How feedbacks help startups to develop and grow
Significant insights must be gained in the ‘Measure’ phase. Customer surveys and user interviews should be designed in such a way that testing the hypotheses is possible. In addition to the survey on the usefulness or global satisfaction with the minimally functional product, it will go in detail to desirable advancements of functionality.
Ultimately, the measured and evaluated data must show whether the product is actually a viable basis. In any case, learn from the results and draw the right conclusions. So we have already reached the third step in the cycle.
Each loop has the goal to make a product better and thus more attractive to the target group. Basically, after each build-measure-learn loop, a learning process needs to be decided as to whether the entrepreneurial experiment will continue. The big advantage of this approach is to be honest and relentlessly served by customers the truth.
All decisions that are made are evidence-based and directly legitimize by demand. Who draws the right conclusions from this, after a Build-Measure-Learn cycle before these two basic options: ‘Persevere’ or ‘Pivot’, so continue or initiate a course change.
-
Learn: Learn and make the right decisions
Now we are in the third phase of the Build-Measure-Learn Feedback Loop: ‘Learn’. If it turns out that the hypothesis was correct and that the product has authorization in the market, then continue with the feedback loops (‘Persevere’). And so long until the product is convincing from the customer’s point of view or results in the concrete potential for improvement.
The learning process can also show that the assumptions were completely wrong if an MVP does not arrive well. In this case, the business idea or the entire business model can be completely discarded and a new approach can be tested in a timely manner using the Build-Measure-Learn methodology.
In addition, in the early stages of a startup, there is the opportunity to complete the ‘pivot’ (a radical strategic change of course). There are numerous examples in practice for this. Those who are capable of learning and, above all, willing, can, for example, Target a different audience with product development or set it to completely different features. Further testing and learning in the cycle will show whether the new direction is promising.
2. What the build-measure-learn feedback loop requires
In order to continuously improve a product, the described methodical triad is seen as a continuous process. Decision-making or production processes must be correspondingly agile and lean. In practice, every cycle should be done as tightly as possible to save time and money. Therefore, great importance must be attached to relevance in testing and evaluation.
In the end, you often have to adapt to bad news or very critical feedback with this method. But if you are open-minded and eager to learn, this approach opens up many entrepreneurial perspectives!
A conceivable pivot does not mean, in the sense of the Lean Startup method, that you have failed. On the contrary, it is more likely to be seen as the result of a learning process. This adaptability speaks for you as a founder and entrepreneur. In the wrong place of product development, doggedness can quickly lead to a dead end.
Conclusion: a question of perspective AND the right attitude
Although it seems to indicate the Lean Startup method, it is not a matter of spontaneous customization. The Build-Measure-Learn Feedback Loop representations have shown that strategic control matters. And above all, to learn from what has been found out in the process of testing. Fear of criticism and devastating customer feedback is completely out of place.
This method requires a very agile and flexible, yet systematic approach. Close cooperation with customers from the beginning is an extremely critical factor in this modern model. If you use Eric Ries and the Build-Measure-Learn method behind classical models of business management, then this should also apply to measure success.
Learning progress and the consistent, customer-driven development of the product show you that you are on the right track as an aspiring startup entrepreneur.