1.
MASTER OF
STARTUPS
SERIES
LEAN STARTUP
INTRO FOR BEGINNERS
www.geekhouse.si/en

2.
BLAZ KOS
• 10+ years working with start-ups
• Management of university incubator, technology park and business angel network
• Management of two start-up accelerators and co-working space
• PODIM Conference – one of the biggest conferences in Alps-Adriatic region
• 600+ lectures in CEE
• Mentored over 300 start-ups
• Two handbooks about startups, 1500+ pages on two blogs
I am on a life mission to make the world a more innovative, organized and transparent place to be by
helping individuals, organizations and communities achieve their peak potential and an entirely new level of
performance.

3.
www.AgileLeanLife.com
An entirely new level of personal performance.

4.
I HAVE AN IDEA.

5.
START:UP

6.
PROTOTYPE

7.
INVESTORS

8.
BUILD THE PRODUCT

9.
MARKETING MATERIALS

10.
LAUNCH
DAY

11.
INVITATION TO CONFERENCES

12.
MEDIA

13.
I HAVE A
STARTUP.

14.
NO
CUSTOMERS

15.
MORE FEATURES

16.
NO
CUSTOMERS

17.
YOU DIDN‘T READ

18.
The vast majority of
start-ups fail not
because they couldn't
build a product, but
because no one
wanted the product.
Steve Blank

19.
No business plan survives the first
customer contact. – Alexander Osterwalder

20.
SUCCESSFULLY
EXECUTING A BAD
PLAN
You build a product…
• on time
• on budget
• with high quality
• and beautiful design
But nobody wants it
ACHIVING
STARTUP FAILURE

21.
THE BIGGEST
WASTE
OF TIME, MONEY,
ENERGY, SKILLS,
PASSION, LIFE…
IS BUILDING
SOMETHING
NOBODY WANTS.

22.
THE CHANGE

23.
Land
Means
of
production
Information

24.
Welcome to creative
capitalism / added
value economy
Source: Richard Florida,
Creative Class

25.
Creative capitalism trends
• Individualization and egomania
• We want everything and we want it “now”
• Shopping and travelling, fun and beauty
• Big mobility of nations
• Business environment is totally unstable
• Global and really tough competition
• The world is flat
• Total market saturation (in the most countries)
• People are more lonely and unhappy being more connected
• High level of interactivity
• Big demographic changes

26.
Be different… and better

27.
We have to give up the notions that we can:
1) Accurately describe the past
2) Predict the future
3) Manufacture it
There is no such thing as a visionary!
It‘s only deep understanding of customer!

28.
Innovation comes so quickly these days that one
transformation has not reached the mainstream in its
lifecycle adoption curve before the next is upon us.
•Short life cycle of products
•Constant innovation

29.
To prosper through these changes, whether as an
individual or a business, you must be
• fast,
• efficient,
• and value-creating.

30.
You must be lean,
agile and sexy.
You must
think quick
& act fast.

31.
Lean Entrepreneurs
• Scalable start-up founders (the next big thing)
• Lifestyle business founders
• Intrapreneurs
• Educators and Consultants
• Government Change Agents
• Investors
…
• Small-business founders
• Solo practioners

32.
It‘s easy to talk about „lean“. It‘s hard to be LEAN.

33.
Doing a Startup is a Lesson in Pain & Sacrifice.

34.
Don‘t do a start-up
• It‘s not cool
• You probably won‘t make any money
• You like your quality of life and regular pay check
• You love your girlfriend more than your start-up
• Your idea probably sucks
• You will have to fire people
• Someone will sue you
• You don‘t know marketing and selling
• Are you a loser or a leader?
Source: Dave McClure

35.
INTERESTED
IS
NOT
FCUKIN‘
COMMITTED

36.
START:UP LIFESTYLE
• DEFAULT OUTCOME: FAILURE
• 100% FOCUS
• MAIN FOOD IS PIZZA
• EMOTIONAL ROLLER COSTER
• IT‘S NOT A JOB
LEARNING SPEED: 500 KM/H

37.
• Ultra geeks/hustlers, best in their generation
• No personal money problems, no worries
• (International) experience and leverage
• Established team before start-up story
• Beginning of the new trend

38.
START-UP
A human institution designed to create something
new under conditions of extreme uncertainty.
Eric Ries

39.
The Lean Startup provides a
scientific approach to creating and
managing startups and get a
desired product to customers’
hands faster.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP =
MANAGEMENT
- Eric Ries

40.
LEAN IS NOT
EASY
MAGIC
COSTLESS
WITHOUT FAILURE (OPPOSITE)
PAINLES
NO QUICK RESULTS

41.
LEAN MYTHS
Lean means cheap
It‘s about speed
It‘s only for IT companies
All companies that face uncertainty
Small bootstrapped start-ups
Ambitious companies that are able to deploy large amount of capital
Replace vision with data
Driven by a compelling vision, testing everything

42.
• Optimize efficiency in all value-added activities
• Eliminate or minimize all non-value-added activities
• Fake feeling of progress
• LOWER THE RISK
• INCREASE SUCCESS RATE

43.
MURA = STANDARD TACT TIME
MURI = NO BOTTLE NECS
MUDA = TOTALLY USELES (7)

44.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
• Add nothing but value (eliminate waste)
• Build quality in
• Defer commitment
• Deliver fast
• Respect people
• Optimize the whole, not the parts
• Cause and effect
• Create knowledge (focus on learning)
• Early, rapid feedback
ELIMINATE WASTE (FAT)
• Reduce time from order to cash

45.
7 TYPES OF WASTE
• In-process inventory
• Anything other than the finished product = Partially work done
• Over production
• Anything produced but not sold / used = Extra features
• Extra processing
• Rework, reprocessing = Re-learning
• Transportation
• Unnecessary movement of materials / product = Handoffs
• Motion
• Every extra step = Task switching
• Waiting
• Downtime because an upstream activity is late = Delays
• Defects
• Product not conforming to specifications

46.
TYPICAL CAUSES OF WASTE
• Layout (distance)
• Long set-up time
• Poor work methods
• Lack of training
• Functional organizations
• Technology Gaps
• Little understanding of the entire process
• Historic supervisory roles
• Irrelevant performance measures
• Lack of workplace organization
• Supplier quality/reliability
• Poor communication
• Avoidable interruptions
• Complexity

47.
Waste in a lean start-up (value economy) are those
activities that do not produce learning about the market
and customers. INSIGHT!
• What is core value?
• What solution provides the value?
• To whom the value is provided?
• How to market, sell and deliver the value?
• How to capture the value?

48.
Learning organization
• Data before rhetoric
• Use data to resolve conflicts
• Use data to measure progress
• Use data to make inform decisions
• Testing before execution -> Experiment to reduce risk
• Reduce market and technical risks
• Test new ideas
• Optimize results
• Customers before business plan -> Understand them deeply
• Continuously learn
• Make data-based decisions
• Continuously improve
Source: Lean Entrepreneur

49.
The Irony
• The Way to go big is to focus small
• One of the biggest entrepreneur traps is to be all
things to all people
MONEY LIVES ON THE FOCUS ISLAND!

50.
• Demand (for your product)
• Ability (for your team to make it)
• Desire (you have to care!)
• You‘re good at
• That you want to do
• Can make money doing
DO SOMETHING
FIND INTERSECTION
Just do it

51.
DON‘T
START A BUSINESS
YOU‘RE GOING
TO HATE!

52.
BE SURE
YOU CAN
MAKE MONEY
DOING IT!

53.
ELEMENTS OF SUSTAINABLE COMPANIES
CLARITY OF PURPOSE: Summarize the company’s business on the back of a business card.
LARGE MARKETS: Address existing markets poised for rapid growth or change. A market on the path to a $1B
potential allows for error and time for real margins to develop.
RICH CUSTOMERS: Target customers who will move fast and pay a premium for a unique offering.
FOCUS: Customers will only buy a simple product with a singular value proposition.
PAIN KILLERS: Pick the one thing that is of burning importance to the customer then delight them with a
compelling solution.
THINK DIFFERENTLY: Constantly challenge conventional wisdom. Take the contrarian route. Create novel
solutions. Outwit the competition.
TEAM DNA: A company’s DNA is set in the first 90 days. All team members are the smartest or most clever in
their domain. “A” level founders attract an “A” level team.
AGILITY: Stealth and speed will usually help beat-out large companies.
FRUGALITY: Focus spending on what’s critical. Spend only on the priorities and maximize profitability.
INFERNO: Start with only a little money. It forces discipline and focus. A huge market with customers yearning
for a product developed by great engineers requires very little firepower.
Source: Sequioa Capital

54.
Source: The Startup Manual

55.
THE LEAN START-UP
TOOLKIT
• Different start-up types
• Different market types and market size
• Vision and hypotheses
• Build – Measure - Learn
• Customer discovery (get out of the building)
• Minimum Viable product
• Pivot
• Innovation accounting
• Engines of growth
• Business model Canvas / Lean Canvas etc.

56.
(sources and references) Learn More
Steve Blank
@sgblank
http://steveblank.com/
Eric Ries
@EricRies
http://startuplessonslearned.com/
Ash Maurya
@ashmaurya
http://ashmaurya.com/
Dave McClure
@davemcclure
http://davemcclure.com/
Alex Osterwalder
@AlexOsterwalder
http://alexosterwalder.com
Brad Feld
@bfeld
http://feld.com/