In The Lean Startup, Eric Ries makes the case the businesses, small and large, need to be run with a more entrepreneur spirit in order to be innovative and stay competitive.
He outlines 5 main principles:
1. Entrepreneurs are Everywhere
2. Entrepreneurship is Management
3. Validated Learning
4. Innovative Accounting
5. Build Measure Learn.
One of the things that resonated with me is the concept of building a “Minimum Viable Product.” Many businesses spend years and millions of dollars in research and development only to waste money creating the wrong product. The Lean Start-up approach is to create a product with as few features as possible, start having people use it, and use the data and feedback to iterate on the future direction of your product. It could mean completely changing how your product is used and marketed or adding/deleting features core features to make the product better. It’s the constant learning that allows your business to adapt and become successful.
Check out the theleanstartup.com for additional resources.