Lean Start Up
By Eric Ries
Summarized by Vick Simon and voiced by UyohUyoh
When I was starting my first company, I was
thinking of how I would cope with running
a business and my 8-5 job at that time, so
I asked a friend who was my consultant if
I could indicate on the company's web site
the time I want customers to call or hire
a call representative to pick the calls.
Among numerous things I needed to do, my friend
advised meto get on the phone and answer the
calls myself to cut cost and have direct information
and feedback from the customers which we would
then use to reposition the company, if the
need be.
I know.
It’s very difficult to do so many things
with a single head, yet, that’s what you’ll
have to do as a Start Up owner.
When you’re just starting a company, you
may be the marketer, the accountant, the customer
care rep and many things in-between.
One of the major lessons in Lean Start Up
is;
A start up owner must be a Jack of all trade
and master of all.
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Let’s move to the second lesson.
In one of our brainstorming sessions one day,
my friend and business partner pointed out
how all the online shopping companies in our
country were not making
money because they were competing with prices.
The market became saturated and all of the
companies started using prices as their unique
selling point to make customers buy.
After a long fruitless fight, one of the companies
began to have financial problems and sought
new investors, the new investors came and
two out of the three companies merged to form
one.
Unfortunately, these companies still continue
to compete with prices as their unique selling
promise.
Don’t tell anyone.
It’s just a matter of time, these companies
will still die a natural death if they don't
find other ways to position themselves other
than having best prices.
Most inexperienced entrepreneurs often think
they could win a market just by selling cheaper
than other competitors.
Don’t do that!
The only way to build a viable company is
to figure out what the customer want and be
the best at giving them the exact thing they
want at a price that gives you a good profit
margin.
The second important lesson in Lean Start
Up is;
As a start up owner, your job is to find out
what your customers want and how you can make
good money by being the best at giving them
what they want.
Around 2010, one of the founders of IrokoTV;
Jason Njoku got an idea to build a business
around distributing African movies when he
discovered that it was always difficult to
get African movies outside the continent of
Africa.
Without wasting time, Jason was able to get
into partnershipdeal and together they raised
about 25 million dollars from foreign investors.
This investment made their new company one
of the biggest DOT COM businesses in West
Africa and to my third lesson in this book.
The third important lesson in Lean Start Up
is;
Every start up owner must be sure there is
large demand for his product or service before
starting out.
Before Henry Ford joined the business of automobile,
little or nothing was known about the business
model of mass production.
Almost everyone tried to produce whatever
they produce in small quantities.
Before Ford came into the scene, cars were
only affordable by those in the upper class
of the then American society.
Ford came up with an outstanding mass production
model that made him fortune and allowed him
to dominate the automobile market.
Because Ford was able to figure out how to
mass produce cars, ford could sell cars which
are affordable by the middle class of the
America society.
Because ford could sell to the middle class,
he could sell to several thousands of people
and he could be sure that his business model
would work far to the future.
The fourth lesson in The Lean Start Up is;
Astart up owner must develop his own business
model which is capable of working now and
in the future.
Recently I was not getting the result I wanted
on one of our businesses so I decided to watch
a YouTube video on how to improve it, I then
got a video that was particularly addressing
that challenge I was facing in the business.
I immediately picked up the phone and called
one of my employees to effect what I just
learnt, and like magic, I started seeing the
result.
This is one of the ways I get new spices to
add to my business.
If you’re an employee, you may not have
so much to learn, especially if you’re not
so ambitious about climbing the corporate
ladders.
However if you’re an entrepreneur, you must
wake up every day to look for how to improve
your business.
That means you must find a way to get education.
No…
I don’t mean that you must go back to school.
Sorry, no school or college will teach you
entrepreneurship.
How can poor lecturers teach you how to make
money?
Hahahahaha…
The right education is right at the library
and on the internet.
Get in front of experienced entrepreneurs,
pick up their books and audio training.
Lean, lean and lean.
The fifth lesson in the Lean Start Up is;
As a start up owner, you must constantly educate
yourself.
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