

How We Built a Lean Startup Inside a 200 Person Company - andygcook
http://inside.envato.com/how-we-built-a-lean-startup-inside-a-200-person-company

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drone
We had done this at a previous company I had started (with others). We were
over 200 people at the time (~ 75 developers), and had created a situation
where there were serious clashes between the "start-up guys" (who preferred to
put ideas out there quickly, warts and all) and the "serious engineering guys"
(who didn't like the idea of supporting those things, and preferred no warts
to ever be shown to customers). [0]

Our solution was to create a new team, with a new VP to report to, who was
aligned with their goals explicitly. The team's focus was to simply find
interesting new product spaces, prototype the solutions quickly, and get 1
paying customer. The "start-up guys" were moved to this team, and they hired
more like-minded developers. The normal R&D department would take up the
prototype as a proof-of-concept once it was worked out that there would be
enough customers to justify the longer development of the final product. While
it resulted in the creation of the company's latest product, it definitely did
not solve the problem it was designed to - but it did increase the
understanding of the engineering team as to what would, and wouldn't work when
they got to work on the problem. Which, is really what everyone needed (even
if it wasn't what they wanted).

[0] - this is an over-simplification, of course

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lmg643
I find the "lean startup" concept to be humorous. it's like pg's y-combinator
essays in MBA-ese. Build an MVP and get users to provide feedback, and iterate
like crazy. As long as you're starting from MVP, the rest adheres to the
principal of "JFDI". if JFDI is unclear to you, and you're looking at a
flowchart to understand what JFDI means in context, then you are probably not
going to understand it, ever.

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delinka
The part I find humorous is constantly redefining terms. I thought "lean"
referred to budgets. In that light, I would have refuted the headline's
premise with a reminder that the 'outer' company was footing the bill for
salaries.

No, what they're discussing is yet another methodology (or an existing one
with a tweak, requiring a new name...) for creating a product, getting it to
[a subset of] customers, and refining it.

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mattmanser
No, the 'lean startup' has never meant a small budget and while I love the
concept, it is a pretty terrible name as it's not really cheap to do it
properly.

I made the same mistake until I started reading about what they were actually
talking about.

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reverius42
Lean process, not lean budget.

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VladRussian2
>Lean process,

we've had it (and still have, just the buzzword itself somehow magically
stopped flying around). It isn't lean. Process by definition can't be lean,
because process itself is the fat, and once the word "process" is uttered, you
may be sure that you aren't in Kansas anymore.

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didyousaymeow
For those of us who are in a startup and are intimately familiar with all of
the issues surrounding with being in a startup, I don't have much appreciation
for people working in an established company to co-op the word startup. You
have a lean department, not a lean startup.

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edraferi
Why is the corporate structure important? I like the Wikipedia definition that
"A startup is a company, a partnership or temporary organization designed to
search for a repeatable and scalable business model." [0] And of course
there's "startup culture" which is a group of people focused on iteration,
learning, results, etc. Many startups are stand-alone companies, but it's not
essential.

[0][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startup_company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startup_company)

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mkramlich
It is impossible to build a startup "inside" another company. If one
understands what the word startup means. Therefore, the article's author does
not.

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artlogic
Let's assume I don't understand what the word startup means. What is it about
the definition of startup prevents you from building one inside of another
company?

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CmonDev
Typically it's implied that you get to own a share of business.

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shah_m
There are a lots of articles that explain the concept of lean startup but not
as many that talk about how to apply it. Thanks for sharing. This should be
helpful for anyone thinking about testing a two-sided network problem.

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rywalker
Thanks for sharing Andy — I'm preparing a talk "Applying Lean Startup to the
Enterprise" and will reference your post :)

Great looking Ghost blog too, btw.

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andygcook
I actually didn't write this, Layla Foord at Envato is the OP.

I found the post particularly interesting because I am going through the same
exact process at HubSpot in Cambridge.

I'm planning on writing a blog post next week on the pros and cons of a
"startup within a startup". Would love to chat and share ideas, Ry. My email
is in my profile if you want to reach out.

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guicookie
Hey Andy, I'm Ben - the product guy in Layla's team.

We'd love to share notes on experiences, learnings and the rollercoaster in
general!

I'll reach out on the email machine.

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CmonDev
How did you justify options/profit sharing to the parent company? Did not they
insist you pay only salary and/or bonus?

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joshdance
Great look inside a new product. Thanks for sharing.

