Customer Development and the Lean Startup | Recess Mobile Blog

I’ve heard the Lean Startup methodology likened to a framework. Its central precept is that a startup should develop its customers as it develops its product – that is, both concurrently and in a structured, concerted fashion. If you’re taking advantage of a framework like Rails for the latter, you shouldn’t be using the business equivalent of compiled Java for the former (or more accurately, cf. Waterfall, Agile). It’s about mitigating risk at every decision point. It’s a floor wax and a dessert topping. Even use it for your blog.

If this post was a candy bar, it would be something like a Super Snickers with more nuts, caramel, and chocolate than anything on the market. This is a super lean startup post that has enough links to keep you busy for days reading up on how to at least not completely screw up your startup.

It’s very easy to underprice your product – Venture Hacks

What’s the right price for your product? According to Steve Blank, it’s apparently $0. And it’s also $1 million. What?

Listen to this wonderful story to learn how Steve uses these two prices to create a bounding box around the highest price customers will pay for a product. And see why he thinks “It’s very easy to underprice your product… particularly if you’re an engineer.”

With both audio and text, this post is a no-brainer for anyone that is looking at how to approach pricing, particularly for enterprise solutions, but this still has good anecdotal pricing thoughts.

The Essential Startup Reader: 10 Lessons in Entrepreneurship

As a blogger, I spend most of my time writing. But it’s time spent reading that’s most satisfying. Here’s a short (and by no means a complete) list of 10 articles that encapsulate the art of the startup. Most were published during 2009, and I found them educational and full of practical tips that we’ve applied to our business. They’ve also helped me think differently about startups and entrepreneurship. Hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did.

  1. “What Startups Are Really Like” by Paul Graham: This has to be the single best essay I read during 2009. Every entrepreneur should begin the startup journey with this essay. It bottles every essence of entrepreneurship and startups, and is chock-full of practical advise and tips that are applicable to anyone who dares to dream.

  2. “Milestones to Startup Success” by Sean Ellis: Ellis explains the need for minimum viable product, aka MVP, and then outlines how startups can go up his startup pyramid to find success.

  3. Myth: Entrepreneurship Will Make You Rich” by Eric Ries: “One of the unfortunate side effects of all the publicity and hype surrounding startups is the idea that entrepreneurship is a guaranteed path to fame and riches. It isn’t,” Ries writes in this no-holds-barred essay about the challenges and pitfalls of being a startup founder.

  4. “What Is the Minimum Viable Product?” by Venture Hacks: A great audio conversation on the Venturehacks blog including a slide show.

  5. “The Power of Continuous Improvement” by Mike Speiser: In a guest post for us, Mike talks about the importance of metrics, feedback and how they can drive continuous improvement. Mike’s rules have found eager takers among our team.

  6. “Getting Comfortable With People Who Make You Uncomfortable” by Mike Speiser: In this article, Mike addresses the need for people who challenge conventional wisdom and make everyone around them uncomfortable — which is why every company needs them.

  7. “The Funnel Principle: Software & Making Money” by Tony Wright: It’s good to build great products, but in order to build great companies one needs to have more — a clear path of monetization, an attention magnet, and in general excellence at things beyond product development.

  8. “Does Every Startup Need a Steve Jobs?” by Andrew Chen: A dissection of how insanely great products are built by combining desirability, feasibility and viability. Read this post after reading Wright’s “Funnel Principle.”

  9. “Designing for Social Traction” by Josh Porter

10: “Startup Killer: The Cost of Customer Acquisition” by David Skok: A definitive essay on startup business models, the perils of overoptimism, and the importance of cost of customer acquisitions. Skok is a 3-time entrepreneur with a lifetime of experience.

Bonus links: