I was listening to Eric Ries The Lean Startup with the subtitle How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, last week.
I have not thought myself as a startup where the thoughts from the book could apply. In my definition a startup create a product/service to put into the market and is a team to deliver this work. I’m just a single person working on a bunch of different ideas. I’m working on software and information products to the SAP market.
The way Eric defines a Startup is:
A startup is a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.
In this context I am a startup and I can see that the contexts and ideas apply much more to me. I do work under conditions of extreme uncertainty. I’m not really sure how I can make sure to sell my product and services. I know that it is possible, but I need to find the solution to really expand the market.
One probably more important aspect is the ability to measure how we are doing. For the startup to be successful and compete with big companies, they need to be learning at a much faster pace. The only way to be a better learner is to have ability to measure what works and what does not work.
I have always known that it is a good thing to make A/B testing of website or other solutions that you put into the market. Also look at the number of visitors on your website and see what makes everything convert. It take consistent practice to be sure that you follow up on the areas. But it is one of the things that often are not done. It is a bit too complicated and you don’t know what the result means.
What was your take aways from the book.