Lean Startups and Innovation Strategy: Towards a New Paradigm? Andy - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Lean Startups and Innovation Strategy: Towards a New Paradigm? Andy Wu & David Clough Academy of Management Annual Meeting 5 th August 2017 1

The Lean Startup framework • Ideas popularized by Eric Ries and Steve Blank • They put forward a systematic process for finding a new venture business model, for low up front cost • Some major components of the process – ‘Customer Development’ – ‘Minimum Viable Product’ – ‘Validated Learning’ & ‘Build -Measure- Learn’ – ‘Pivot or persevere’ decisions – A/B Testing The method has been broadly adopted amongst practitioners and gets taught in many entrepreneurship programs 2

The Lean Startup framework “Too many startups begin with an idea for a product that they think people want. They then spend months, sometimes years, perfecting that product without ever showing the product , even in a very rudimentary form, to the prospective customer. When they fail to reach broad uptake from customers, it is often because they never spoke to prospective customers and determined whether or not the product was interesting. When customers ultimately communicate, through their indifference, that they don't care about the idea, the startup fails. ” Eric Ries, theleanstartup.com 3

Is ‘The Lean Startup’ being cited in academic research? • As of 2 nd August 2017, Eric Ries ’ book has 2,083 Google Scholar Citations • 26 articles in the top management & entrepreneurship journals cite Ries Articles citing Ries 2011, count by year (15 top management / entrepreneurship journals) 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 H1 2017

Is ‘The Lean Startup’ being cited in academic research? • As of 2 nd August 2017, Eric Ries ’ book has 2,083 Google Scholar Citations • 26 articles in the top management & entrepreneurship journals cite Ries Articles citing Ries 2011, count by year (15 top management / entrepreneurship journals) 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 H1 2017

Is ‘The Lean Startup’ being cited in academic research? • As of 2 nd August 2017, Eric Ries ’ book has 2,083 Google Scholar Citations • 26 articles in the top management & entrepreneurship journals cite Ries Articles citing Ries 2011, count by year (15 top management / entrepreneurship journals) 12 1 st edition of 10 this PDW 8 6 4 2 0 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 H1 2017

Is ‘The Lean Startup’ being cited in academic research? • As of 2 nd August 2017, Eric Ries ’ book has 2,083 Google Scholar Citations • 26 articles in the top management & entrepreneurship journals cite Ries Articles citing Ries 2011, count by journal (15 top management / entrepreneurship journals) 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 ETP JBV SEJ RP AMR JMS AMP AMD ASQ

Where does Lean Startup methodology intersect with academic research? Deliberate learning from experimentation Searching for (Entrepreneurial) business model / for Learning from failure e.g. Thomke, 1998 opportunities e.g. McGrath, 1999 e.g. Amit & Zott, 2001; Lean Pontikes & Barnett, 2017 Startup Engaging users in Organizational entrepreneurial strategic change process e.g. Marx, Gans & Hsu, 2014 e.g. Shah & Tripsas, 2007 New Product Development process e.g. Erat & Kavadias, 2008 8

Where does Lean Startup methodology intersect with academic research? Deliberate learning from experimentation Searching for (Entrepreneurial) business model / for Learning from failure e.g. Thomke, 1998 opportunities Lean e.g. McGrath, 1999 e.g. Amit & Zott, 2001; Startup Pontikes & Barnett, 2017 Interdependence of elements of strategy Engaging users in Organizational entrepreneurial strategic change process New Product Development process e.g. Marx, Gans & Hsu, 2014 e.g. Shah & Tripsas, 2007 e.g. Erat & Kavadias, 2008 9

Some speculative research questions to ‘prime the pump’ • RQ1: Does adopting Lean Startup methodology raise venture performance? – What research designs and settings could test this? • RQ2: Can we theorize about the Lean Startup methodology? – What existing theoretical frameworks map onto Lean Startup — or conflict with it? • RQ3: What are the boundary conditions or moderators of a Lean Startup innovation strategy? – For what environments is it more / less effective? – For what types of organizations is it more / less effective? • RQ4: Are the constituent elements of the Lean Startup methodology intrinsically complementary? – Which elements work best together, and why? – How might we model this, e.g. formally or with simulation? 10