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Start-up, scale up, screw up – Interview with Jurgen Appelo

Start-up, scale up, screw up – Interview with Jurgen Appelo

Agile Unfiltered vor 6 Jahren

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43:30

Jurgen Appelo is a top keynote speaker and writer from the
Netherlands. His new book “Start up, scale up, screw up” is a
helpful tool book for a new generation of founders. It dives deep
into the art of entrepreneurship and how to grow your business
lean in an agile environment.

Why is being agile so important for a start up?

Jurgen says that, being agile is not a goal. It is a means to an
end, for a world that is thriving constantly. As a founder and
entrepreneur, you should always develop new ideas till they don’t
work anymore. The book delivers some clarity through a holistic
picture on lean entrepreneurship.

He also refers to the innovators dilemma and how whole industries
get disrupted by new business models. The music industry for
example was totally disrupted by the invention of Spotify and
similar companies. Established businesses are often pinned down
to just being profitable. They forget to invest in new business
models and ideas to solve the same problem in a different way.

3 keys to solve the innovators dilemma

A company should never associate with only one business
model. Apple for example is always thriving. First, they got
popular through the MacBook. Then the iPhone became even more
successful. And recently, they are working on apple tv.

Your business should always be a family of business models. It is
crucial to have different frameworks for different business
models and each unit should have a different structure.

Agile & Design thinking is most important. It means to
always iterate the product. The risk of adult businesses is not
to be profitable anymore. The risk for a start-up is, inventing
something that nobody wants. Iterating is different for both, but
you have to iterate constantly.

Test and implement great ideas. Create an innovation funnel.
Get rid of bad ideas and implement good ideas to raise the bar
constantly.

What are your 3 favorite tools from your book?

“The innovation vortex” – design thinking synthesis of lean
start-ups. Design thinking is not sequential, it is a non-linear
messy process. Focus on observing customers and create minimal
viable products (MVPs)

“10 lifecycle stages” - an overview of all stages of
start-ups. It gives practical advice and it answers questions
like: “In which stage is my company right now?” “What do I have
to do next?” Then, apply something that works in each life cycle.

“North star metric” – focus on different things in different
life stages with a clear goal setting. For example, if you are in
the seed stage, just focus on convincing investors.

What is your last advice for starting entrepreneurs?

Allow things to grow without all things working. He said that,
“we moved from something small that didn’t work to something big
that didn’t work by adding unnecessary features.”

It is impossible to make a complex big system work in the
beginning. Keep staying small and lean. When you have something
small that works, keep growing it.