Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works (Lean (O'Reilly))

by Ash Maurya

First sell manually, then automate.

Direct versus indirect

You have to first sell your product yourself, before letting others do it.

Retention before referral

you need to have a product worth spreading first.

Your MVP should address not only the top problems customers have identified as being important to them, but also the problems that are worth solving.

Price is part of the product.

Price defines your customers.

Getting paid is the first form of validation.

Although there is a lot of science around pricing, pricing is more art than science.

focus on the present:

Find the key number that tells you how your business is doing in real time, before you get the sales report.

Acquisition

Activation

Retention

Revenue

Referral

An interesting perspective (via Jason Cohen) to keep in mind is that anything worth copying will be copied, especially once you start to demonstrate a viable business model.

A real unfair advantage is something that cannot be

easily copied or bought.

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