(How) Does lean startup actually work?

Mojca Svetek  |  24 January 2024

Over the past decade, the Lean Startup methodology has really taken off. Educators, incubators, start-up accelerators, business angels, and venture capital firms are all jumping on board with this approach. So, what’s the big promise of the Lean Startup methodology and does it live up to the hype?

In this episode, we are breaking down:

  • What the lean startup methodology claims to be and what it actually is;
  • Three key steps of the lean startup methodology;
  • The benefits of using the lean startup methodology;
  • Where the lean startup methodology falls short and how to mitigate its drawbacks.

Research articles:

  • Baron, R. A. (2006). Opportunity recognition as pattern recognition: How entrepreneurs “connect the dots” to identify new business opportunities. Academy of management perspectives, 20(1), 104-119.
  • Blank, S. (2013). Why the lean start-up changes everything. Available at: https://hbr.org/2013/05/why-the-lean-start-up-changes-everything
  • Camuffo, A., Cordova, A., Gambardella, A., & Spina, C. (2020). A scientific approach to entrepreneurial decision making: Evidence from a randomized control trial. Management Science, 66(2), 564-586.
  • Chan, C. M., Teoh, S. Y., Yeow, A., & Pan, G. (2019). Agility in responding to disruptive digital innovation: Case study of an SME. Information Systems Journal, 29(2), 436-455.
  • Clutterbuck, P., Rowlands, T., & Seamons, O. (2009). A case study of SME web application development effectiveness via agile methods. Electronic Journal of Information Systems Evaluation, 12(1), pp13-26.
  • Ghezzi, A. (2019). Digital startups and the adoption and implementation of Lean Startup Approaches: Effectuation, Bricolage and Opportunity Creation in practice. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 146, 945-960.
  • Gourville, J. T. (2006). Eager Sellers and Stony Buyers: Understanding the Psychology of New-Product Adoption. Available at: https://hbr.org/2006/06/eager-sellers-and-stony-buyers-understanding-the-psychology-of-new-product-adoption
  • Johnson, P. (2004). Differences in regional firm formation rates: A decomposition analysis. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 28(5), 431–445.
  • Ladd, T., & Kendall, L. (2017). Resolving the risk paradox: Entrepreneurial cognition in the lean startup method. The Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 19(11/12), 28-42.
  • Mansoori, Y., Karlsson, T., & Lundqvist, M. (2019). The influence of the lean startup methodology on entrepreneur-coach relationships in the context of a startup accelerator. Technovation, 84, 37-47.
  • Marmer, M., Lasse Herrmann, B., Dogrultan, E., & Berman, R. (2012). Startup Genome Report Extra on Premature Scaling: A deep dive into why most high growth startups fail. Available at: https://startupgenome.com/all-reports 
  • Mollick, E. (2019). What the lean startup method gets right and wrong. Available at: https://hbr.org/2019/10/what-the-lean-startup-method-gets-right-and-wrong
  • Silva, D. S., Ghezzi, A., de Aguiar, R. B., Cortimiglia, M. N., & ten Caten, C. S. (2020). Lean Startup, Agile Methodologies and Customer Development for business model innovation: A systematic review and research agenda. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research.
  • Spina, C., Camuffo, A., & Gambardella, A. (2020). Founders, apply the scientific method to your start-up. Available at: https://hbr.org/2020/11/founders-apply-the-scientific-method-to-your-startup 
  • Xu, Y., & Koivumäki, T. (2019). Digital business model effectuation: An agile approach. Computers in Human Behavior, 95, 307-314.