The Lean Startup

Abstract

Stop me if you've heard this one before. Brilliant college kids sit ting in a dorm are inventing the future. Heedless of bound aries, possessed of new technology and youthful enthusiasm, theybuild a newcompany from scratch. Their early success al lows them to raise money andbring anamazing new product to market. They hire their friends, assemble a superstar team, and dare the world to stop them. Ten years and several startups ago, that was me, building my first company. I particularly remember a moment from back then: the moment I realized my company was going to fail. My cofounder and I were at our wits' end. The dot-com bubble had burst, and we had spent all ourmoney. We tried desperately to raise more capital, and we could not. Itwas like abreakup scene from a Hollywood movie: it was raining, and we were arguing in the street. We couldn't even agree onwhere to walknext, and sowe parted in anger, heading in opposite directions. As ameta phor for ourcompany's failure, this image of the two of us, lost in the rain and drifting apart, is perfect. Itremains a painful memory. The company limped along for months afterward, but our situation was hopeless. At the time, it had seemed we were doing everything right: we had a great product, a brilliant team, amazing technology, and the right idea at the right time. And we really were on to something