Last May, Harvard Business Review published this journal on why the lean start up works when over 75% start ups fail.

Conventional thought tells us to devote hours to planning and preparations before we officially open the doors. However, the lean method advocates for an experimental approach rather than a thorough plan. The journal article outlines 3 principles that founders should following when launching their business:

1. Summarizing their hypothesis in a business model canvas rather than laying out an entire business plan

2. Utilizing a “customer development” phase where they test their products with purchasers and actual customers

3. Practicing “agile development” by developing products in increments to save time

By using a more experimental approach, companies grow quickly and efficiently. The article cites multiple success stories of companies that followed this methodology, and Propeller pushes for the ventures that they support to follow their lead. In fact, they host an annual event called PitchNOLA to showcase some of these start ups and to award cash prizes as seed funding. This year, it’s hosted at Tulane University on January 28th from 6-8 PM.

Want to check out some of these lean start up ventures at PitchNOLA? Reserve your seat here!