What Is the Lean Startup?

The Lean Startup is a methodology for developing businesses and products, which aims to shorten product development cycles and rapidly discover if a proposed business model is viable. This is achieved by adopting a combination of business-hypothesis-driven experimentation, iterative product releases, and validated learning.

Here are the steps to understand it:

1. Idea: Everything starts with an idea. In the case of a lean startup, this idea often involves a product or service that could potentially fill a gap in the market.

2. Build: The next step is to build a minimum viable product (MVP). This is a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers and provide feedback for future product development.

3. Measure: Once the MVP is launched, the startup begins the process of measuring. This involves gauging how the product is performing, how customers are responding, and what aspects are successful or unsuccessful.

4. Learn: After measuring the results, the startup learns from the feedback. This could mean making changes to the product, adjusting the target audience, or even starting from scratch.

5. Pivot or Persevere: Based on the feedback and what the startup has learned, it must then decide whether to pivot (make a fundamental change to the product) or persevere (keep improving the existing product).

This process is then repeated, creating a loop of continuous development and improvement. The goal is to eliminate uncertainty, work smarter not harder, and reach the product/market fit as quickly as possible.