Living labs and lean startups

Question 1

Living labs

Answer 1

Set up user communities and give them product prototypes. Usage is monitored closely (open innovation)

Question 2

Tesla

Answer 2

Tesla allows free use of its patents, in the spirit of open source movements, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology
True competition is not the small trickle of non Tesla electric cars, but the enormous flood of gasoline cars being produced every single day
The company will attract the worlds most talented engineers, strengthening rather than diminishing their competitive position

Question 3

Lean start up - Eric Ries 1978

Answer 3

• The lean start up provides a scientific approach to creating and managing start up and get a product to customer hands faster
• The approach allows a company to create order, not chaos by providing the tools to test a vision continuously
• It is more than just theoretical enquiry, it is a first product. If it is successful, managers can begin campaigns: enlisting early adopters, adding employees to further experiment and eventually starting to build a product
• By the time it is ready to be widely distributed, it will already have an established customer base. Real problems will be solved and detailed specifications offered for what is to be distributed
• BUILD - MEASURE - LEARN

Question 4

Development of an MVP (Minimum viable product)

Answer 4

A core component of lean start up is the build-measure-learn feedback loop.
The first step is figuring out the problem to be solved and then developing a MVP to begin the learning process
Once the MVP is established, the start up can begin working on its engine. This will involve measurement and learning and must include actionable metrics and ensure the business is willing to pivot if data suggests the plan is not working

Question 5

Dropbox and lean startup

Answer 5

Cloud storage that was available did not do what was promised
Implemented a culture of learn early and learn often
- Dropboxes MVP - 3 minute screencast on Hacker news, walkthrough of Dropbox. Lots of immediate and high quality feedback.
- They created a simple landing page, to capture those who were interested and allow them to register for updates using their email addresses
- This was followed by a private beta version launch video, which resulted in the waiting list for dropbox going from 5,000 to 75,000
- By not launching they managed to not fail, but they did learn. They ended up making something that they knew people would want
- Dropbox put the product into consumers hands, and got feedback ASAP