Hi there -
Here is this week’s “1 principle, 2 strategies, and 3 actionable tactics” for running lean…
1 Universal Principle
“Separate principles from tactics.”
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After publishing my first book, Running Lean, where I detailed my step-by-step process for launching and growing my products (software and a book), I was met with two kinds of reactions:
- I can see how this process worked for you, but it won’t work for us because we are “different”.
- I can see how this process worked for you, and we were able to successfully adapt it despite being “different”.
Different here meant:
- different type of product, e.g. physical or services,
- different type of business model, e.g., B2B or marketplace,
- different type of customers, e.g., people in (insert country) don’t behave like people in the U.S.
I was intrigued and decided to explore further.
Over the next several years, I said “yes” to everything and worked with a diverse group of entrepreneurs all over the world building very ”different” products.
What I learned:The key to successfully putting this process to work requires separating principles from tactics.
2 Underlying Strategies at Play
I. Principles are universal.
Like first-principles in science, we can tame complexity by reasoning through basic assumptions or universal truths.
Principles tell you why.
At a meta-level, businesses are more alike than unalike
- All businesses have customers,
- Customers seek value,
- Value comes from solving problems,
- Problems come from existing solutions,
- Problems well understood lead to better new solutions,
- New solutions create new problems,
- Innovation == solving problems before the competition.
If you want to build a long lasting business, use first-principles thinking to inform your strategy.
II. Tactics are specific.
Where people get tripped up is in the specific application of these principles to their specific business models.
This is where tactics come in.
Tactics show you how.
While principles don’t change, tactics do.
For example,
- speed of learning from customers is a universal principle, but how you learn from high-ticket B2B customers differs from how you learn from low-ticket B2C customers.
- building a scalable channel to customers is a universal principle, but channels that worked 5 years ago may not be relevant today.
If you want to build a long lasting business, constantly test and refine your tactics.
3 Actionable Tactics
I. Start with principles before tactics.
Spending a little time upfront to internalize these principles goes a long way toward:
- designing stronger business models,
- invalidating sub-optimal business models,
- building a solid validation strategy.
Spend 2 weeks now, to save you 2 years later.
If you’re an aspiring or early-stage founder, you can learn how to use these principles to stress-test your business in my 30-day Business Model Design Challenge.
It’s just $100 to join and the next cohort starts on Monday.
II. Be a student of tactics.
Different business models require different tactics. Once you categorize your business model, study analogs and antilogs:
Analogs are businesses similar to yours that succeeded.
Antilogs are businesses similar to yours that failed.
Understanding why analogs worked and antilogs didn’t helps you shortlist a catalog of tactics to consider.
III. Test Everything.
Tactics are ephemeral. So don’t blindly follow them.
Instead:
- Build a metrics culture early,
- Test one tactic at a time,
- While staying true to your strategy.
That’s all for today. See you next week.
Ash
Author of Running Lean and creator of Lean Canvas
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P.S.
For a simple illustration of separating principles from tactics, here’s the very first product I successfully built using lean principles: