4 Misapplications of The Lean Startup and How You Can Avoid Them
I co-authored this article with Ben Hafele and it was first published on the Lean Startup Co. Blog . Recently, Sanchin Rekhi published “The 4 Major Problems With the Lean Startup Methodology”. His article shares a critique of Lean Startup based on his own startup experience. He summarizes the method’s problems this way: It encourages agnostic experimentation instead of starting with a compelling strategy It stresses the need for minimum viable products (MVPs), which can lead to failing too fast It results in developing incremental products, not product innovations It overemphasizes product development instead of a deliberate focus on growth It would have been better if Sanchin had titled his article “4 Misapplications of the Lean Startup”, as the four problems above are clearly not a result of Lean Startup itself, but rather are driven by misconceptions about it. In this post, we’ll respond to these misapplications by sharing best practices so you can avoid these mista...