Lean StartUp

What is this technique about

Lean startup is, in essence, a methodology to develop businesses and products that consists of applying the scientific method to a business model. It is about proposing a hypothesis or business idea, creating a rudimentary prototype with a low cost and testing it with clients in an initial stage, so that we can immediately detect possible problems and thus implement improvements in that prototype before investing large amounts of time and money on a product whose approach may be wrong.

Applying Lean startup in education helps us develop in our students the competence of sense of initiative and entrepreneurial spirit, while giving them a guideline to test their idea at an initial stage of the project with potential clients and thus, testing whether their model is correct or needs to be improved / revised.

Lean startup is closely linked to Design thinking. The Design Thinking methodology encourages the search for innovative answers to current problems, while Lean startup puts this idea to the test.

Where does it come from 

This methodology was developed by Eric Ries with influence from the Lean manufacturing methodology, created by Kiichiro Toyoda, and Steve Blank’s customer development methodology.

For which purposes it is used (why in your engineering teaching)

This technique is used in education for several purposes:

It helps to “plan” in students the seed of entrepreneurship”, helping them to develop the competence of a sense of initiative and entrepreneurial spirit, which is so much talked about, and which we all consider so necessary in today’s society, but very few teachers know how to work with it in class. Lean startup proposes a practical way of working on this competence.

Testing hypotheses and ideas with other people and realizing that perhaps one was wrong in its approach, helps students to have a more open, receptive and above all more flexible mind. Thus, they realize that reality is not always how they perceive it. In addition, applied to a possible entrepreneurship project, it makes students and future entrepreneurs learn the importance of what Nestor Guerra calls “learning cheap”, that is, testing a business idea at an initial stage, in time to rethink it or improve it before making a large investment.

It also helps to improve the communication skills of our students. When having to test their product or idea with other people, students find themselves in the need to explain their work, to defend it, to really listen and understand the feedback provided by theirs colleagues and / or potential clients.

How to use it

Step 1: Create

Students are asked to develop an entrepreneurial idea or initiative and create a very basic prototype, also called a minimum viable product, to illustrate it. This prototype can be a poster, a design made in three dimensions with plasticine, cardboard, etc., even legos; It could also be a video or a 3D model made with the computer, etc. The important thing is that they have something “real” to show to their potential clients.

Step 2: Measure

Students are asked to test this initial prototype with potential clients, who may be colleagues, family or friends, although the feedback would be much more valuable if they tested it with people with whom they do not have an emotional bond. They are also asked to collect the data in a standardized way and we will help them to analyze these data as it would be done according to the scientific method.

Step 3: Learn

Students are asked to draw conclusions about the feedback received. Have they had the expected success / response? Have they detected a major bug in its product? Based on the information collected, what things would they incorporate into its project to make it more suitable for their customers, thus increasing the potential profit?

Repeat these three steps as many times as necessary until they get a final product adjusted to the real needs of the market, so it will have a good chance of being successful. Thinking about how to implement this technique in the class, this process can be carried out only once or several times, depending on the goals that you, as teacher, want to achieve with this project, the characteristics of your class and the available time that has been planned for carrying out this activity.