1. LESSONS LEARNED
Andres Glusman
VP, Strategy & Community Meetup
Co-organizer: NYC Lean Startup Meetup
AGILEUXNY - FEB 2012
@glusman

2. Accidental Lean Startup
1) Agile development with multiple pushes per day
2) Extensive customer development
Customer Development
3) Experiment then double down
@glusman
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3. On pace to do 600-800 usability sessions this year
Will cost around $30,000
(less than 1 outsourced usability project)
@glusman

4. Test 2-3 days a week (t, w, th)
Setup tests prior to knowing what will be tested
Recruit participants from community and through recruiter
(compensate for their time)
Use gotomeeting to broadcast sessions to developers
Use silverback to record
Follow each session with discussion & notes/video
@glusman

5. MALKOVICH BIAS:
THE TENDENCY TO BELIEVE THAT EVERYONE
USES TECHNOLOGY LIKE YOU DO
@glusman
@glusman

6. Watching people use the stuff you
build, is the best way to confront
the Malkovich Bias
@glusman

7. Shifts the conversation from
how I would use the website to
how this user uses the website
@glusman

8. “This Group
meets the first
Saturday of
“This Group every month “
meets the first
Saturday of
every month “
“This Group
meets the first “This Group
Saturday of meets the first
every month “ Saturday of
every month “
@glusman

9. Testing on our DIY iPhone Rig
Similar approach to
iPhone testing
@glusman

10. Lean Startup
1) Agile development with multiple pushes per day
2) Extensive customer development
3) Experiment then double down
Experiment then double down
@glusman
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11. 11
@glusman

12. 12
@glusman

13. 13
@glusman

14. Experimenting is more
than A/B Testing
@glusman

15. Long term experiments
Community Coaching
Every new Organizer on Meetup has a
coach on the community team & gets
personalized emails from their coach with
advice they need based on their situation
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@glusman

16. How’s work?
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@glusman

17. How’d we get here?
Only greeted
80% of new
Organizers
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@glusman

18. Results
No change!
Except….
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@glusman

19. Implemented across the board
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@glusman

20. Customer Development lessons learned
1. Give team direct access to customers
2. Look for boulders in the road
3. Substitute frequency for precision
4. Strip out costs wherever possible
…but be willing to trade money for time
5. Have discussions
6. Launch & learn
7. Accept that failure is most likely outcome
8. Experiment then double down
@glusman

21. 21
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22. 22
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23. PROCESS
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24. Just started doing it
@glusman

25. Snuggle up with failure
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26. WHAT WOULD YOU
DO IF YOU ASSUMED
YOU WOULD FAIL?
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27. RUN INTO A BUZZ SAW AS FAST AS WE CAN
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28. GO AFTER THE THINGS THAT
WILL CAUSE US TO FAIL AS
FAST AND OFTEN AS WE CAN
@glusman

29. Drop me a note
Andres Glusman
andres@meetup.com
@glusman
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@glusman