I used to mentor some of the very first Lean Startup Machine events and it was a lot of fun. But I would consistently see teams struggle to think through their ideas holistically, and to concisely lay out their assumptions and risks. They were getting stuck on the various canvases, so I created a simple questionnaire. Fast forward several years, …
Should you write unit tests for experiments and MVPs?
This question came up again recently. Good software engineering is rigorous about tests because they reduce bugs both in the code’s present state and with code changes, ultimately improving quality and speed. When you are at the early stages of an idea, just trying to test out whether it holds water, should you bother with tests at all? Speed of …
Sharing Sketch files with Github
While we don’t dictate tools in the Neo NYC office, a large number of us have long moved to using Sketch, the vector design app from Bohemian Coding. One struggle has been sharing Sketch files. Dropbox handles them OK, but last time we tried, Google Drive and Box.net did not. But given the way Sketch saves, with Dropbox it can …
Bezos on the Post and Innovation
I bet many of you read the recent Jeff Bezos interview in The Washington Post, but I wanted to highlight these two quotes: “We’ve had three big ideas at Amazon that we’ve stuck with for 18 years, and they’re the reason we’re successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient.” “In my experience, the way invention, innovation and change …
When do you hit the gas pedal?
“Unfortunately, the pendulum rarely swings halfway” — Eric Paley Eric Paley has a great post about founders hesitating to invest in growth, even when he thinks they should. Now, I’ve been in startups where either the CEO or the VCs tried to force growth too early, and had it backfire in a big way. Thus I’ve been very responsive to …
Good founders can get capital anywhere?
“Good founders can get capital anywhere.” I like both Pando and Erin Griffith, but I have to call out that sentence from an article the other day. It is one of those easy phrases that people trot out, but experienced founders know better. *Famous* founders can get capital from many places. Not even anywhere. Good founders struggle. Fund raising is …
Evidence, not Validation
The other day, I tweeted my discomfort with the words “validation” and “invalidation” when it comes to early stage products. They appeal to human psychology because we like clear, crisp, confident concepts. But the real work of applying lean in practice is much murkier. When is something actually validated or invalidated? An adequate answer to the former might be product-market-fit, …
Meetup’s Qualitative Research with “Jobs To Be Done”
Last thursday, I popped over to Meetup’s HQ to talk to Anna Howell and Brenna Lynch, two researchers on their team. They have been using the “Jobs To Be Done” framework, from Clayton Christensen, to organize their qualitative research. Currently, they are studying two critical moments in their customers’ lives: “first joining meetup.com” and “creating a new group”. Behind their …
Even the experts didn’t feel like experts
“I knew I was never going to be an expert—even the experts were always making clear that they didn’t feel that they were experts—and so I simply had no choice but to try and make that a strength.” That is Rivka Galchen, who wrote about quantum computing for the New Yorker and is quoted in this article Explaining the Inexplicable. I …
Escaping the Era of Manufacturing
But I’m just a soul whose intentions are good: Oh Lord! Please don’t let me be misunderstood … — The Animals Software is eating the world, but most people really don’t understand it. For one thing, it is relatively inexpensive to create if you are the one who can actually create it (although the opportunity cost is, of course, the …