According to Eric Ries, there are two main reasons for startup failures:<ul><li>Traditional management methods do not work for a highly uncertain startup</li><li>The second reason may seem completely opposite to the first one </li><li> seeing that traditional management approaches do not work, entrepreneurs let things go by themselves and are guided by the "just do it" principle.</li></ul>

Why Do startups fail ??

<ul><li>Many people share the opinion that entrepreneurial success is a combination of perseverance, intelligence, a good product, and the luck of being in the right place at the right time.</li><li> Routine, small things, and boring details do not matter. </li><li> it is nothing more than just a myth, partly imposed by pop culture. </li></ul>It's exactly the boring little things that are critical to a startup's success.

What is a Lean Startup?

<ul><li>Entrepreneurs are everywhere. </li><li>Irrespective of the size of the venture if you guys are working on a product that solves a problem in a new and better way then you are entrepreneurs</li><li>Entrepreneurship is management. Startups need a new type of management that will handle the conditions of extreme uncertainty.</li><li>Confirmation by facts. A startup needs continuous learning through a scientific approach and empirical hypothesis testing.</li></ul>

Five Principles of the Lean Startup:

<ul><li>Instead of making complex plans based on many assumptions,</li><li> you can make constant adjustments with a steering wheel called the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop. </li><li>Startups are greatly analogous to driving a car to our office as we know the destination but we may change the routes according to our ease  </li></ul>

Startups are not rocket science they are like car rides

The feedback that a startup receives in its experiments can be qualitative (which product options they like and which they don't) or quantitative (how many customers use the product, the number of registered users).The Lean Startup concept is based on a Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop. The most important challenge of startup management is to strive to reduce the feedback cycle time. But all the elements of this cycle deserve equal attention.

How to go into practice?


<ul><li>For a startup, you need to start creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) as soon as possible. </li><li>MVP is a version of a product that allows you to start the Build-Measure-Learn cycle with minimal effort, spending as little development time as possible.</li><li>Such a crude product may be devoid of the options that will be most appreciated by customers in the future. </li><li>Still, at the same time, enough to be usable and understandable by first users.</li></ul>

Build #step-1

<ol><li>Video MVP {A video that explains your product or solution to measure traction}</li><li>The Concierge MVP {idea that when you’re just starting out you don’t need to be able to handle thousands of customers, you just need to make one customer happy} great way to validate your hypothesis</li><li>The Wizard of Oz MVP. In a Wizard of Oz MVP customers believe they are interacting with your technology product; however, the reality is that behind the scenes a human is doing the work</li><li>Landing Page MVP: make a landing page with an explanation of your solution if people are showing interest and interacting its a good sign </li></ol>

Types of MVP


<ul><li>"Measure" means determining whether the efforts to create a product are producing the desired results. </li><li>And this is the key difference between Lean Startup valuation and standard methods, where deadlines and budget utilization are assessed, </li><li>but it may not be considered that the startup has created a useless product. </li><li>The primary assessment method in a Lean startup is innovation accounting.</li><li>This is a quantitative approach that allows us to find out how successful our attempts to trigger the growth mechanism are. It also helps identify intermediate learning outcomes.</li></ul>

Measure #step-2

<ul><li>It means to figure out whether the chose path lead to success or we need to pivot</li><li>When an entrepreneur sees that the chosen path does not lead to success, </li><li>he must be ready to find a new strategic hypothesis and stop spending money on following the unnecessary direction.</li></ul>

Learn #step-3

<ul><li>It is not uncommon for entrepreneurs to first create a product and then find out consumers' reactions. But the point is to do the opposite.</li><li>The goal of creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is to start learning and testing in practice as soon as possible. </li><li>An MVP is needed to test the hypotheses of entrepreneurs. It should not be perfect. It should be quality enough to attract the first customers, but no more.</li></ul>

Do what scares perfectionists

<ol><li> Create MVP and get feedback to understand the real state.</li><li>Try to bring metrics closer to ideal ones. It can take a lot of trying.</li><li>Decide whether to move in the same direction or make a pivot.</li><li>If you are close to the ideal metrics, you need to move in the same direction.</li></ol>

Three stages of innovation accounting:

<ul><li>If nobody uses your product, then optimization or marketing will make no sense. </li><li>A startup must be very clear about making clear and well-founded predictions to prove that a good business can be built with the product. </li><li>The necessary indicators are often replaced by those that look nicer but are useless ("vanity metrics"). </li><li>These metrics usually include ad views, page visits, app installs, and more.</li><li> Real metrics should prove the value of your project, that it really solves user problems.</li></ul>

Vanity metrics

<ul><li>When it becomes clear that the initially chosen path will not lead to success, </li><li>the entrepreneur is required to make a pivot - to radically change the strategy, create and test a new hypothesis about the product.</li><li>The pivot's essence is to take into account everything that you have learned earlier, but at the same time radically change the strategy to get even more grounded knowledge.</li><li>It is a combination of the scientific method of hypothesis testing and vision, intuition, and creativity.</li></ul>

When should you make a pivot?

Small batch approachThe Lean Startup methodology is based on a small batch approach, borrowed from the concept of lean manufacturing.<ul><li>When working in small batches, the finished product is produced every few seconds. </li><li>When working in large batches, all the finished goods are produced simultaneously, at the very end. </li><li>Imagine what this means when it comes to hours, days, weeks. </li><li>What if a customer suddenly decides they don't need a product? </li><li>Would we like to know about this earlier? In the small batches approach, this risk is minimized.</li></ul>

How to get traction?

<ul><li>The rules that govern sticky growth are pretty simple: if the acquisition rate exceeds the loss rate, then the popularity of the product rises. Therefore, companies need to track consumer losses.</li></ul>

1. The sticky engine of growth

<ul><li>For a company to grow steadily over a long time using a paid-growth tool, it needs a differentiated ability to 'monetize' a particular group of users.</li><li>For example, at IMVU (Ries' ex-company), this was due to introducing the ability to get off funds from mobile phones, which helped the company attract more customers than competitors who focused only on bank cards.</li></ul>

2. Paid engine of growth.

<ul><li>The lean startup is developing a product based on the expressed desires of the market.</li><li>The lean startup uses validated learning, which is a process by which companies assess consumer interest.</li><li>Lean startup methods focus heavily on customer-related information such as customer churn rate, lifetime customer value, and product popularity.</li><li>In lean startup practices, experimentation is favored more than adherence to a rigid plan.</li><li>Lean startup standards will involve releasing a small form or early concept products to assess the customer reaction to the product.</li></ul>

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

This book is a good business bible for new approach to manage a new company known as startups in the post - modern 21st century as the world economy is becoming a knowledge economy where human is at the centre of producing goods and services.

Outlines a revisionist approach to management while arguing against common perceptions about the inevitability of startup failures, explaining the importance of providing genuinely needed products and services as well as organizing a business that can adapt to continuous customer feedback.

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched. Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. What they have in common is a mission to penetrate that fog of uncertainty to discover a successful path to a sustainable business. The Lean Startup approach fosters companies that are both more capital efficient and that leverage human creativity more effectively. Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, it relies on “validated learning,” rapid scientific experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want. It enables a company to shift directions with agility, altering plans inch by inch, minute by minute. Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs—in companies of all sizes—a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it’s too late. Ries provides a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups in a age when companies need to innovate more than ever.

Eric Ries is an American entrepreneur, blogger, and author of The Lean Startup, a book on the lean startup movement. He is also the author of The Startup Way, a book on modern entrepreneurial management.

Eric Ries

The Lean Startup

Reward the same behaviors every time they appear, discourage the same behaviors when they appear and treat every member of your team equally.

Consistency

Clarity, accuracy and thoroughness are the best way to avoid miscommunication.

Communication

If you want your team members to work together, have them work for something together.

Team work

Reward team members with a bonus, a small trophy or a vocal recognition when they do something exceptional.

Reward hard work

As the manager and leader, you should set an example in terms of your behavior.

Lead by example

Focus on each individual team member, and customize your approach to fit each one.

Never go with 'one-size-fits-all.'

Transparency shows your integrity as a leader, and builds trust with the individual members of your team.

Transparency

Never chastise a team member for voicing an opinion respectfully.

Encourage all opinions and ideas

﻿Help your people enjoy coming to work, and they’ll do their best work for you.

Help people enjoy work

Open dialogue makes it easier to proactively identify problems and work together to create a mutually beneficial environment.

Listen and ask questions

Being an effective manager is about more than just driving your employees to work harder -- or more efficiently. 

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

corporateculture

Corporate Culture

teamwork

Teamwork

The 10 Golden Rules of Effective Management

If you're a hiring manager, you've probably had a promising job candidate suddenly stop answering your calls, texts and email. As early as 2019, more than four out of five companies have been ghosted by a job candidate at least once.The behaviour stems from the world of online dating, where ghosting is de-facto and pain-free (for the ghoster) way to say: "I'm not interested." Since job hunting, like hooking up, now takes place primarily online, it's only logical there's crossover behaviour.

Ghosting An Employer

Sites like ZipRecruiter and LinkedIn make applying to a job as easy as hooking up on Tinder. 
Because the candidate didn't have to put much time and effort into applying for the job, they may not be committed enough to follow through.

Impulsive Behaviour

According to a <a href="https://www.indeed.com/lead/ghosting-guide">study conducted by Indeed.com</a>, almost a third of job candidates ages 18-24 (and almost a fifth of older candidates) ghosted a potential employer because "the hiring process was too slow or too long."
Job candidates know that a long wait means you don't have your act together.

Delay In Providing An Offer

If your company is a lousy place to work, disgruntled employees are going to anonymously grouse about you online. 
Back in the day, a company could hide a toxic culture behind an inspirational mission statement. Today not so much.

The Candidate Found Skeletons In the Company Closet

Since a candidate might not be entirely serious at first, if that candidate looks interesting, you arrange a telephone conversation like right now, so you can "sell" the candidate on working for you.

Preventing Ghosting By Candidates: Quick Follow Up

Maybe getting every stakeholder on board made sense when a job offer entailed lifetime employment. 
Today job hopping is the norm, so there's less at stake.

Preventing Ghosting By Candidates: Shorter Hiring Cycle

This, of course, is the "challenging" step because, sad to say, once a company has a toxic culture it's almost impossible to change it for the better.

Preventing Ghosting By Candidates: Make Your Company Worth Joining

3 reasons that job candidates suddenly ghost you and what you can do to prevent it.

career

Career

humanresources

Human Resources

Job Recruiting Is Getting More Like Tinder Every Day

Steve Jobs intentionally designed a wow moment in every major product launch, using products like props in a magic show. Jobs could have simply introduced the first iPod by showing photos, but instead, he took an iPod out of a small pocket of his jeans and said: "It's like carrying 1,000 songs in your pocket." Jobs understood that the key to mesmerizing the audience is to give them something to remember.

The "wow" factor in a story

People naturally pay more attention to stories, so consider telling more of them.  At the 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, Steve Jobs told three personal stories from his life. Many people remember Jobs talking about a calligraphy course in college, despite not knowing what to use it for. Later, Jobs used that knowledge to build the Macintosh, which changed desktop publishing with its fonts.

Tell more stories

Science journalists put data into context to catch the readers' attention. But they know the reader's eyes will glaze over topics like greenhouse gas emissions if the event is not put into context. So they wrote, "The concentration of gas in the atmosphere that causes climate change is the highest it's been in 800,000 years."

Offer surprising statistics

Our brains understand metaphors. We compare unfamiliar things to things we understand. Billionaire Warren Buffet uses analogies to simplify complex financial topics. For example, he explains how he chooses winning companies by saying, "I look for economic castles protected by unbreachable moats."

Create analogies

A wow moment can be as simple as packaging content creatively to reveal a surprise. In 2007, Steve Jobs repeatedly mentioned three new products - a new iPod, a phone, and an internet communicator. Finally, he stated that it is not three devices but one device: the iPhone.

Plan surprise reveals

We remember pictures better than words. In presentations, use short videos. People likely will pay intense attention to your screen. This is known as the "picture superiority effect". If your presentation repeats the same pattern, you will lose your audience's attention. Instead, break it up with photos or videos.

Show photos, images, and videos

5 ways to give people a moment to remember. 

communication

Use this Steve Jobs presentation hack to keep your audience's attention.

The default mode in your company or organisation you're part of dictates a lot of dynamics inside an organisation on three main levels:<ul><li>Personal default mode. Every person has a default mode at work. It is their comfort zone of what they do the most, such as talking or working on a computer.</li><li>Processes. Companies need hardcoded processes. When the process works and people's default mode aligns with the process, the company works well together.</li><li>Company culture. The default mode of how people behave in an organisation.</li></ul>

Default mode

Think about what modes you have in your company? What modes do your colleagues have? For example, in an office, the main modes would be "talking with people" and "doing things on a computer." If you do more talking, your main responsibilities are possibly passing information, organizing people, making decisions. You are most likely in a leadership position. If you spend more time with a computer, you probably do the actual work.

Personal default mode

<ul>
<li> People require more effort and control to do a task or activity that's not part of their default mode. If you need someone to do something outside of their default mode, start with small steps and slowly introduce the new activity.</li>
<li>When hiring people, try to identify what's their personal default mode. Ask what their typical day at work looked like? What tasks would they prefer to avoid?</li>
<li>When there are no clear goals and instructions, most people focus on doing what they're good at or most comfortable with instead of what the company needs. E.g. overengineering in tech companies.</li>
</ul>

Implications of the personal mode

Most organisations need hardcoded processes for the company to work as a well functioning machine.  However, processes create habits. People who carry out processes stop thinking critically. When processes are too strict without a degree of autonomy and feedback, the organisation will run on old habits.

Processes are a double-edged sword

There are acceptable default behaviours, "how we do things here" which people learn through osmosis and which can become habitual. If an organisation is not pro-actively defining its culture, it will assume whatever default modes there happen to be. For example:<ul><li>Do people trust their colleagues by default or exercise caution?</li><li>What's the default atmosphere in the organisation? Are people excited to show up at work?</li><li>Do people care about their work, or do they just tick checkboxes?</li></ul>

Company culture

Designing a company culture is essential in any organisation. Whatever is the default mode will rule.

business

Business

The Invisible Dictator

“Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.”

Courage is everything, it makes you take action. 

there are many iconic Amelia Earhart quotes out there, and we've rounded up some of the best.

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

technologyandthefuture

Technology & The Future

24 Motivating Amelia Earhart Quotes for Adventure

<ol><li>Be confident. </li><li>Match their reasoning - If they are emotional appeal to their emotions, if they are logical, give them logic</li><li>Make it seem beneficial and use repetition</li><li>Choose your words carefully</li><li>Use flattery</li><li>Decide when to talk slow and fast</li><li>Nod in front of someone you want to convince, they will also end up nodding, hence agreeing with you</li><li>Mirroring the body language of the person</li><li>Foot in the door technique </li><li>Door in the Face technique</li></ol>

10 Psychological Tips To Convince Anyone

Talk fast when your audience is tough to please, it will make it harder for them to find your flaws and actually listen to you. Talk slow when your audience likes you and give them time to accept what you are saying.

Decide when to talk slow and fast

Persuade someone with a smaller request or favor first and then ask for the bigger favor, they will agree to the second request as they agreed to the first one and are obliged to agree to the second one.

Foot In The Door Technique

This is the opposite of the Foot in the Door Technique. Start with a bigger unreasonable request first which will not be accepted and then come down to a smaller and more reasonable request . The person whom you are trying to convince will automatically comply because you have scaled down your request from being too unreasonable to acceptable.

Door In The Face Technique

It's important to have Convincing ability for any field. If you have the power to convince others, you will be accepted and heard more. These tips will help you build your persuasion skills! 

Confidence is easy to fake and hard to distinguish.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

6 ways to persuade anyone of anything

We see millions of fonts each day, but we will only remember the successful ones. A good, successful font comes in the form of font psychology - meaning you connect the emotional and visual action to the font you choose to represent you. The digital age has strengthened that connection and is why brands and businesses should carefully consider what fonts are most successful.

A good successful font

Font psychology is the visual and emotional response you have to fonts. The Kolenda Font Model explains step-by-step how we perceive fonts and what we associate with them. For example, bold font for a fitness brand will be perceived as thick and bulky. The perception will also be associated with the fitness brand.

Font psychology

<ul><li>Typography is the art of creating a message that looks visually pleasing. For example, if you want to evoke thoughts of tallness or slimness, adjust the spacing or decide if the upper or lower case will impact people's perception.</li><li>Shape psychology focuses on the geometric form and creates emotion and feeling. For example, a font with more roundness creates a relaxing wave.</li><li>Colour psychology plays a role in changing mood. The right shape and colour can be used to create the mood you want to embody.</li></ul>

Typography, shape and colour psychology

Font psychology has the power to drive your decisions and goals. Understanding how people react to fonts can influence how your target audience perceives your design and business. Your design font should inspire and empower your message. For example, using the proper signage fonts when designing for a flash sale will help prompt consumers to buy instead of browsing. Likewise, the right combination of fonts for social media posts increases consumers' likeliness to return and engage with your content.

Why you should use font psychology

Serif fonts are the most traditional font option and are often used to create a classic, traditional and stable look and feel. This font is great for brands and businesses that feel established, or to evoke a feeling of trust and respectability, for example, law firms, insurance companies and consultants. The most popular serif fonts are Times New Roman, Georgia and Garamond.

Serif fonts

The slab serif fonts are in the same family as serif fonts, but with more bold confidence and youth. Slab serif fonts are squared off giving a chunkier look and feel. Slab serif fonts are excellent for businesses that want to leave a lasting impact. Popular slab serif fonts include Courier, Rockwell and Museo.

Slab serif fonts

Sans serif fonts are clean, crisp and modern. They are minimal and engaging. These fonts convey a no-nonsense attitude but also feel open and progressive. Tech companies prefer these fonts as well as forward-thinking and modern brands. Classic examples of this font are Arial, Century Gothic and Helvetica.

San serif fonts

Script fonts have a feeling of femininity and elegance. They are fun and romantic and mimick forms of handwriting and doodling. Script fonts inspire other creative ideas and feel rich in emotion and history. They're great for visual brands but should be used with caution as they can leave text feeling illegible. Familiar examples include Lucida Script, Lobster and Zapfino.

Script fonts

Modern fonts take on a futuristic look, but it's found in 18th-century history. Modern fonts combine practicality and playfulness. It varies thick and thin strokes. These fonts create a sense of exclusivity and intellect. It is great for announcing your brand, particularly for attracting the millennial demographic.  Examples include Matchbook, Politica and Klavika.

Modern fonts

Display fonts are used for large-format mediums such as billboards, headings, and book covers. They can be serif, slab serif, or sans serif. They can also be unique and can have a pictorial element to them. Display fonts can create a more casual, fun, or unique look. The font can be changed to suit your personality and is ideal for any business.  Examples include Bombing, Gigi and Jokerman.

Display fonts

Understanding how fonts influence our decisions can help in picking the right font for your business. This article lists the different types of fonts and the feelings they evoke. 

Font psychology is the connected emotional and visual reaction to fonts. That's why it's important for brands and businesses to pick a font carefully. Let’s take a closer look at what font psychology means, what it says about you and your business, and which styles best represent you.

product

Product & Design

The fundamentals of font psychology - 99designs

The abrupt change in our personal lives or at work can leave us feeling anxious. To smooth the transition, people need the right preparation and guidance.  Change management gives employees the tools and resources to adapt to change better and feel comfortable in the process.

Change management

Change management involves guiding an organisation from a current state to a different future state. However, the current state is often not well understood, whether app usage, workflows, or employee behaviour. Some managers may be tempted to assume employees behave in a certain way based on the documented process teams should follow. Then a change roadmap is built on the faulty assumptions and is bound to cause problems. Effective change managers plan how employees do their work. They know what's actually happening.

Be wary of "going with your gut"

Many companies may introduce new tools too quickly or add too many into the mix at once. This could lead to duplicative apps and licenses and cause tech costs to become out of control. IT shouldn't be afraid to audit the company's existing app usage and retire apps that do not create value. <ul><li>What was the problem the app was designed to solve? </li><li>Is it still an issue for the company? </li><li>Are there more comprehensive apps the company currently pays for that can serve the purpose?</li></ul>

Don't be afraid to retire apps

Change management is essential during mergers and acquisitions. If employees feel overwhelmed by the pace of change or puzzled by the integration of systems, they may leave. Change managers should be deliberate about planning integrations and base their strategy on the same fundamentals:<ul><li>Looking into the data</li><li>Not assuming work happens in a particular way</li><li>Design change around how employees actually behave.</li></ul>

Retain your best talent during M&A

Here are three ways change managers can empower companies and their employees to thrive in today's work environment.

How to optimize change management in the digital workplace - Pendo Blog

It is where the leader continuously adapts their style of leading to the changing environment in which they work. If a specific style works in one situation with an individual, that doesn’t mean that style is suitable for all people or situations.

Situational leadership

<ul><li>Directing works for workers who need specific guidance to complete a task. “Here is what I’d like you to do, step by step. I need it done by this time.”</li><li>Coaching is for employees who need more guidance to complete the task. “Here’s what I’d like you to do. What do you think?”</li><li>Supporting is for employees can complete a task but lack the confidence to do it independently. “Here’s the task. How do you think it should be done?</li><li>Delegating is for employees who can work independently. “Here’s an assignment. If I can help, just ask, otherwise you’re on your own.”</li></ul>

The four leadership styles

We tend to be excellent planners but inferior doers when we lead ourselves. For example, consider the recent plan you devised but never executed. A great leader won't give their employees a great plan but then walk away and hope for the best. Instead, he would check in, look for obstacles to remove, and give feedback. We know all of this, but we don't manage execution when it comes to our own lives. So when we consider our goals, we need to step into execution mode and out of planning mode, just as a good hands-on leader would do.

Leading yourself

We often don't reflect properly on many of our past experiences or failures because the planner is convinced that we will do it differently this time. Yet if we don't understand why we failed, we likely will repeat it.

Learning from past mistakes

We all come equipped with multiple modes of leadership, to manage ourselves and others. Being cognizant of our modes helps us lead much more effectively.

Leaders and Followers, Planners and Doers - Farnam Street

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