How the Lean Startup is Changing Business Big and Small

I’m becoming increasingly convinced that the mantra of “think like an entrepreneur” is becoming even more important in the business world today. And with that mantra comes the teachings and learning of the Lean Startup by Eric Ries.

“Lean Startup” is an approach for launching businesses and products, that relies on validated learning, scientific experimentation, and iterative product releases to shorten product development cycles, measure progress, and gain valuable customer feedback. In this way, companies, especially startups, can design their products or services to meet the demands of their customer base without requiring large amounts of initial funding or expensive product launches. – via Wikipedia

Eric initially wrote the book to cater to the technology startups in Silicon Valley and eventually across the world. However, the methodology has slowly crept into larger organizations. I recently overheard the concept of “Failing through Innovation,” which points directly to the idea of the Lean Startup.

The Lean Startup methodology was built off the lean manufacturing system out of the Japanese automobile industry in the 1980s. This management system “considers as waste the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer, and thus a target for elimination. Additionally, immediate quality control checkpoints can identify mistakes or imperfections during assembly as early as possible to ensure that the least amount of time is expended developing a faulty product.”

Similar to the precepts of lean management, Ries’ lean startup philosophy seeks to eliminate wasteful practices and increase value producing practices during the product development phase so that startups can have better chances of success without requiring large amounts of outside funding, elaborate business plans, or the perfect product.

I believe this idea should also be applied in departments within larger organizations. We have the ability to use technology to make what we do better. And we should be hard pressed to follow the automobile industry and “considered waste the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value of the end customer.”

I would rephrase the concept to fit within any marketing department. Lean marketing – any expenditure does not build the customer experience or drive direct revenue should be viewed as expenditure to be cut.

Sound like marketing? It should.