Modern entrepreneurship began at the turn of this century with the observation that startups aren’t smaller versions of large companies — large companies at their core execute known business models, while startups search for scalable business models. Lean Methodology consists of three tools designed for entrepreneurs building new ventures:
- The Business Model Canvas — to write down all the hypotheses about a new business;
- Customer Development — a process for testing those hypotheses outside the building;
- Agile Engineering — to rapidly build minimal viable products to test product/market fit.
These tools tell you how to rapidly find product/market fit inside a market, and how to pivot when your hypotheses are incorrect. However, they don’t help you figure out where to start the search for your new business.