Loading...
Answers
MenuHow can I adopt the lean start up approach to my business that hasn't really grown for the past 2 years?
Answers
Start experimenting by putting the 2 things in place you say you are missing:
1. create a validated learning model
2. Stop focusing on vanity metrics; replace with user growth, cohort analysis or growth metrics.
Do not just read Lean principles; APPLY them.
Also,
What are you doing to brand your company?
What are you doing to engaging people who have the problem your service solves?
Does it actually solve their problem? Do you know what their problems are? What do THEY think their problems are?
Its great to see that you are looking to adopt lean development methodologies to iterate and grow your business.
I have seen larger organizations that were actually stuck in their efforts to maintain/grow their business without experimenting on new concepts/opportunities. The result was a smaller nimbler startup that had been experimenting was able to disrupt & take market share.
Here are a few things you could try to introduce a culture of experimentation & constant learning of the market you operate in.
- Researching the market your online service operates in will yield ideas on potential trends, customer needs, pain points to solve etc that you can experiment on.
- Have a small team with flexibility to experiment via creation of prototypes /MVPs. These don't need a lot of full-out functionality. Think lean as in just a few web pages/ flows to address the identified needs
- Validate with a sample of current users or new set of users through a reachout, try A/B testing different concepts so you narrow down to the most valuable set of features/capabilities
You will learn a lot, and that is the best part where in if some of your concepts fail, atleast you learn about it sooner than later.
Happy to share more feedback over a call. There are several tools/methodologies that really support lean development. Feel free to reach out.
Good luck!
I've had to do something like this for an established company I work for to grow subscribers, as well as a startup I'm a part of.
It will be hard to give you any specific advice without knowing your exact business model and services.
But I would start with your own data and your current customers. Why did they buy from you? How did they hear about you? What do they like about the product and what can you improve?
Analyze your sales funnel and website metrics. Do you have a lot of leads but low conversion or vice versa? Once you answer that drill down to get a solution.
Where are your leads or highest converting customers coming from? Can you double down or exploit anything there?
Then start a list of areas to test with specific hypothesis and a process to test, analyze and iterate.
Great question.
To start out I'll say be careful with trying to implement the new thing you have read about. Just because you just came across this approach doesn't necessarily make them good for your business.
Lean startup methodology calls for new business minimal viable product launch. You didn't say why type of business you are in so this might be the right perspective for you.
What you mentioned tho is Growth Hacking. You are in a phase of business where can no longer grow it, I actually focus on serving this demographic. Part of how I deliver my services is through growth hacking.
Your web developers need to be savvy enough to implement marketing tactics 101 online as well as understand your business to make the appropriate changes, create landing conversion pages, a/b test different demographics, add or remove features, properly leverage the right social media with potential actual interested individuals.
look through my previous answers to find out more ways to grow a business. Or give me a call as this is a loaded question, and you didn't give much specific.
Related Questions
-
How was SnapChat able to grow so quickly?
I'm answering your question assuming that you hope to be able to replicate it's own success in your own mobile app. There are a couple of factors responsible for it's growth that are instructive to anyone building a mobile app. "Leveraging the intimacy and privacy of the mobile phone." We now have an *intimate* relationship with our phone like no other device in the history of technology. Every internet company that started before around 2010 has built their core interactions around "the old web" one which was accessed primarily via a browser on a computer. Companies that start with a clean slate, should be building their interactions around how to do whatever the app is supposed to do while leveraging what is unique to people's relationship to their mobile devices. Photo-sharing has become a core part of the way we communicate now. Snapchat built something that provided an experience that leveraged the feeling of privacy and intimacy that is unique to mobile. "Provided an escape from the "maturity" of other online services." Too many parents, aunts, uncles and other "old people" have encroached into the social networks of teens and young people. As a result, they've had a desire to find places to express themselves in places inaccessible by older generations. An important distinction is that it's not just parents and relatives that young people are trying to avoid, but also employers & colleges who are increasingly using "mature" social networks to review applicants. "Leveraged PR even bad PR" The fact that the app got so much press about it being used to sext was perfect PR for the company, as it essentially reinforced the brand experience that it has today. Essentially, "if it's safe enough to send a sext, it's safe for any kind of communication I want to have." And although the safety and security of Snapchat is actually not as advertised, it still enjoys the reputation of having less impact than any primarily web-based service. Building a successful mobile application is one of the hardest challenges to face designers, programmers and entrepreneurs in the history of writing software. Happy to talk to you if you're considering building a mobile app, about what I've learned about the "table stakes" for success.TW
-
Is there any typical questions for customers' pain points discovery or it's impossible to standardise?
I have built several multi-million dollar businesses using (2) very simple questions: "What makes you say that...." and "Tell me more...." No matter what someone says to you, you just keep asking one (or both) of the questions. If you do it 4 or 5 times in a row you'll learn everything you ever wanted to know.DW
-
How do I grow from a one man startup when I don't have the money to hire & don't have skills or time for investors?
Stop thinking you don't have the skills to do something. You can learn anything if you decide to, but assuming up front that you can't (forever) is dangerous. my2centsDM
-
What percentage of VC funded startups make it to 100m+ revenues in 5 years or less?
100M+ in revenues in 5 years or less does not happen very often. As an example of one sector, here is an interesting data visualization (circa 2008) of the 100 largest publically traded software companies at that time that shows their actual revenue ramp-ups from SEC filings (only 4 out of these 100 successful companies managed this feat, which themselves are an extremely small percentage of all of the VC-funded software companies): How Long Does it Take to Build a Technology Empire? http://ipo-dashboards.com/wordpress/2009/08/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-a-technology-empire/ Key findings excerpted from the link above: "Only 28% of the nation’s most successful public software empires were rocketships. I’ve defined a rocket ship as a company that reached $50 million in annual sales in 6 years or less (this is the type of growth that typically appears in VC-funded business plans). A hot shot reaches $50m in 7 to 12 years. A slow burner takes 13 years or more. Interestingly, 50% of these companies took 9 or more years to reach $50m in revenue."MB
-
How can I smoothly transition from full time worker to self-employment?
The ways I've done this in the past are 1) Find some customers that are willing to hire you (or your product) but know that you'll only be free nights & weekends to support/work with them. 2) Find a "partner" (co-founder or other) that's got a flexible schedule that can help build the business while you're at work. 3) Block out nights, mornings and weekends to build the business till you have enough orders to cover 50% of your salary. This might mean 7pm-11pm most nights, and 4 hours each day Sat & Sun. Make progress (sales $$$) and momentum. All that being said, it's risk reward. Sounds like you want to avoid taken the risk, and I get that .. but the upside is always smaller. Unless you put yourself in a position to have to succeed (ex: quitting your job) then you may never make the scary decisions that are required to build a company (like cold calling, going in debt, making a presentation, etc). I'm on company #5 with many other side projects started nights & weekends .. so I get it - but don't be afraid to bet on yourself and go all in.DM
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.