Hi there -
Here is this week’s “1 principle, 2 strategies, and 3 actionable tactics” for running lean…
1 Universal Principle
“There is no better time than the present to Just Start.”
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As this is the last post of the year, I thought it prudent to give you a gentle nudge if you’ve been waiting for the perfect time or perfect idea or perfect something else to act on that one big idea that’s been gathering dust in the recess of your mind.
The number 2 reason why founders fail is not starting.
If you’ve already started and want more hands-on guidance, I’m launching a new BOOTSTART cohort on January 6th. The cohort will provide a step-by-step playbook and tools for bootstrapping an idea to paying customers in 90 days. More details are here.
2 Underlying Strategies at Play
I. Chase asymmetric risks.
There is a common myth about the risk-loving entrepreneur who jumps off a cliff without a parachute. In reality, however, most successful entrepreneurs I know are quite risk-averse.
The key to building a successful business model is two-fold:
- Chasing asymmetric risks where there’s a lot more potential upside than downside, and
- Prioritizing testing what's riskiest as quickly as possible to minimize your downside.
II. Time box your investment.
Your biggest investment as a founder is your time. Don’t waste it.
How quick is quick? I’m a big fan of 90-day cycles because it’s typically long enough to identify, test, and mitigate your first batch of riskiest assumptions and move your idea forward to the next stage.
At the outset, these are the key risks/questions to ask:
- Is my idea worth pursuing?
- Will customers want my product?
- Will customers buy my product?
Don’t settle for subjective answers. The only evidence of a working business model is traction (aka paying customers).
The goal of your first 90 days should be to go from idea to enough paying customers.
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90 days = 12.857 weeks.
In the next section, I’ll share my recommended breakdown of activities.
3 Actionable Tactics
I. First 2 weeks: Business Model Design:
Before rushing into product, turning your idea (a guess) into a business model is critical.
Think of your business model as a testable theory in science. Before running actual tests, you can stress-test a theory and refine it.
That’s what your first 2 weeks are about:
- Deconstructing your idea into multiple business models,
- Stress-testing them across multiple dimensions for clarity, viability, feasibility, defensibility, etc.
- Prioritizing your top models and formulating a 90-day validation strategy.
II. Next 4 weeks: Problem Discovery:
Customers don’t care about your solution but their problems. The next four weeks are about:
- Prospecting for customers,
- Identifying your ideal early adopters,
- Prioritizing the top 1 (or 2) problems to tackle first.
III. Last 6 weeks: Solution Design and Offer Delivery:
A problem well-defined is half-solved. The last 6 weeks is where you:
- Design the right solution for your ideal early adopters,
- Assemble a mafia offer,
- Test and refine your mafia offer to achieve traction.
Over the last decade, I’ve been curating a step-by-step playbook to help you achieve all these steps. The playbook is constantly battle-tested, iterated, and refined; we’ve put over 10,000 founders through it. If you’re ready to move your idea forward in 2025, consider joining the BOOTSTART 2025 cohort kicking off on January 6th.
That’s all for today. See you next week.
Happy New Year!
Ash
Author of Running Lean and creator of Lean Canvas
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P.S.
From my YouTube channel,
If I Launched a Startup in 2025, I’d Do This: