One of the common misperceptions of lean startup methodology is that it’s a guarantee that your idea for a solution to one or your audience’s problems will succeed.
It’s not.
- You could’ve chosen the wrong audience, like PayPal focusing on Palm Pilot users.
- You could’ve chosen the wrong problem, like Groupon trying to mobilize people for social causes.
- You could’ve chosen the wrong solution, like YouTube thinking people wanted a video dating site.
In all of those examples, the company was able to pivot successfully.
- Turns out EVERYONE wants to be able to send money electronically to their friends.
- People already have platforms to mobilize for social causes, but (at the time), they didn’t have a platform to mobilize for the cause of saving money.
- Video for dating? No thanks. Video for cute cats? Yes, please!
But what if you can’t?
In Lean at 10: Culture Eats Methodology for Lunch, the American Association of Veterinary State Boards’ first use of lean startup resulted in exactly that: the realization that the product in question was un-pivotable.
“We were used to hitting home runs for our members and affiliated customers,” said Chrissy Bagby, CAE, PMP,
Chief Strategy Officer at the AAVSB. “Then, when we had a launch fall flat, it didn’t feel great.”
The AAVSB ultimately decided to kill that particular product, using the evidence gained through the process to make a data-informed decision.
For many associations, that would be it. “We already tried lean startup, and it didn’t work. Our product was a failure, and we had to pull it.”
What allowed the AAVSB to continue using the methodology?
Their culture.
The AAVSB team was willing to have difficult conversations, work together to create shared understanding, learn and institutionalize the PRACTICE of innovation (not just the concept), measure their effectiveness, and make decisions accordingly.
In other words, they realized the actual benefit of lean startup: insight.
To quote Guillermo Ortiz de Zárate, related to the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards’ story:
One of the axioms of lean startup is that people can’t be right all the time, so if you’re not pivoting, you might actually not be testing the right assumptions, or you might be choosing metrics that prove you right as opposed to those that will provide new insights. ‘Time to Insight’ has been one of our Metrics That Matter. How long did it take us to fail (learn) when using lean startup versus when using traditional product planning?
It’s that insight that will allow your association to keep iterating and moving towards solving a real and significant problem, a problem worth solving, for one or more of your audiences, at a price (in both money and time) they’re willing to pay.
Image credit: Eva Bronzini on Pexel
AI Video Generator says:
Too many organizations treat one failed attempt with lean as proof that it doesn’t work. Your point about culture being the deciding factor really resonated—it’s not the tools, it’s how we choose to use them.