Lean startup is a methodology for developing businesses and products that aims to shorten product development cycles and rapidly discover if a proposed business model is viable; this is achieved by adopting a combination of business- hypothesis -driven experimentation, iterative product releases, and validated learning. A valuable process demonstrating opportunity identification and development (Dr Beeka)

1. Lean Start-Up
Entrepreneurship
Dr Beem Beeka (MCMI, FHEA) @BusinessBee
Leaders & Entrepreneurs Advanced Development (LEAD)
Entrepreneurship Career Centre (ECC)

2. Learning Objectives
• To understand effectual and lean start-up entrepreneurship
• To evaluate the five lean startup principles
• To assess the lean start-up methodology
• To identify challenges
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3. Effectual Entrepreneurship Principles
• Entrepreneurship is about opportunity recognition, creation and consistent development with the
end-user a core part of the process.
• Entrepreneurs aim to control and shape the future rather than predict it like causal
entrepreneurs; these are core effectuation and lean-startup principles.
• Effectual process (a) Who is the entrepreneur (personal characteristics, traits, abilities); (b) What
do they know (personal expert knowledge, education and experience); (c) Who do they know
(social and professional networks).
Key Effectual Entrepreneurship Principles:
1. Use own means, don’t wait for the perfect opportunity, start with what is available
2. Set affordable losses
3. Leverage contingencies, embrace and learn from surprises
4. Form partnerships
5. Create opportunities
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(Beeka & Rimmington, 2011; Burns, 2014; Panos, 2011; Read et al., 2011)

4. Five Lean Start-up Principles
1. Entrepreneurs are Everywhere
2. Entrepreneurship is Management
3. Validated Learning
4. Build-Measure-Learn
5. Innovation Accounting (establish baseline, experiment- tune the engine, pivot or persevere).
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“I actually think every individual is now an entrepreneur, whether they recognise it or not” (Reid Hoffman, Linkedin)
(Ries, 2010, 2017)

5. Lean Start-up Methodology
2. Customer Development e.g. Pivot or iterate
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1.Business Model Design* e.g. Business Model Canvas constitutes nine building blocks and series of testable
hypothesis (Blank, 2013; Osterwalder & Yves 2010)
3. Agile Engineering or Development e.g. MVP
(Ries, 2010, 2017)
‘You are not smarter than the collective intelligence of your customers’
(Blank, 2013)
A combination of a great product and a great business model will
keep a company competitive and ahead (Osterwalder & Yves 2010)

6. Challenges of the Lean Start-Up Approach
• Entrepreneurs/managers stuck in the traditional favour elaborate business plans to launch
products/services causing more failure over lean startup experimentation which enables speed.
• Able to adopt experimentation, evidence-based lean and effectual entrepreneurship principles.
• Able to design business model and get out of office to test hypothesis.
• Able to test hypothesis through customer development channels.
• Able to listen and respond to customer feedback over intuition; persevere, pivot or iterate.
• Willing/able to consistently implement the lean-startup principles and methodology to succeed.
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Business plans rarely
survive first contact
with customers
(Blank, 2013)

7. What is Lean-Startup? Conclusion
• When any individual, small or large company starts a venture by minimizing the lead time, as well
as investment in a new product or service launch.
• Experimentation through business model canvas rather than elaborate business plan to launch
products/services not in ‘perfect’ state but in ‘minimum viable’ state.
• Customer feedback used in an iterative fashion to further tailor the product/service to the specific
needs of customers through ‘validated learning’.
• Avoid wasting time and money on products/services customers do not want or value.
• Benefits; first-mover advantage, fail fast-learn fast, fire business model plans to mitigate failure,
minimised costs, reduce risk, learn through customer feedback, closer customer relationship,
competitive, adaptable, transformative, great products, long-term company.
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(Blank, 2013; Burns, 2014, p. 66; Ries, 2010, 2017)
Thank You

8. References
• Blank, S. (2013) Why the lean start-up changes everything. Harvard Business Review. 9 (5), 1-9.
• Beeka, B. H. and Rimmington, M. (2011) Entrepreneurship as a viable career option for African youths. Journal of
Developmental Entrepreneurship. 16 (1), 145- 164
• Osterwalder, A. and Yves, P. (2010) Business Model Generation. A handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers and
Challengers. Hoboken. Wiley.
• Panos, G. (2011) Read,S., Sarasvathy, S., Dew, N., Wiltbank, R. and Ohlsson, A.V. (2011) Effectual
Entrepreneurship. Abingdon. Routledge. pp. 228. Journal of General Management, 36 (3), pp. 96-102.
• Paul, B. (2014) New Venture Creation: A Framework for Entrepreneurial Start-ups. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
• Read,S., Sarasvathy, S., Dew, N., Wiltbank, R. and Ohlsson, A.V. (2011) Effectual Entrepreneurship. Abingdon.
Routledge. pp. 228.
• Ries, E. (2011) The Learn Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses. London:
Penguin.
• Ries, E. (2017) The Learn Startup. Available at: http://theleanstartup.com (Accessed 5 April 2017) 8

9. Bibliography
• Alex, O. and Yves, P. (2009) Business Model Generation. A handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers and
Challengers. Self Published.
• Beeka, B. H. and Rimmington, M. (2011) Entrepreneurship as a viable career option for African youths. Journal of
Developmental Entrepreneurship. 16 (1), 145- 164
• Blank, G. S. (2006) The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products That Wins. Lulu Publishing.
• Ries, E. (2017) The Learn Startup. Available at: http://theleanstartup.com (Accessed 5 April 2017)
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• Author: Dr Beem Beeka, MCMI, FHEA
• LEAD/ECC
• @BusinessBee

10. 10*(Appendix 1: Osterwalder andYves, 2010)