Lean Startup Census – Dec 2009

22Jan10

Here are the results for the first Lean Startup Census, taken in December 2009. Thanks for participating!

Some highlights from the results:

• Less than half of the respondents (43%) are just curious, learning or getting started with Lean Startup practices.
• The vast majority of respondents are at startups (97%) or companies or 5 or fewer people (84%).
• Only 2 respondents classified their companies as non-startups, and nobody was from a company of over 50 people.
• Most respondents are working on a web application (78%).
• Most respondents are founders (84%) of their companies, holding a CEO or equivalent title (71%).  Lots of 1-person startups out there…
• Few people (22%) are leading Lean Startup efforts from a departmental position, such as Marketing, Engineering, or Product Management.

My observations:

• The learning/getting started part of the funnel is small – only 43%.  I’d expect that number to go way up if and when Lean Startup practices gain in popularity.
• Even though the original Customer Development material was created from experience in the enterprise software space, it’s being most widely applied in web applications at very small startups.
• There’s still very little adoption from non-founder/non-CEOs and in larger organizations.  It’ll be interesting to see if the movement can gain traction through department heads, or if founders/CEOs continue to be the primary champions.

Complete results are available below.  Enjoy!

---

Total responses: 58

1. What is your level of interest or involvement in Lean Startups?

• Curious/Learning – 10
• Getting Started – 15
• Actively Practicing – 28
• Thought Leader (Steve Blank, Eric Ries, Sean Ellis, Andrew Chen, etc.) – 5

2. To which type of company are you applying or planning to apply Lean Startup techniques?

• New Startup – 37
• Existing Startup – 19
• Established Company – 2
• S%P 500 Company – 0

3. Which of the following best describes your company’s offering?

• Web Application – 45
• Online Media – 3
• Packaged Software – 2
• Ecommerce – 1
• Professional Services – 3
• Other – 4

4. How many employees are at your company?

• 1 – 18
• 2-5 – 31
• 6-10 – 4
• 11-50 – 5
• 51-100 – 0
• Over 100 – 0

5. Are you a founder of a company where Lean Startup techniques are being applied?

• Yes – 49
• No – 9

6. What’s your job title?

• CEO – 37
• Marketing, C-level or VP – 1
• Product Management, C-level or VP – 4
• Engineering, C-level or VP – 4
• Marketing, Director or below – 0
• Product Management, Director or below – 1
• Engineering, Director or below – 3
• Other – 8*

*A few of these were “founder” or “founder/CEO” types of answers, which I grouped into the “CEO” category in my analysis above.

7. Do you have any suggestions for future surveys? Feel free to give any ideas for questions and other feedback you might have.

I’m not going to post individual responses, but thanks to those who offered feedback or help.  Thanks again for participating!

Advertisement

Filed under: internet & tech, startups   |  Leave a Comment