Lean Startup Methodology

A scientific approach to creating, launching and scaling startups.

The Lean Startup provides the GCV Labs team with a scientific approach to creating, launching and scaling startups and helps us get the desired product to customers' hands faster. The Lean Startup method is instrumental in helping us to determine how to steer, when to turn, and when to persevere and grow a business with maximum acceleration. It is a principled approach to new product development and a core part of the GCV Labs ethos.

We've seen too many startups begin with an idea for a product that they think people want. They then spend months, sometimes years, perfecting that product without ever showing the product, even in a very rudimentary form, to the prospective customer. When they fail to reach broad uptake from customers, it is often because they never spoke to prospective customers and determined whether or not the product was interesting. When customers ultimately communicate, through their indifference, that they don't care about the idea, the startup fails. At GCV Labs we want to avoid this at all costs.

Just do it... or is there a better way?

The lack of a tailored management process has led many startups to abandon all processes. Some take a 'just do it' approach that avoids all forms of management. But this is not the only option. Using the Lean Startup approach, companies can create order, not chaos, by providing tools to test a vision continuously. Lean isn't simply about spending less money. Lean isn't just about failing fast, failing cheap. It is about putting a process, a methodology around the development of a product. It's a process that the GCV Labs firmly believe in.

Should this product be built? Can we build a sustainable business around this set of products and services?

The Lean Startup methodology has as a premise that every startup is a grand experiment that attempts to answer a question.

The question is not "Can this product be built?"

Instead, the questions are "Should this product be built?" and "Can we build a sustainable business around this set of products and services?"

This experiment is more than just a theoretical inquiry; it is the first product. If it is successful, it allows the GCV Labs team to start shaping the project: enlisting early adopters, adding employees to each further experiment or iteration, and eventually starting to build a product. By the time that product is ready to be distributed widely, it will already have established customers. It will have solved real problems and offer detailed specifications for what needs to be built. This approach gives us the foundation to build sustainable businesses that transform industries.

Figure out the problem to be solved then build the MVP

A core component of Lean Startup methodology is the 'build-measure-learn' feedback loop. The first step is figuring out the problem that needs to be solved and then developing a minimum viable product (MVP) to begin the process of learning as quickly as possible.

Once the MVP is established, a startup can work on tuning the engine. This will involve measurement and learning and must include actionable metrics that can demonstrate cause and effect questions.

Question to help us maintain a true North

The startup will also utilize an investigative development method called the 'Five Whys' - asking simple questions to study and solve problems along the way. When this process of measuring and learning is done correctly, it will be clear that a company is either moving the drivers of the business model or not. If not, it is a sign that it is time to pivot or make a structural course correction to test a new fundamental hypothesis about the product, strategy and engine of growth.

Find out more about how to use the Five Whys here.

A rigorous method for demonstrating progress

Progress in manufacturing is measured by the production of high-quality goods. The unit of progress for our startups is validated learning - a rigorous method for demonstrating progress when we are faced with extreme uncertainty. By embracing validated learning, the development process can shrink substantially. When we focus on figuring the right thing to build - the thing customers want and will pay for - we don't need to spend months waiting for a product beta launch to change the company's direction. Instead, we can adapt our plans incrementally, inch by inch, minute by minute.

A multidisciplinary team with experience across a number of sectors including technology, financial services, media and property. We also team up with entrepreneurs and companies to build and launch ventures in areas where, together, we have complementary skill sets and deep sector knowledge.