Innovator's Method: Post #3--Case Study

Case Study. Rent the Runway—Jennifer Hyman, Harvard MBA student. What to wear

to a formal event? Women do not want to be seen in same dress, but can’t afford to buy designer dresses. Would the Netflix model work for renting formal, designer dresses? In the past, when markets were more certain, people wrote business plans. Now—with uncertainty—answering key questions with experiments gets us to market sooner and cheaper. Three questions and experiments used: Experiment #1—Will women rent and return the dresses? #2—Will they rent a dress they can’t try on—as seen only on the Web? #3—Will the Netflix model work? Outcome: She determined that the Netflix model would work.

Innovator's Method: Post #2--Uncertainty

Uncertainty. Since 1983, patents have increased from 100,000 to 600,000. Standard & Poor’s corp life expectancy in 1937 was 75 years, in 2011 only 18 years! Scott Cook, Intuit CEO: “As a successful, scaled company, you cannot run the ship the way you used to. You’ll get run over by a swarm of startups.”

Innovator's Method: Post #1--Overview

 Overview.  This book describes how, in uncertain times, innovators can experiment, test, and validate insights without spending a ton of money on something customers might never buy! The Innovator’s Method has 4 steps: Insight—savor surprises; Problem—discover the job to be done; Solution—make rapid prototype to get to a minimum awesome product; Business Model—validate go-to-market strategy.
The Innovator's Method: Bringing the Lean Start-up into Your Organization by Nathan Furr and Jeff Dyer (Harvard Business Press, 2014), reviewed by Steve Gladis.