Lean Startup Methodology

A framework by Eric Ries for building businesses and products through validated learning, rapid experimentation, and iterative development to reduce waste and uncertainty.

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, published in 2011, drawing on lean manufacturing, agile development, and customer development.

The simplest version of a product that allows you to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort.

To test a core hypothesis about your product with real customers as quickly and cheaply as possible — not to build a polished product.

1. Landing page MVP (gauge interest) 2. Wizard of Oz MVP (manual backend) 3. Concierge MVP (manually serve each customer).

An MVP where the product appears automated to the user but is actually operated manually behind the scenes — testing demand before building technology.

An MVP where you personally deliver the service to each customer by hand — validating that people want the outcome before scaling.

A single webpage describing your product with a sign-up button or email capture — measuring interest before building anything.

The core feedback loop of the Lean Startup: Build an experiment (MVP) → Measure results with data → Learn whether to pivot or persevere.

Plan in reverse: start with what you want to learn, determine what to measure, then figure out what to build.

The process of demonstrating empirically that a team has discovered valuable truths about present and future business prospects through experiments.

A structured course correction — changing one element of your business model (customer, problem, solution, channel, etc.) based on validated learning.