEO if we should raise money to help us (basically me) deliver but he said it's too early as we didn't have many paying customers back then and the valuation and terms wouldn't be optimal. I hanged there 6 more months but in the end was so exhausted I took one month of sick leave and during that I decided it's not worth it to keep on fighting. Now he's raising money with a new CTO-candidate. Lean is good but I wish it wasn't my mental health we paid the leanness.
- onion2k 5y ago
  but he said it's too early as we didn't have many paying customers back then and the valuation and terms wouldn't be optimal The last time I tried to raise anything it was pretty much impossible to do pre-revenue. Even a small seed round has expectations that you'll have launched already[1]. Obviously it depends on a lot of factors, but there's a chance your CEO was right. [1] ...which defeats the point of it being a seed round in my opinion. If you've proven the model and you have money coming in then you're raising a Series A. rant rant
- ramraj07 5y ago
  Too many people confusing between lean and dumb in this thread maybe?
  - AitchEmArsey 5y ago
    Possibly also just "too many startups not doing anything valuable, captained by people with their head up their ass".
antihipocrat 5y ago
When I read the book I never got the impression that lean methodology required a lean (as in small) team. It was more about being lean (as in efficient) in the development, iteration and pivoting between ideas. Don't waste time and resources on an idea that customers don't want, cut your losses and pivot toward an idea that has been validated.
- kqr 5y ago
  Indeed. Lean is about constantly eliminating waste, i.e. spending as much as possible of your effort on things that will truly take you closer to profitability. A lot of things that look like work are actually not earning you any money, just costing you valuable life-hours. The Lean Startup contains some tips for figuring out which is which.

Swizec 5y ago

Correct me if I’m wrong — isn’t the core lesson of lean startup to have enough but not too much? It sounds like your previous startup didn’t fulfill the “enough” portion. As in it was a minimal company but not a minimal viable company?

WisNorCan 5y ago
If that's the core lesson, it doesn't seem like very helpful advice. How many resources should I have? Don't have too few resources and don't have too many resources. Have enough resources! Presumably one of the reasons people have too few or too many because they think that is the right amount of resources at the time. It is only in retrospect that you can tell whether you have enough.
- mgkimsal 5y ago
  Viability is tied to survivorship bias, I'd guess. If you didn't survive, you weren't viable.
- davidw 5y ago
  I felt the book was a bit hand-wavy this way. It all sounds ok, but there did not seem to be a bunch of practical advice.
edgyquant 5y ago
I would say that should be the going framework regardless. Having come from a failing startup thanks to being lean, I think the lesson I’ve learned is mostly “it depends.” The company I’m at now went on a hiring spree once we landed in YC and got our first few investors. We then ended up having too many engineers, at least for the problems we could reasonably expect people to pay us for, and had to let two people go.

tomhallett 5y ago

It sounds like you failed for many reasons, lean being the least of them. "Lean Startup" doesn't mean you should wait to raise, it means that you can get more "at bats" with the money you do have. Just because "lean" made it possible to not raising more money right away, that doesn't mean it's part of lean - that was a bad idea by the founder. And think about it this way, let's say you decided to "go big" and not raise right away - how much faster would you have gone bankrupt? The issue here is the lack of fundraising, not lean. It feels like you took a bootstrapper approach to building your company, but within a YC incubator talking to VC investors. No matter what methodology you use, that team sounds very small. I really hope the "1 founder" was a developer and an amazing design was crucial for your companies success.... :)

raptorraver 5y ago

I just resigned from an early stage startup where I was the CTO. I burned out. Last summer I started asking our CEO if we should raise money to help us (basically me) deliver but he said it's too early as we didn't have many paying customers back then and the valuation and terms wouldn't be optimal. I hanged there 6 more months but in the end was so exhausted I took one month of sick leave and during that I decided it's not worth it to keep on fighting. Now he's raising money with a new CTO-candidate. Lean is good but I wish it wasn't my mental health we paid the leanness.

onion2k 5y ago
but he said it's too early as we didn't have many paying customers back then and the valuation and terms wouldn't be optimal The last time I tried to raise anything it was pretty much impossible to do pre-revenue. Even a small seed round has expectations that you'll have launched already[1]. Obviously it depends on a lot of factors, but there's a chance your CEO was right. [1] ...which defeats the point of it being a seed round in my opinion. If you've proven the model and you have money coming in then you're raising a Series A. rant rant
ramraj07 5y ago
Too many people confusing between lean and dumb in this thread maybe?
- AitchEmArsey 5y ago
  Possibly also just "too many startups not doing anything valuable, captained by people with their head up their ass".

antihipocrat 5y ago

When I read the book I never got the impression that lean methodology required a lean (as in small) team. It was more about being lean (as in efficient) in the development, iteration and pivoting between ideas. Don't waste time and resources on an idea that customers don't want, cut your losses and pivot toward an idea that has been validated.

kqr 5y ago
Indeed. Lean is about constantly eliminating waste, i.e. spending as much as possible of your effort on things that will truly take you closer to profitability. A lot of things that look like work are actually not earning you any money, just costing you valuable life-hours. The Lean Startup contains some tips for figuring out which is which.