Lean entrepreneurship is a problem that every enterprise manager should think about.

Eric Rice summed up the problems and successful methods in the process of starting a business by reflecting on the success or failure of his own business for more than ten years and combining with the experience of a large number of others, and made an excellent refinement: target customers-small-scale experiments-feedback modification-product iteration-obtaining core cognition-rapid growth.

Excellent enterprises have such characteristics: the whole organization thinks and acts like a human being, with a clear value system, strong assimilation ability and unparalleled self-evolution ability. To do this, the first thing to do is to unify the language.

Language is divided into three layers, visual language, that is, company VI system; Product and customer language, that is, the description of products or services by each group is the unified product language and scene language in the customer's mouth; The third language is the working language, that is, the methodology of work, which customer management tools, daily management tools, product development management tools, talent management tools and so on are used.

Lean entrepreneurship is the working language and methodology of our company. Our whole business model, business logic and communication model are all built around this methodology system and self-circulated, so everyone, especially the key figures in every key position, must thoroughly understand this methodology.

First of all, an overview of lean entrepreneurship methodology.

Simply put, lean entrepreneurship is to water great success with small failures and quick failures.

That is, with the minimum cost, the fastest speed and the smallest combat unit, we can verify whether a core pain point of a target group matches the solution we provide (value verification) and whether it can continue to grow (growth verification).

The success of lean entrepreneurship has to go through numerous verifications, large and small, among which the most critical ones are three verifications-gene verification, value verification and growth verification.

Second, genetic verification.

The founding team, project leader and people in all positions can use this method to verify whether your core strengths and ability boundaries make you stronger and run faster than your competitors.

For example, training positions require more expression skills than communication skills, service positions require more expression skills than writing skills, and channel positions require more cooperation skills than learning skills ... Each position has one or two core business abilities. If the job requirements don't match people, we think the genes don't match. Similarly, if the ability combination of the founding team does not match the ability, vision and values required by the industry development trend, then we think it is a genetic mismatch.

For a company whose growth is driven by service team rather than technology, the biggest growth engine is the screening, training and encouragement of service team. Then whether the person in charge of recruitment, training and motivation and the corresponding mechanism and structure match this core business element is a screening criterion for team genes. Peace is used for training, and so is the chain home. Ali is doing HR, Baidu is doing technology, Tencent is doing products, and our party's propaganda department is doing religious management.

Third, value verification.

Two Key Points of Value Verification Design —— Seed User and MVP Construction

Let's talk about seed users first. The work of seed users is divided into three steps-portrait of seed users, search for seed users, interview with seed users, and finally output demand descriptions.

In order to verify this value, we must first determine who defined it. Many people develop products or establish business models, and they can always come up with solutions. They are ingenious, and even the most basic "people who define value" are uncertain. They rely on the constructed "value", "quality", "cost performance" and "differentiation advantage" to brag and force, and will definitely be hit in the face by the skinny reality in the end.

Who will define value? What are its characteristics? Professional background? Age characteristics? Income characteristics? What is the weight of driving factors in product selection? ..... these constitute the portrait of the seed user.

Search for seed users. First of all, people who are willing to pay the bill are not just seed users. He wants to look for it according to the definite portrait. Secondly, the most convenient way is to have friends recommended by friends who are most like seed users. Friends around you will have some unnecessary implicit assumptions because of their relationships, and with the help of this circle of friends, you can find an "unfamiliar" seed, so as to obtain the most effective user data through interviews.

Interview seed users. There are many ways to interview seed users, such as face-to-face audio and video recording, telephone or WeChat interview, questionnaire survey, user information of similar products online, etc. There are different opinions about the interview steps of seed users. To put it simply, it is to gain basic trust through emotional care, gain further trust through thorough observation, expressing feelings and sincere help, and then get the problem (pain point) that the other party urgently wants to solve through asking, and get all kinds of key data about the pain point step by step through guiding the problem. Among them, the most critical part of problem guidance is to guide along the "root logic chain behind users' key behaviors".

The final output is not the record of interview data, but the demand description formed by summarizing, combing and screening all market data and interview data, that is, when and under what circumstances, the user who meets the portrait germinates a specific desire and what way he will think of (channels, paths, means, etc.). ) to satisfy the desire.

Then match the theoretically idealized MVP according to the demand description.

Construction of MVP.

The construction of MVP should meet three criteria: user desire, commercial feasibility and technical feasibility.

Generally speaking, the solution will consist of various key elements. For example, a mobile phone is composed of CPU, memory, music, camera and operating system. All these elements that make up the solution are collectively called product elements.

Before building a solution (MVP) based on various product elements, we should examine the details of similar alternatives that can meet the needs of seed users, and then form competitiveness according to the core differentiation advantages we can provide, and finally generate MVP.

Then use the smallest combat unit, the smallest cost and the fastest iteration speed to verify all the data after the relationship between MVP and customers, and finally draw the conclusion of value verification.

Fourth, growth verification

There are generally three healthy growth modes: attached growth, paid growth and viral growth.

Viscous growth is to examine the retention rate, that is, natural growth MINUS losses. If the loss is greater than natural growth, negative growth is unsustainable, and vice versa.

Paid growth is the input-output ratio. Generally, after verifying the user value and commercial value of products, it is estimated that paid marketing promotion can generate more income than investment. At this time, it can be popularized on a large scale, usually after the B round. After obtaining the B round of financing, it entered the crazy paid growth period.

The key indicator of virus growth is called NPS, which is also the net recommendation rate indicator. Generally speaking, it is to look at word of mouth. Word of mouth has many forms, such as satisfaction, recommendation rate, repurchase rate and so on. The formula of word-of-mouth generation for reference: customer value * user experience. In essence, all the methodologies on which the mobile Internet relies for success are based on viral growth, and most of the value verification of lean entrepreneurship is to prepare for viral growth.

Five, we should do three stages of lean entrepreneurship practice: blind play, touch play, and play according to the rules.

Generally speaking, all new practices will go through three stages, and we will look at them one by one.

Impetuous: Simply speaking, it means imitating, copying, being simple, obedient and doing.

Touch and play: optimize the process through the summary of the first stage and the first round.

Follow the trend: after the key points, leverage points, critical moments, key roles, key processes, key steps, etc. Once we have made it clear, we will start a brutal and precise intensive attack.

Let's borrow the mind map of lean entrepreneurship to provide you with a blueprint for building knowledge quickly.

Only by adapting to the times quickly can enterprises win the future, and the production mode of products must also keep pace with the times. After reading the whole book and looking back at the preface written by Kai-Fu Lee, we have well summarized several stages and key processes of lean entrepreneurship. Here are some quotes:

In the preface, he summarized the entrepreneurial stage as follows:

The five principles of lean entrepreneurship constitute the three major parts of this book. These five principles are as follows:

1. Entrepreneurs are everywhere. Anyone who works in a defined startup company is an entrepreneur.

2. Entrepreneurship is management.

3. Confirm cognition. Start-ups exist not only to make products, make money and serve customers, but also to learn how to build a sustainable enterprise.

4. Development-measurement-cognition. The basic activity of a new venture is to turn ideas into products, measure customer feedback, and then realize whether to change course or stick to it.

5. Innovative accounting. In order to improve entrepreneurial achievements and make innovators take corresponding responsibilities, we need to pay attention to those boring details: how to measure progress, how to determine phased goals, and how to determine the priority of work. This requires designing a new accounting system for new ventures, so that everyone can shoulder their own responsibilities.

The way to start a lean enterprise is to teach you how to control a startup. What you need is not to make a complicated plan based on many assumptions, but to constantly adjust by turning the steering wheel. This process is called "development-measurement-cognition" feedback loop.

Start-ups also have a clear direction and a destination in mind: to create a company that successfully changes the world. I call it the vision of a new enterprise. In order to realize this vision, the enterprise has formulated a strategy, including business model, product plan, views on partners and competitors, and the idea of who is the customer. Products are the final result of this strategy.

The principles of lean thinking include absorbing the knowledge and creativity of each employee, reducing the scale of each batch, real-time production and inventory management, and speeding up the cycle. Lean production makes the whole world understand the difference between value creation activities and waste. How much of our efforts have created value and how much has been wasted? Lean thinking defines value as "providing benefits to customers", and everything else is a waste.

The word "learning" is not a common excuse used in books to cover up the failure of execution.

In order to realize our vision, we must know which of our strategies are feasible and which are radical. We must know what customers really need, not what they say they want or what we think they should want. We must realize whether we are developing and growing towards a sustainable enterprise. Call it "confirmation cognition".

The most risky part of the new enterprise plan depends entirely on the bold assumption of "belief jump" The strategic task of a new enterprise is to find out which correct questions should be asked.

1. The strategy is based on assumptions.

2. Analogy and disproof: Based on comparison with other companies and industries.

3. Value and growth: The two most important assumptions are "value hypothesis" and "growth hypothesis". The first step to understand a new product or service is to fundamentally determine whether it is "value creation" or "value destruction".

On the spot: "see for yourself." You can't be sure whether you really understand any part of any business problem unless you observe it yourself.

Walk out of the office building

Analysis paralysis: it is dangerous to analyze too much in market research, and failure to analyze will lead to failure. The minimum feasible product (MVP) is the best answer.

When you make a choice among many assumptions in a business plan, it makes sense to test the assumption with the greatest risk first.

Once these bold assumptions are made clear, the first step is to use an MVP to enter the "development" stage as soon as possible. The product version of the so-called MVP allows us to experience a complete "development-measurement-cognition" cycle with the least effort and the shortest development time.

MVP is not perfect. His lesson is that no matter how important a job seems at the time, anything beyond what is needed to start the cognitive process is a waste.

Deceleration obstacles in the process of MVP: The most common deceleration obstacles are legal issues, fear of competitors, brand risk and the impact on morale.

Minimizing feasible products is only the first step in the cognitive process of learning.

The job of a startup company is to (1) strictly measure the current situation of the enterprise and face up to the reality revealed in the evaluation. (2) Design experiments to understand how to make real data closer to the ideal goal in the business plan. How to carry out innovative accounting-the goal of three cognitive stages;

1. Determine the baseline: This single minimum feasible product can test most of the assumptions of the enterprise and establish a baseline indicator for each assumption.

2. Adjust the engine: every product development, marketing or other activities of a new venture should aim at promoting a certain driving factor in the growth model.

3. Transformation or persistence.

Vanity index: the growth of total turnover or total number of users does not mean excellent form. Such an index is called vanity index.

Executable indicators: and establish some baseline measurement indicators, each cycle is measured by indicators to improve customer capabilities.

1. Synchronous grouping and comparison test: First, pay attention to the total number of indicators, based on synchronous grouping indicators; The second is to find the causal relationship after doing it, and instead regard the release of each new product as a real comparative test.

2. Kanban method

3. Hypothetical testing

Three possible values: three "possible" metrics, that is, executable, usable and auditable indicators.

1. enforceability: If a product performance report is executable, it must clearly show the causal relationship. Otherwise, it is a vanity indicator.

2. Usability: First, make the product report as simple as possible for everyone to understand. Second, the availability of indicators also means that more people can easily obtain product reports.

3. Auditable: First, remember that "people are also indicators". Second, when creating a product report, we must ensure that the mechanism for generating the report is not too complicated. Whenever possible, the report should be taken directly from the total data, rather than through the intermediate system, which can reduce the chance of errors.

Transformation requires courage.

Deciding to transform requires a keen eye and an objective attitude.

Transformation list: transformation is a special change in the basic assumptions used to test new products, business models and growth engines.

A small batch can produce a complete product every few seconds, while a large batch must complete all the products at once in the final stage.

Small batch in entrepreneurial activities: It can not only be used to detect the changes of products, but also allow us to monitor the health of the business itself at any time, and once errors occur, they can be automatically found and eliminated.

It is easier to find problems and solve them in time.

In the past, customers had four main ways to promote sustainable growth:

Three growth engines:

Growth engine determines product/market fit: Because each growth engine can be defined quantitatively and each engine has a set of measurement indicators to evaluate whether a new venture is only one step away from achieving product/market fit, the concept of growth engine can put the idea of product/market fit on a stricter basis.

Establish an adaptive organization: it will automatically adjust the process and performance according to the current situation.

Five whys: The core meaning of "five whys" is to directly connect various inputs and methods to prevent most problems and symptoms.

How to Cultivate Subversive Innovation

Create an experimental platform

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