Running Lean Mastery

Running Lean Mastery offers strategies for early-stage product development, emphasizing systematic approaches to idea validation, market fit, and growth. It introduces concepts like MDVFP, unfair advantages, and traction roadmaps, and discusses the importance of experiment design, unique value propositions, competition positioning, and efficient use of time in startups.

Product Development Market Validation Growth Strategies Unique Value Propositions Competition Analysis Time Management Experiment Design Startup Strategies

The hottest Substack posts of Running Lean Mastery

And their main takeaways

Balancing the Conflicting Pulls on Time in a Startup

137 implied HN points • 10 Feb 24

Time in a startup is pulled in different directions - outside and inside the building. Startup founders need to balance both effectively.
Creating a flow state is crucial for productivity. Flow involves being fully immersed in a task, limiting interruptions, and receiving immediate feedback.
To optimize work, establish uninterrupted time blocks for focused tasks, prioritize maker goals early in the day, and schedule manager activities later to maintain flow.

Moving beyond MVP

530 implied HN points • 26 May 23

💼 Business Entrepreneurship Startups Product Development Marketing Management

The term MVP has evolved over time and can be confused with other terms like experiment or demo.
Introducing a new term, MDVFP, to emphasize the smallest desirable, viable, feasible product.
The MDVFP is not a landing page, prototype, or just an experiment - it's a distinct concept.

How to Formulate Your Unfair Advantage Strategy

412 implied HN points • 01 Jul 23

💼 Business Strategy Competition Marketing

Unfair advantages are characteristics that can't be easily copied or bought, like insider information or network effects.
Unfair advantages differ from competitive advantages in that they have exclusivity and defensibility, making them harder to copy.
Differentiate between a Unique Value Proposition (UVP) for customers and an Unfair Advantage directed towards competitors.

Crafting Attention-Grabbing Unique Value Propositions

353 implied HN points • 22 Jul 23

💼 Business Marketing Entrepreneurship Strategy

Getting paid with attention is important in business.
Crafting attention-worthy unique value propositions is crucial.
Paid subscribers get access to exclusive content and benefits.

The Art of Experiment Design

314 implied HN points • 15 Jul 23

💼 Business Strategy Innovation Marketing Entrepreneurship Experimentation

Running experiments is crucial for innovation, but simply running experiments is not enough.
Formulating better guesses is key for quality results in experiments.
Steps to improve experiment design: adopt a discovery mindset, shortlist promising campaigns, and test with small additive experiments.

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Forget Personas

393 implied HN points • 19 May 23

💼 Business Marketing

Personas are not necessary at the early stages of a product
Focus on a single distinguishing trait that triggers action in customers
Identify switching triggers by interviewing those who have taken action

Nailing Release 1.0

314 implied HN points • 03 Jun 23

💼 Business Product Development Business Models Market research Customer Satisfaction

Focus on balancing speed, spend, and scope for a successful release 1.0.
Understand the Kano model to prioritize essential product features like must-haves, delighters, and performance factors.
Maximize your startup's unique value proposition by minimizing features using the Kano model.

A Systematic Roadmap to Product/Market Fit

255 implied HN points • 08 Jul 23

💼 Business Startups Entrepreneurship Marketing Product Development Business Growth

Product/market fit is a significant milestone for startups and achieving it takes time and effort.
By having the right mindset and processes, navigating the early stages of a product can be done systematically like finding your way through a maze.
The Running Lean roadmap consists of three main stages - Business Model Design, Validation, and Growth - leading to product/market fit.

Test If Your Idea is Worth Pursuing Before Investing Months of Effort

334 implied HN points • 29 Mar 23

💼 Business

Stop wasting time on unviable business ideas.
Use the 5-minute test to evaluate your startup's potential quickly.
Seek advice and strategies for building repeatable and scalable business models.

Position Against Your True Competition to Win the Customer

275 implied HN points • 10 Jun 23

💼 Business Competition Innovation Pitching

Identify your true competition beyond product categories.
Position yourself against what your target customer currently uses.
Expose and diffuse the competition by breaking the old and introducing the new way in your pitch.

Don't Create a Product Roadmap. Use a Traction Roadmap Instead.

216 implied HN points • 17 Jun 23

💼 Business Entrepreneurship Startups Strategy Marketing Planning

Don't create a product roadmap; use a traction roadmap instead.
Traction roadmaps focus on measurable outcomes like building a repeatable and scalable business model.
Pitch a traction roadmap using a Now-Next-Later rollout plan with specific time horizons.

Pains and Gains Aren't Enough Without Stakes

157 implied HN points • 29 Jul 23

💼 Business Entrepreneurship Marketing Management Strategy Startups

Pains and gains aren't sufficient to drive action; stakes are crucial.
Customers often resist change due to inertia, even with compelling pitches.
To motivate customers, incorporate stakes into the structure of pilots.

10 Myths About Demand Validation

235 implied HN points • 05 Apr 23

💼 Business Entrepreneurship Marketing Product Development Startups Innovation

Demand validation means selling before building the product.
By validating demand, you save time in the product development process.
Knowing customer demand prior to building helps create products customers truly want.

How to Discover (Versus Try to Validate) Problems Worth Solving

235 implied HN points • 03 May 23

💼 Business Entrepreneurship Problem Solving Product Development

Problems can't be validated, they are best discovered.
Starting with surveys to learn from customers is usually a bad idea.
Avoid biasing customers by presenting them with a list of problems to rank.

The Art of the Demo

157 implied HN points • 24 Jun 23

💼 Business Entrepreneurship Sales Product Development

Don't think you need a fully working product to make a sale
Avoid overwhelming customers during demos by showcasing the least, not the most
Focus on showcasing just enough to close the sale

The True Value of Your Time

196 implied HN points • 23 Mar 23

💼 Business Time management Entrepreneurship Value investing

Time is our scarcest resource, unlike money and people, it only moves in one direction.
Many people tend to value money more than time, leading them to make decisions based on immediate monetary gains rather than future value.
Early-stage entrepreneurs often fall into the trap of equating money with time, impacting their decisions.