1. September 2013
The Lean MBA

2. Intro to Neo
Neo is a global product innovation company. We create compelling mobile and Web products for our
clients, with a focus on creating customer value and business success. Our clients include large
enterprises, startups, and governments. Founded by Joi Ito (director of the MIT Media Lab) and Ian
McFarland (ex-CTO of Pivotal Labs) we count Eric Ries (author of “The Lean Startup”) among our
partners. We are dedicated to Lean Startup rigor and the close collaboration of business, technology and
design.
Lean Innovation
Agile Development
Education
Our team of thought leaders has
We make great software, with
We want to help you become
literally written the manuals for
deep expertise in Ruby on Rails
successful, and part of that is
lean startup, lean UX and lean
and iOS development. We've
teaching best practices. In our
product management. At Neo,
been doing agile for years, and
lean and agile projects, we often
we put these ideas into practice
continue to lead the field. With
apprentice client staff. We also
every day. We obsess about
Neo, you get the best industry
run focused workshops for our
value creation, as well as
talent, the very highest code
clients, run conferences on
shipping great code. We treat our
quality, and unparalleled
technology and design, and
clients' products like our own.
excellence in software
support the community through
strategy, scalability, and
open source software and
sustainability.
organizing meetups.
2

3. Shorter Company Lifespan
http://thefifthwave.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/sp-index-lifespan.jpg
3

4. We’ve structured our
companies around
scientific management
of the 1800’s
Frederick Taylor
1856 - 1915
4

5. A business model
used to be static
and survived
many years.
5

6. Replacing CEO’s with Outsiders
“In 2011, 19% of S&P 500
companies replaced CEO’s from
outside the company.”
http://www.conference-board.org/press/pressdetail.cfm?pressid=4802
6

7. Replacing CEO’s with Outsiders
“In 2012, 27% of S&P 500
companies replaced CEO’s from
outside the company.”
http://www.conference-board.org/press/pressdetail.cfm?pressid=4802
7

8. start
here
The Lean Startup – Eric Ries
8

9. Unknown
Known
Cynefin Model – David Snowded
9

10. Business
Model
Business
Plan
Cynefin Model – David Snowded
10

11. The Five Year Business Plan
11

12. The Five Year Business Plan
•
•
•
•
•
Numbers must go up & to the right
Largely based in fiction
Used to undermine coworkers
Not consumable for the teams
Too focused on Return on Investment
12

13. What is the Business Model?
“A business model describes the
rationale of how an organization
creates, delivers & captures value”
-Alexander Osterwalder
13

14. Business Model Generation
14

15. Customer Segment
“For whom are we creating value?”
15

16. Value Proposition
“What value do we deliver to the
customer?”
16

17. Channel
“How do we deliver the value we create to
the customer?”
17

18. Customer Relationships
“How do we create & maintain
relationships with our customers?”
18

19. Revenue Streams
“How much will these customers pay for
the value we create?”
19

20. Cost Structure
“How much will this cost to create and
maintain?”
20

21. Key Resources
“Who and what will we need to create this
value?”
21

22. Key Activities
“What will we do with these resources to
build value?”
22

23. Key Partners
“Who would we partner with that will
provide us with Key Resources or Key
Activities?”
23

24. 24

25. What do you
measure here?
25

26. 26

27. Acquisition
Activation
Retention
Referral
Revenue
Pirate Metrics – Dave McClure 500 Startups
27

28. Aware
Hopeful
Satisfied
Passionate
Lean Entrepreneur – Brant Cooper & Patrick Vlaskovits
28

29. Aware
Acquisition
Hopeful
Activation
Satisfied
Passionate
Retention
Referral
29

30. Questions?
30

31. Thank You!
@davidjbland
david.bland@neo.com