Introducing Lean Analytics

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In a startup, the purpose of analytics is to find your way to the right product and market before the money runs out. Learning and iterating is at the core of the Lean Startup methodology, but with a flood of information available, it’s hard to know where to start. We want to fix that.

Lean Analytics will show you what to measure and how to report it—whether you’re validating a problem, testing new features, enticing investors, promoting to bloggers, or reporting progress to advisors. It will lay out practical, proven steps to take your startup from initial idea to product/market fit.

These lessons aren’t just for web companies. Even traditional businesses like restaurants are embracing a lean, learn-first approach: San Francisco’s Wise Sons deli used a temporary “pop-up” approach to optimize their menu and operations before launching a permanent restaurant. And big companies launch skunkworks so intrapreneurs can innovate outside the normal strictures of the organization.

The Internet of Things and an always-on world means that everything will soon be measured. Your customers carry mobile devices; QR codes, geolocation, and emerging technologies such as Near Field Communications will soon make the real world as instrumented as the online one.

What you collect—and how you use it—changes based on your audience and the stage of your business. But the importance of collecting, analyzing, acting and learning doesn’t change. Tomorrow, it’s how you’ll survive. You need to identify and measure the single most important metric for the stage your company is at, and then iterate until you get it right.

This book is primarily aimed at the lean entrepreneur or intrapreneur focused on the early stages of building something innovative. We’ll walk through the analytical process, from idea generation to nearing or achieving product-market fit, so the content is applicable to those starting their entrepreneurial journey as well as those that are right in the middle of it. The lessons are universal, so Lean Analytics is really for anyone trying to make their organization more effective—from tiny startups to global corporations, restaurants to sports teams, communities and church groups to international charities.