Perfect timing. I'm bootstrapping my own startup (http://moonlighter.io) at the moment and had a couple questions about the MVP.

1) How can you quickly validate a business with very little immediately visible value to the user? Direct user interviews won't work here because the service is very data-driven (collecting filesystem events), so it'll require a decent amount of data collection from the user (I'll offer something like a 14-30 day trial to allow this). Since it has to be done over a longer period of time, and it includes collecting information that might be sensitive to some people, it's not very easy to fully validate the business. I've had a few friends using it, and I'll be sharing with a small beta user list soon, but otherwise I was wondering if you had any other ideas.

2) I've put off writing the payment processing code, focusing on the product itself. Especially considering the "trial" period necessary to see value, are there any downsides to releasing the MVP without allowing payments and then adding them in after release? (Other than no cashflow of course...)

Thanks! I'm actually reading through the lean startup now (after reading way too much of it's principles on the internet first). So it's neat to be able to communicate with the author directly like this.

I hear people talk about Lean Startup methods at many established companies (where I work included). But I feel like we're deluding ourselves a bit, playing pretend startup. How applicable do you think the Lean Startup ideas are to a corporate environment? (One that purportedly wants to adopt these ideas) What features don't work at all? Who is doing good work to adapt these ideas for larger corporations?

Are there examples of lean startup ideas going wrong or being misunderstood and leading startups straight to failure?

Eric--for the above-average engineer (lets call him a 3X-5X), but not a 10X or 100X engineer--what advice would you give if they were interested in beginning a tech venture? How much does personal will play a factor compared to personal ability? Do they stand a chance to compete? Can you think of founders that have achieved great success despite lacking supreme talent? And, finally, to expand a little-- can you think of a character trait that is MOST important for a founder to possess other than great intelligence / clever execution?

Hello Eric,

I saw you speak some years ago right around the time your first book came out. I have a media background, and I noticed some parallels with what you described at IMVU and what I have seen in my industry.

Typically, the projects have involved large media companies building high-quality products/brands, such as television shows or websites. They are designed and built in near-stealth mode with limited opportunities for user testing or audience feedback, and sometimes (but not always) fail miserably when they are released to the world. Conversely, there are examples of media programs/products/brands being developed in a highly iterative/audience-focused approach and sometimes (but not always) leading to a hit or at least becoming self-sustaining.

My question is this: Generally speaking, can “lean startup” concepts be applied to media or other industries, or do the unique characteristics of those industries — for instance, high cost structures or dependence on industry-specific business models - make it difficult to really leverage the software-focused product development concepts you outlined?

I hope to develop a framework with which to approach product development in my own industry (“lean media”) and would greatly value any feedback/ideas/suggestions for further reading you may have.

Thanks!

I noticed how even though your book doesn't exist yet, the graphic that you put up on Kickstarter looks very polished and enticing. But I've also seen startups dig holes for themselves by over-obsessing about graphic design.

On a startup's first MVP iteration, how little graphic design effort can you get away with? Does it depend on the product, perhaps? Should all iterations be visually polished?

In the Lean Startup you described Aardvark tested several different business concepts, before choosing one in the end. Do you know how they dealt with the possible need to pivot versus focusing the team's resources on one single product? Or have any other advice in terms of focus versus testing different products?

Great that you're doing an AMA!

I'm a big fan if the concept of the MVP, however, having build 30+ apps and spoken with hundreds of founders how to buils their product, I have seen a lot of people struggling with the terminology of the MvP.

From the top of my head, 40% of founders are confused by the viable in the MVP. Furthermore, every time I explain the MVP, I catch myself having to explain that the MVP doesn't mean a crappy product, viable means having very few features, but having those few few features work really well.

Now that the term MVP has been out for 8 years, and so many people still build crappy products, despite all the knowledge around it, is it maybe not the right terminology?

I've thought a lot about this, and from what I've seen, building an MVP means building a product that is very, very basic, but that users would love, because this product can test a hypothesis. What do you think of the term Minimum Lovable Product, because from my point of view, this terminology encompasses everything that the MVP tries to define, without the bad stuff or the confusion.

Hope that all made sense, thanks a lot.

What is your experience with the NSF I-Corps program? Do you know of anyone who has gone through the program and then built a successful company afterwords?

Link for those who are unfamiliar. https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/i-corps/

I work for a large aerospace company. How can we adopt lean startup ideas for hardware projects where the design iterations are much more expensive and lead times more severe?

How does Lean model work in case of marketplace? Should you first get good amount of sellers on board before opening the beta version as marketplace ?

I'd be curious what the equivalent idea of what you are doing (by posting here as AMA) would be if you weren't Eric Ries posting on HN. So for Eric Ries this is "lean" (or what used to be known as "gorilla marketing") but for someone who doesn't have name recognition what is the equivalent? [1]

[1] Simply recognizing that someone without name recognition doing something similar on HN is not assured of getting any attention.

http://bit.ly/theleadersguide+ - nice, seems like you have got few hundred of visits thanks to this in last 2 hours. This is actually handy when estimating what impact front page have on products featured here.

What do you think has changed the most for startups today since when you wrote "The Lean Startup"?

Thanks Eric, I really enjoyed the Lean Startup. I'm an engineer, and I like to work on valuable and interesting problems.

1. What do you do when your market is so small that you can't grab some teenager off the street to try your product? I'm thinking of the people who buy X-ray machines for the airport, for example.

2. I know people who pretend to like ideas from your book. One guy applauds the idea of failing while also failing to do validated learning. Can you or I or anyone fix that? For example, we'll never test weather a user would prefer an interface other than a website.

3. How do I convince my boss that we need a research department?

4. Have you read Dealers of Lightning (about Xerox Parc) what is your take on it?

Hi Eric! I enjoyed "The Lean Startup" and I think the approach for the new book is very interesting.

Besides establishing the backer-only discussion community, what other lean methodologies are you using to write this book?

Along those lines, have there been any significant pivots yet? Obviously, the kickstarter seems to be doing well at over 3.5x pledged over the goal. Do you think that this is validation of the new content that the book promises to deliver or is it simply riding the coat-tails of the previous success you had with "The Lean Startup"? How are you measuring success?

I only now noticed that there's also a Reddit AMA, apologies if you've answered in that thread already.

I was wondering if you had any advice for hardware startups?

I'm currently exploring the idea of integrated-circuit spectroscopy, and have the physics/simulations down but the capital required to fabricate the chips and iterate on the designs is quite high.

What books do you recommend, for people who are very new to entrepreneurship and stratups?

Hi Eric, I just started reading your "Lean Startup" book and as I understand the main thing is to validate the idea and build out MVP before building out features that people might not even need.

I am a software engineer and have an idea of building a marketplace to connect brands to instagram users that have a large amount of followers. Sort of like AirBNB for for instagram which can expand into other social media as well. How would you validate this idea "Lean start up" style before coding it. How would you get users and brands on board?

I'm a huge fan, Eric! Thank you for doing this. My question is of a more personal nature. When you were in your mid-20s, what were your career goals? Have they changed (if so, how drastically)?

I understand and appreciate your approach that the best way to work on growth-engine-topics using lean startup way is by utilising fully dedicated teams in sandboxes. But if you were working for a corporate-client (as a methodology-champion), who is not in the position to assign even one dedicated team yet (instead: 14 volunteers (working in their normal full-day job) distributed across 5 sandboxes), how would you facilitate the work of the sandbox-teams?

Eric is most probably no longer reading this, but I'm really curious what he thinks about landing pages. A lot of startups use them as their MVP nowadays, but I think they are doomed to fail because you have nothing to present to your potential customers.

I'm also wondering what his thoughts are on what the best ways to drive good traffic to a MVP are, without getting biased stats (by inviting all your friends and family for example).

Hi Eric, our startup is hosting live video AMAs with entrepreneurs. Would you be interested in hosting a session at http://talkingnext.io/? We actually have an event scheduled for tonight with Raj Singh from Dronecast at 5PM EST if you want to check it out live.

Hi Eric,

Your first mass produced book was published by a traditional, 'big' publisher (Crown/Random House). Is this new book an independent effort or are you still working with a trade publisher? Do you feel they've added value to the process for what you got the first time (versus self publishing and retaining more revenue per sale)?

Are you planning to setup a program for consultants, advisors or trainers to get certified on the-lean-startup-approach?

Hi Erik! good to see you here... What do you think about Design-Driven Innovation? [0] Do you think that it represents an alternative valid method for launching startups?

[0] http://www.designdriveninnovation.com/

Hi Eric, thanks for an AMA.

I build a startup for entrepreneurs who want to create a web or mobile app with no programming experience. For example you can create a wordpress clone or more complex apps like CRM without coding knowledge. Or you can buy an app and you can modify it for your needs.

Can you give me some advice?

With today's trends of massive series A rounds, how should entrepreneurs think about staying lean with so much pressure to go big and a prevailing winner-take-all mentality within the VC world? Moreover, what's your take on the series A mega-round?

I admire your untraditional, lean approach to publishing your followup book, but know it doesn't work for everyone and certainly not for straight-up copycats. What promotional advice do you have for an author who isn't as well-known as you?

Are there any particular skills or traits that you looked for in your startup co-founders?

In THE LEADER'S GUIDE, will you also make available business tools you suggest for lean-startup project? A bit comparable to what Alex Osterwalder & strategyzer is offering it (Canvas, Test&Learning Cards, Progress Board, etc.)?

How important do you feel it is for a startup to move to, or at least fundraise in SV?

Why do you think that 'the establishment' is so hard to innovate within?

I hear some complaints from academia, at least in my country - don't know if it's valid globally, that they are being more and more regulated and spend too much time applying for grants.

Do you have any opinion on that?

What does your book writing process look like now? What did you learn writing The Lean Startup and how much of the teachings of the lean concept itself are applicable to book writing?

Cheers! /Martin

Hi Eric, Your last book inspired our own startup http://www.discuss.io. Discuss.io provides marketers on-demand webcam interviews with millions of potential consumers. We help marketers from startups to the fortune 500 "get out of the building" and get user stories BEFORE they code. I would love to get your feedback on what you have built. I'll set you up with a free account if you ping help@discuss.io

This is the book that really gives me lots of motivation and ideas. A great book to train yourself to be an entrepreneur.

Good AMA! Enjoyed your non-canned responses.

Why don't you hear more classical music? What's in the new bands that Bach doesn't have?

Hi Eric Glad you are writing new books So they will not be available thru Amazon or local bookstores?

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How important do you think is formal college education in the life of an entrepreneur?

Did you anticipate the kickstarter campaign would be so successful?

What's the fastest you've launched a startup?

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