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 [...]
“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 [...]
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 [...]
A good reason to shave your head.
On Friday, I shaved my head in support of kids with cancer. Was a bit scary, but loads of fun! My hair is being donated to a charity that makes wigs for kids with cancer, and I’m hoping some of you guys are inspired to make a small donation to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). [...]
Intro to Kanban
Chris Parsons (@chrismdp) at the Agile UX Retreat in London, giving us an overview of Kanban from an Agile perspective.
The Market Positioning Myth
There’s a dangerous myth about market positioning that can keep you from seeing true customer needs. It comes from looking at the wrong side of the market. In this post, I’ll help you steer you away from being blind-sided by market realities when it’s too late, avoid poor marketing channels, and give you freedom from [...]
Cold Calling the #custdev way, part 2
Michael Schell, author of Buyer-Approved Selling and Winning Sales Advice, developed sales techniques by researching and collaborating with hundreds of professional buyers at Fortune 500 companies. Following up from my post in part 1 of this series, Mike gives Lean Startups a few tips for introductions with customer research cold calls.
Cold Calling the Customer Development way
I share a cold-calling technique that helps with getting customer interviews, and invite Michael Schell, the author of Buyer-Approved Selling to share more customer research tips with us.
Rework vs Getting Real
Rework takes some concepts from Getting Real and explains how they’re relevant to business thinking, not just web apps. I explain two of them: Epicenter Design and making decisions here.
Rework – Book Review
A few questions out there about Rework, the new 37 Signals book. I’ve had an advanced copy for a few months and I review it here.
Social Enterprise meets Lean Startup – Comments on London Meetup 1
If you missed the first London meetup, it was a fast-paced discussion covering a lot of topics, including social enterprise and getting started. I cover and comment on a few of them here.
MVP (Minimum Viable Product) described in 30 seconds.
What’s this MVP thing entrepreneurs are talking about? Find out in 30 seconds. Disclaimer: Facts about Kevin Costner may be exaggerated.
How embracing constraints helped me break my 80 hour week.
Now that my business is putting a lot of time pressure on me, it’s harder to be dependable to my friends. Reading Rework helped me when I was working 70-80 hour weeks but wanted to support a friend who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
Starting with Lean Startup – Using your entrepreneurial vision to direct your learning
When applying Lean Startup principles, it’s easy to fall into a visionary mode in a way that can interfere with the learning process. I’ve found that thinking of my vision in terms of assumptions helps me to stay focused on learning the right things at the right time. Here’s how I do it.
I’m Salim Virani, an entreprenerd & business advisor. I'm a founder of 
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