This document provides an overview of the Lean Startup methodology and introduces a framework for organizing startup tools called the Six Abilities Framework. The framework identifies six core abilities for startups: forming, transforming, projecting, persuading, collecting, and protecting. Examples of tools are given for each ability. The document concludes by introducing a online toolkit resource that provides links to over 230 startup tools organized using the Six Abilities Framework.

1. Based on Presentation to Cambridge Startup Masterclass December 2011
Tools for Startup
Wizards
Paul Walsh
CogniDox

2. What I intend to cover:
• Introduction to The Lean Startup
• Lists of Tools – why lists don’t really work
• The Six Abilities Framework
• Stay Lean using Tools & the Framework

3. A Quick Overview
THE LEAN STARTUP

4. The Lean Startup
• Your time / life is precious, don't
waste it on stuff nobody wants
• Test and correct assumptions as
early as possible
• MVP - Minimum Viable Product
• Continuous deployment is good
• Always Be Measuring
• The Lean Startup is a company
built to learn
• Customer development rather
than product development

5. Not Lean as in “Frugal”
• Lean Startup ideas go back a long way (Lean
Manufacturing, Kanban, etc.) and are not a
response to “lean times” of current economy
• Where Philosophy of Science meets Business
School thinking:
– Scientific method: experimentation, empirical
data, hypothesis-testing, falsification

6. Not just for Startups
• Lean applies to any Product Management
enterprise
• Key requirement - “designed experiment”
must be a viable concept for your market
• Hypothesis testing is about
customer, user, buyer, pricing
model, channels… and product

7. Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
• Eric Ries: “that version of a new product which
allows a team to collect the maximum amount of
validated learning about customers with the least
effort.”
• Neither Minimal
nor Viable but
Minimum Viable

8. MVP revisions & limitations
• Awkward if your MVP needs a network effect or
community to be useful
– http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/11/when-minimal-viable-
product-doesnt-work.html (Seth Godin)
• Should it be Minimum Marketable Product?
– http://www.romanpichler.com/blog/agile-product-innovation/the-
minimal-marketable-product/ (Roman Pichler)
• Should it be Maximally Buyable Product?
– http://onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/12999/From-Minimally-Viable-To-
Maximally-Buyable-Product.aspx (Dharmesh Shah)
• Do align your MVP cycles with risk of losing key
customers, especially in B2B markets
• How well does MVP fit non Web / Mobile App
markets such as Medical Devices, FMCG, etc?

9. Tools and the Lean Startup
• Tools help testing rapid iterative cycles of
high-fidelity customer experiences
• Good tools:
– accelerate Customer Development
– help you gather actionable data
– don’t need to cost big $$$
• Tools are not a substitute for thinking; nor are
they a substitute for expertise
• Sometimes a pencil is the best tool

10. Why they don’t fully work
LISTS OF TOOLS

11. History
• 2 years ago one of the
Songkick founders
started a Wiki
• Tools validated by
other startups
• We contributed our
opinions on tools we
used & found useful
• List has grown longer
since and spawned
other lists

12. Tool Lists
• Startup Tools
– http://startuptools.pbworks.com/w/page/17974963/FrontPage
– No framework + some very specialised tools = can
make it hard to search/find
• Seedcamp list for business tools
– http://biztools.pbworks.com/w/page/11120547/FrontPage
– Is a little heavy on business philosophy and tips, light
on recurring business tasks
• Lean Startup Wiki
– http://leanstartup.pbworks.com/w/page/15765221/FrontPage
– Good place to discuss Lean Startup concepts, but only
tools are Business Model Canvas (explained later)

13. Lots of advice out there!

14. It needs a Framework
• No single template, but a good-enough step-
by-step plan is better than no plan
• Setting up a team is harder than handing out
the job titles
• It’s not good enough to say that everybody in
a Startup needs to do everything

15. Roles not Job Titles
"I’m creating a Startup and I need to know how to
split up the various roles and responsibilities of
the founders. There are three of us plus a small
development team."
• So they call themselves CEO, CTO, CFO, COO…
• Job is NOT done, no real progress made
• Focus should be on Roles as things that need to
be done, not job titles

16. Role confusion…
“In a Startup, everybody does everything”
• … if they can
– Not everyone has the same skills
– Important to take roles suited to individual
– Important not to leave roles un-filled
– Important not to have the wrong roles filled
– Do things in the right temporal order
“This needs a Framework”

17. What do Startups need?
THE SIX ABILITIES FRAMEWORK

18. The #1 Startup Question:
“What should I be doing
now?”

19. Look at the things Startups do
Built with:
http://www.wordle.net/

20. Choose an apt metaphor
• There are lots of metaphors for Startups
• Rock stars – too “bratty” for me
• Gurus – how impractical is that?
• Wizards – works for me
– Specialised
– Skilled
– Practical
– Team Players
– Magical

21. WoW as metaphor for Startup
• Embark on Epic Quests
• Recruit a Guild
• Form Powerful Alliances
• Engage an ever-changing
World
• Explore Environments
• Different Classes / Abilities
• Customise your talents to
create a unique Hero
(c) Blizzard Entertainment
…sounds like a Startup to me

22. Inspired by De Bono’s Hats
“Just give me the facts” “Got a feeling about this”
“What can go wrong?” “What can we gain?”
“Look at it another way” “Think of it like this”
• No thinking style is best; a time when each works

23. Six Startup Abilities
Six Abilities
Framework

24. Startup Wizards

25. Forming Abilities
• Making New Things
– Ideas for improvement or cost reduction
– Teams
– Networks of investors, contacts, advisors
– Business models
– Concepts
– Culture
• Research

26. Forming & the Lean Startup
• Invent a succession of short customer pitches.
For each pitch, do a Business Model Canvas
• Build your MVP plan – treat it like a Product
Backlog, look at Agile PM tools to assist
• How do you research your competition?
– Research is the precursor to Experiment – look at
company and market data using tools

27. Example Forming Tools
Startup Canvas Level Business

28. Startup Wizards

29. Transforming Abilities
• Alchemy side of a Startup – turning the ideas
into something tangible
• “Software is the nearest thing to magic that
we've yet invented” (John Naughton, 2011)

30. Transforming & the Lean Startup
• Build User and Buyer Persona(s) and devise a strategy
for UX testing
• Development teams: choose tools to support
Agile, Scrum or Kanban process
• Create a development process around Continuous
Integration (CI) and Automated Testing tools
• What does Continuous Deployment mean for your
product / market? Implement the answer

31. Example Transforming Tools
Agile Zen
Selenium
Jenkins

32. Startup Wizards

33. Projecting Abilities
• Promotion? All about Broadcast now
• Thought leadership, content is king, etc
• Gimmicks, stunts, and other diversions
• Blogs & NoFollow links
• Killer Website
• Campfire Stories
• Tight Verticals / Niche
• Lateral Thoughts
– Stack Overflow

34. Projecting & the Lean Startup
• Build your Lean Marketing Plan – it should
contain a market launch plan
• Are you SEO-ready to collect and analyse
metrics?
• Plan ahead by preparing some marketing
content
• Streamline the content publishing process
without losing QA
• Be media-savvy to the extent necessary – you
are not a mega-Corporation needing spin

35. Example Projecting Tools
Open Site Explorer
Hubspot Website Grader
Screenr

36. Startup Wizards

37. Persuading Abilities
• Projection gathers the audience, now you
must persuade them
• Keeping track is harder than it sounds
• Building a sales pipeline model
• Suspects or Prospects?
• Answering questions
• Opportunities
• Conversations

38. Persuading & the Lean Startup
• Keep track of everything customer-related
• Refine Buyer Persona(s) when necessary
• Plan a Conversion Rate Optimization process
and test it
• Decide your Technical Support methodology
• How much of a Knowledge Base can you build
as early as possible?
• Integrate user voice tools into your testing

39. Example Persuading Tools
SugarCRM

40. Startup Wizards

41. Collecting Abilities
• Cash flow management and Lean Burn
• Nothing can help you get paid on time 
• Reduce friction points in the sales cycle
• Sure Revenue and a sensitivity analysis
• Avoiding late payment penalties

42. Collecting & the Lean Startup
• Business Model must co-
exist with Business Plan
• MVP your Revenue profit
engine
• Maybe two chasms to
cross: Getting Users Vs
Getting Customers
• Free/Premium pricing
seems to cause more
fallout than any other
topic

43. Example Collecting Tools
KashFlow
Xero
HMRC Basic PAYE

44. Startup Wizards

45. Protecting Abilities
• “Be your own Lawyer” – Discuss
• Software Patents (are Evil)
• How will your IPR defend your revenue growth?
• Grab that domain name, protect that Trademark
• Avoid Dark Patterns
• Security nightmares
• E-commerce
• Data protection

46. Protecting & the Lean Startup
• Lean is all about adding customer value but
you must operate within a protected and legal
framework:
• Domain, Trademark, Copyright, EULA, ToS
• If you want to start a fight with your user
base, study and use Dark Patterns 
• http://wiki.darkpatterns.org/Home

47. Example Protecting Tools
WordPress Boliven

48. A resource for Lean Startups
TOOLS & THE FRAMEWORK

49. A Startup Toolkit Resource
http://www.cognidox.com/toolkit
CLICK HERE

50. The Startup Tools Mind Map

51. Links to over 230 Tools

52. How to use the Mind Map
Hold down
mouse to drag
image
Click on a title to expand / contract
Built with:
Click on a link to open tool website

53. Contacts
Cognidox Limited salesinfo@cognidox.com
St. John's Innovation Centre www.cognidox.com
Cowley Road
Cambridge CB4 0WS
United Kingdom