A methodology for building businesses by testing assumptions quickly with real customers and iterating based on evidence.
The lean startup approach was popularized by Eric Ries in his 2011 book of the same name, building on ideas from lean manufacturing and customer development. Its core loop is build, measure, learn: create a minimum viable product, measure how real users respond, and learn whether to persevere with the idea or pivot to a new direction.
The method encourages founders to treat their business plan as a set of hypotheses rather than facts. For example, before building a full app for booking trekking guides, a founder might test demand with a simple landing page and manual bookings. Critics note that it can be harder to apply in industries such as hardware, biotech, or regulated finance, where experiments are expensive.
Building and growing a company using personal savings and revenue from customers rather than outside investment.
Minimum Viable ProductThe simplest version of a product that delivers enough value to early users to test a business idea and gather feedback.
Product-Market FitThe point at which a product satisfies a strong market demand, so customers actively want, use, and recommend it.
Section-by-section prompts for drafting a business plan with AI, plus a practical method for checking the market numbers chatbots tend to invent.