Lean Startup Principles for Social Impact (NovoEd)

Offered by Acumen,
Lean Startup Principles for Social Impact (NovoEd)

Lean for Social Change is an 4-week course inspired by the Lean Launchpad Class pioneered by Steve Blank. In this course you will learn how to test, validate, and adapt your vision of change to ensure you're creating the greatest impact and investing your time in something that truly meets your stakeholder's and customer's needs.

Lean for Social Change draws on the latest thinking in Silicon Valley on how to build companies that maximize customer value while minimizing wasted effort and makes it relevant for social innovators. The lean approach relies on validated learning, experimentation, and iterative product releases to shorten product development cycles, measure progress, and gain valuable customer feedback. In an environment where the majority of startups fail, lean principles aim to give startups a better chance of success by helping entrepreneurs learn more quickly what works and discard what doesn't.
These principles aren't just for high tech startups but tools for any innovator, especially those determined to solve the world's toughest social problems.
By the conclusion of this course you will:

  • Practice the build-measure-learn approach that characterizes lean methodology
  • Have a clear understanding of your value proposition
  • Tested your hypotheses with some of your key customers and developed a minimum viable product
  • Run an experiment & decided whether to pivot or persevere with your idea
  • Develop a "lean mindset" for tackling problems of poverty that can be applied to other settings in the corporate, public, and NGO sectors
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