Five weeks ago Click launched Lean Launchpad: Pioneer Valley, a course modelled after the amazing curriculum by Steve Blank and open-sourced via NCIIA. Our lead instructor has taught entrepreneurship for ten years and has this to say...
"Startups made more progress in the first 3 weeks of the Lean Launchpad than they made in an entire year of my old curriculum. I am... blown away."
At the core of the curriculum is the belief that "No facts exist inside your building." This simple starting point forces our students to clearly lay out the fundamental assumptions underlying their ventures. They then must design experiments that test these hypotheses. Experiments cannot be done "in the lab" (aka founders arguing with each other). Experiments are only valid if they are done out in the field by actually interviewing 5, 10, 20, or more potential customers, partners, vendors, competitors... every week!
Initially we worried that talking to potential customers would lead to the Henry Ford quote: "If I asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said 'a faster horse.'" But our students do not ask what their customers want. They learn all about the customer's pain . And from that knowledge they get to design whatever creative solution they like - and they are getting creative!
Stay tuned for updates about our teams.