Should you invest in community? Where’s the payoff?
People have this idea that you can or should “invest” in community. But if you dig deeper, do you find anything more? A moral argument that it’s “good” or “aught to” be done? Or a rationale in hard sales – pressing the flesh and making deals? I think both of these miss the real value. I’m coming to [...]
A Visual Language For Finance Patterns
You don’t need numbers to understand many important dynamics in accounting. When accountants look at businesses, they spot problems and patterns in a similar way that architects, programmers and user experience designers do. As entrepreneurs, being able to spot the same patterns makes our businesses financially-sustainable and healthy, and I’ve seen it lead to serious [...]
Torture your data long enough, it’ll tell you anything. The antidote? Falsifiable hypotheses
Torture your data long enough, it'll tell you anything View more presentations from Salim Virani.
My Twitter this week: 2011-11-28
What can stop Lean Startup from becoming dogma? /cc @pv @__tosh @flowchainsensei @jmspool http://t.co/WaM90HXe # Technologies that fail to be distributed can’t become the future. So where do entrepreneurs step in? http://t.co/sE454lg7 # @endashes How does that work? # @capotribu Oh – didn't see you had a fire! Hope all's well. # LIVE from #LeanStartup [...]
My Twitter this week: 2011-11-28
What can stop Lean Startup from becoming dogma? /cc @pv @__tosh @flowchainsensei @jmspool http://t.co/WaM90HXe # Technologies that fail to be distributed can’t become the future. So where do entrepreneurs step in? http://t.co/sE454lg7 # @endashes How does that work? # @capotribu Oh – didn't see you had a fire! Hope all's well. # LIVE from #LeanStartup [...]
Earlyvangelist t-shirts – what do you think?
via skitch.com Thinking about doing some kind of Earlyvangelist t-shirt for swag or fund-raising for Leancamp. What do you think? Worth paying for? Would you wear something like this? (Tell me like it is – I can take the criticism if you think it’s a silly idea!) Posted via email from I’m Sal
5 Traits of Earlyvangelists, aka How to solve problems that pay.
While mentoring at Lean Startup Machine London, I covered one of the most fundamental concepts in Customer Development, the 5 characteristics on an Earlyvangelist, which Steve Blank covers in more detail in his book Four Steps To The Epiphany. Trevor grabbed me for a quick interview. Early-Evangelists: Have the problem you think they have Knows [...]
Will your customers bite? The Dogpark Test. /cc @christianralph @pv @brantcooper @ericries
via ow.ly When you think a customer group will have a specific problem that’s painful enough that they’re already looking for a solution, you can validate that through Customer Development interviews. When you need prospects to see it to get it, lightweight paper prototypes can help you learn and evolve quickly. But what about the [...]
A Leancamp including Architecture, Fashion and Science? Leancamp Barcelona Mission
UPDATE: The Leancamp Barcelona waiting list has opened here: http://register.leanca.mp/leancamp-europe-2011/ Tickets will be available to the waiting list first. My first few days in Barcelona have been great. I can already see how a very unique Leancamp could take shape here, an event where new approaches across entrepreneurship, design and architecture are born. If this [...]
“Building faster without measuring is like driving faster without looking.” Article: How Much Process Is Too Much? /by @ericries
Every process a startup uses operates at one stage of the feedback loop. But lean startup practices have the effect of optimizing the total time through the loop. Practices that are harmful are the ones that optimize our ability to do just one of the three stages well. For example, you can build much faster [...]
Using FiveSecondTest to quickly spot the right improvements in landing page designs.
I use FiveSecondTest.com to test landing pages before I build them. It shows a mockup of your page to random people for 5 seconds, then lets you ask them questions to learn what they recalled and understood. This is very valuable to make sure the message you intended is getting communicated, which is important to [...]
Lean Wireframing – choosing the right tools for the right job /by @giffconstable
This is a strong example of truly Lean Thinking (not just Lean Startup Thinking) used in practical design research. A wireframe is meant to communicate and test. You want to do the least amount of work required to fulfill those functions. Anything more is a waste of time and resources. A simple product change might [...]
Everything Is A Remix. Inspiring videos about building on previous innovation. #leanstartup
Great weekend watching, not just for content businesses or creative types. Feels a bit like a modern version of The Manual by the KLF. It also got me thinking about how Lean Startup builds on existing platforms. With the content world moving to mashups and remixes, and the way creative endeavors build incrementally on the [...]
90 seconds of @sgblank on a realistic perspective towards failure. /via @dctanner
via steveblank.com I do think Steve would be surprised if we got him to a Lean Startup or Hacker News meetup here in London! Posted via email from I’m Sal
Web Business Models, Lean Startup & The Missionary Position.
via vimeo.com A talk I gave at The Hacker News meetup in London, to inspire hackers to hack their business models too. Posted via email from I’m Sal
Fun, geeky talk on addressing underserved markets. /by @patio11
via blip.tv Posted via email from I’m Sal
Feature Injection User Stories on a Business Value Theme /by @antonymarcano
The tendency of people to dictate solutions, rather than the problem that needs solving, has lead some to emphasise that we should put the benefit of the story first. For example, let’s say a fictional printer manufacturer consistently entices 3% of everyone they e-mail, reminding them to check their ink-levels, to purchase print consumables. In [...]
Why Lean Thinking Doesn’t Just Hand You Answers
Lean Thinking is a key foundation of Lean Startup, and there’s something at its core which makes it stand out but also leads to a lot of misunderstanding. Unlike a lot of methodologies, Lean Thinking is not actually prescriptive. It is principle-based and learning-oriented – and recognises that these principles manifest differently in different contexts. [...]
Sorry, Tumblr. I’ve moved over to Posterous.
Sorry, Tumblr. I’ve moved over to Posterous.: If you’d like to keep up with me, please follow me on Posterous. The Tumblr downtime last week was a bigger hassle than I expected, so I’ve taken the opportunity to give Posterous a good try.
Sorry, Tumblr. I’ve moved over to Posterous.
Sorry, Tumblr. I’ve moved over to Posterous.: If you’d like to keep up with me, please follow me on Posterous. The Tumblr downtime last week was a bigger hassle than I expected, so I’ve taken the opportunity to give Posterous a good try.
Agile Retrospectives described in 2 minutes (by Agile Advocate)
Agile Retrospectives described in 2 minutes (by Agile Advocate)
Feature Injection, or Agile Business Analysis, described in a comic (free pdf)
Feature Injection, or Agile Business Analysis, described in a comic (free pdf)
Shame to miss #agilex but I’m liking @benjaminm’s Scrum To Kanban talk from last year.
Shame to miss #agilex but I’m liking @benjaminm’s Scrum To Kanban talk from last year.
Oldie but a goodie: Using an Agile Software Process with Offshore Development. /by @martinfowler
Oldie but a goodie: Using an Agile Software Process with Offshore Development. /by @martinfowler: Using an Agile Software Process with Offshore Development
I’m Salim Virani, an entreprenerd & business advisor. I'm a founder of 
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