22 www.better-business.co.

uk Better Business No 199

STREETWISE ENTERPRISE
Attracted to the lean mantra that you
can determine whether a business will
work or not through iteration and without
spending lots of money, Umar joined
the community group Lean North East
(www.leannortheast.com) to nd out
more about Lean Startup. I decided that
lean was the way to go, so I got immersed
in it. I went to their presentations, learning
about Eric Ries and his Lean Startup book.
It was really inspiring.
Umar adopted the lean technique of
seeking direct and regular customer
feedback by asking hospitality venues for
their opinion on his menu-builder platform.
Lean startup: why
practice makes perfect
Since Eric Ries published Lean Startup in 2011, more
and more business start ups are being encouraged to
follow his approach. JENNIE WATSON nds out why.
I went straight to the venues. They told
me exactly what they wanted and we built
exactly that. Barbutlr was my idea, but the
customers helped to design the platform.
To test the water thoroughly, Umar
devised a mock-up app using Twitter.
People could tweet a food or drink order to
my account and Id full it. In a very basic way,
we set up a prototype for our virtual waiter
app using Twitter. Testing the response
to his idea using social media assured Umar
that there was demand for his product,
giving him the condence to persevere
with his business and create a Minimum
Viable Product. Weve now created an app
T
raditionally, start ups have
been advised to write detailed
business plans, raise funding in
the early stages, and dedicate time to
carefully built prototypes. The Lean Startup
methodology, however, urges business
owners to get into their marketplace as
rapidly as possible, seek constant customer
feedback and continually tweak their
product, service and business model
according to market feedback and
lessons learned.
The Lean Startup concept has built
momentum since the publication of
Lean Startup by Eric Ries. By adopting this
approach, business owners can accelerate
their learning and help de-risk their project
by uncovering obstacles and drawbacks in
their business model in a faster and more
cost-effective way.
Jennie Watson spoke to four business
owners with rst-hand experience of this
approach to nd out the benets and
challenges of keeping things lean.
UMAR YUSUFU
Co-Founder of BarButlr
(www.barbutlr.com)
.
In 2012 Umar founded the menu-builder
platform Bar Butlr, which enables
customers to arrive at a venue, view the
menu on a smartphone app and place an
order without leaving the comfort of their
seat. After a year of pursuing a traditional
business approach, Umar discovered the
Lean Startup method and hasnt looked
back since.
To begin with I was very traditional.
I wrote a business plan and tried to raise
money, but it was an absolute nightmare so
I decided to change strategy, explains Umar.
Chris Moss and Umar Yusufu, BarButlr
To begin with I was very traditional. I wrote a business
plan and tried to raise money, but it was an absolute
nightmare so I decided to change strategy
Better Business 199 ARTWORK_BB 03/06/2014 12:03 Page 22
Better Business No 199 www.better-business.co.uk 23
STREETWISE ENTERPRISE
that you can download and this is our MVP
that we can actually sell to venues.
So, why does Lean Startup feel right
for Umar? I can see the progress that Im
making on a daily basis and using Lean
Startup makes business more fun because
Im engaging with every part of my business,
from marketing to product development.
Lean Startup is empowering; I know every
single nuance of my business now. Its a very
common-sense approach, which strips back
everything and enables you to pinpoint
where youre going and why youre going
there. Its something that you dont get from
writing a business plan; it enables you to
get a whole load of things right before
you get them wrong.
CARL JONES
Managing Director
of Technically Compatible
(www.technicallycompatible.com)
Technically Compatible is an IT assess-
ment portal that enables recruiters to
assess the IT skills of candidates quickly and
easily. Initially, Carl adopted the traditional
approach that had worked successfully for
the parent company, The Test Factory, but
soon found that Lean Startup was a better
approach for Technically Compatible.
When I got involved with Technically
Compatible, I inherited an existing plan from
The Test Factory. But the approach that had
worked so well for The Test Factory wasnt
working as well in a different market,
explains Carl. After reading Eric Ries book
and attending some local Lean Startup
events, Carl decided that a lean strategy
was the way forward.
Lean Startup teaches business owners
to validate their decisions, which is why
Technically Compatible is currently using
the Build-Measure-Learn cycle to test
whether they should be offering free trials
to customers. We dont offer free trials of our
product at the moment, but its something
that were asked for quite regularly. I consider
free trials to be a no-brainer and I think its
obvious that we should be offering them,
but Im still using the lean methodology
to validate my hypothesis before making
that investment so that Im as sure as I possibly
can be that its the right decision. It requires
resources and time to implement a fully
automated, commercially viable free trial,
so instead were using split testing to roll out
free trials manually and determine whether
theyll actually make a substantial difference
to our business.
The beauty of Lean Startup is that its
not just a framework to help start-up
businesses make the right decisions in a
low-cost way, according to Carl. Its also
a mentality. Once youve embraced Lean
Startup and you come across a good idea,
you immediately know how to take that idea
forward without big investment and major
resources.
Although Carl would undoubtedly
recommend Lean Startup, he advises
business owners not to expect immediate
results. You have to be patient and tenacious
when implementing a lean strategy. You
have wait for the information to become
available before you can react. Over time
information will become available quicker,
youll be able to react quicker and youll be
able to make decisions quicker.
ALEX WHITE
CEO and Co-Founder
of Next Big Sound
(www.nextbigsound.com)
Initially, Alex followed a 60-page business
plan to develop his online music analytics
and insights service. After joining the
start-up accelerator programme, Techstars,
Alex adopted a lean approach, which has
helped Next Big Sound grow from
strength to strength.
Carl Jones, Technically Compatible
We would have shut down if we didnt get
into Techstars and take on a lean approach,
admits Alex. We decided to change our idea
on the rst day of the programme.
Alexs original idea was to generate
detailed, customisable PDF reports for band
managers, correlating band activity on
social networking sites with hard music sales
numbers. We described our idea to 70 band
managers and they told us that theyd never
seen their band data visualised like this before,
and that our service would be hugely valuable.
When we emailed out the reports, we were
shocked to receive not one response.
Alex applied the Build-Measure-Learn
technique, calling up each band manager
individually for feedback. He discovered that
every band manager had received his email
via their smartphone and hadnt bothered
to open the attached PDF report. The
following week we decided to send plain
text emails stating the band name, the total
number of new plays, views, fans and
comments, and the percentage change from
the previous week. This time we got a response
from every manager. From there we rened
the plain text email, making positive changes
green and negative changes red, formatting
them by band, and providing click-through
links to the actual graphs for more in depth
analysis. After a couple weeks, we nally
automated the reports so I didnt have to put
them together by hand.
The Build-Measure-Learn concept has
been integral to Next Big Sounds start-up
Alex White, Next Big Sound
I can see the progress that Im making on a daily basis
and using Lean Startup makes business more fun
because Im engaging with every part of my business
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24 www.better-business.co.uk Better Business No 199
success: I think the principles of Build-
Measure-Learn can apply to all types of
business and even personal life decisions,
says Alex. Business owners should think
about lean strategy because money and time
are nite. A lean approach helps you to gure
out what customers actually want and are
willing to pay for, and if you cant do that you
wont be in business for long.
SALIM VIRANI
Founder of Leancamp
(www.nextbigsound.com)
and Partner
at Founder Centric
(www.foundercentric.com)
Salimfounded Leancamp, an open
event that brings together lean business
leaders and practitioners from multiple
industries. He also helps other start ups to
implement a lean strategy in his role at
Founder Centric, which involves teaching
at organisations such as Oxford University
and Seedcamp.
In Salims opinion, the real benet of
Lean Startup is that business owners can
access useful information sooner and
therefore make better decisions. Lean
Startup gives you a set of tools to get the infor-
mation that tells you whether your current
direction is worth pursuing or not. Often when
youre starting something new or venturing
into business models or markets that youre
not familiar with, there are unknowns and the
only way to learn what works is to try. Often
the trying is expensive and not very fruitful.
Lean Startup provides a few approaches that
allow us to learn what doesnt work, so that
were proceeding on better information.
Naturally, Salim applied Lean Startup
when developing Leancamp to test
whether a membership model was more
appropriate than a ticket sales model.
I advertised a years membership to
Leancamp events at a lower cost than
individual tickets, but still people chose the
tickets. I wanted to understand why this
happened, so I spoke to everyone whod
signed up.
Salim assumed people would opt for
membership as it provided access to more
events for less money, but he discovered
that, when it comes to events, people
generally prefer to purchase tickets nearer
the time of the event rather than commit
to membership. I realised that I didnt know
my customers well enough to decide how
Salim Virani, Leancamp and Founder Centric
Build-Measure-Learn
The Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop is crucial for start-up success,
according to the Lean Startup methodology. It enables start ups to transform
ideas into products, measure customer response and learn whether they
need to adapt their business model, or whether they are on the right track
and safe to proceed with their existing model.
Minimum Viable Product
In Eric Ries words: The minimum viable product is that version of a new
product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated
learning about customers with the least effort. Its not a nished article, but a
version that demonstrates the core features of your product, which you can
show to customers to test their reaction. In the same way a scientist uses a
hypothesis to test theories; a business owner can use an MVP to experiment
and ensure they are building something that customers will pay for.
they would buy my product. It was a big
lesson because it allowed me to make
decisions about the business model for
Leancamp. If you dont know how your
customers make decisions then you are
operating on the basis of what makes
sense for your business, not what makes
sense for them.
However, Lean Startup is harder
than it looks, according to Salim. People
underestimate that it takes some skills and
learning to get it right. Lean Startup offers
a variety of tools; understanding which one
to use is the hard part. Talking to customers,
for example, sounds easy but many people
waste time talking to customers. Learning
how to have these conversations is an
important skill.
STREETWISE ENTERPRISE

I realised that I didnt know my customers well

enough to decide how they would buy my product.
It was a big lesson because it allowed me to make
decisions about the business model for Leancamp
Core Principles
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