Title: Define lean start-up.
Course: Entrepreneurship (12053-I) > Section: Understanding Design Thinking and Business Model Development

Definition should include the following from Investopedia:

The lean startup is a method used to found a new company or when an existing company introduces a new product. The lean startup method advocates developing products that consumers have already demonstrated they desire so that a market will already exist as soon as the product is launched rather than developing a product and then hoping that demand will emerge.

- Through lean startup, if an idea is likely to fail, it will fail quickly and cheaply instead of slowly and expensively.
- The lean startup method considers experimentation to be more valuable than detailed planning.
- Entrepreneurs test their hypotheses by engaging with potential customers, purchasers, and partners to gauge their reactions about product features, pricing, distribution, and customer acquisition. For example, a healthy meal delivery service that is targeting busy, single 20-somethings in urban areas might learn that it has a better market in 30-something affluent mothers of newborns in the suburbs. The company might then change its delivery schedule and the types of foods it serves to provide optimal nutrition for new mothers. It might also add on options for meals for spouses or partners and other children in the household.

Process/Skill Questions:

- What are the advantages of following the lean start-up methodology?
- What is the build-measure-learn feedback loop, and why is it important to a start-up?
- Why do many successful businesses use the lean start-up methodology?