Beginner methodology
Agile Development for Startups
An iterative software development approach built on the 2001 Agile Manifesto, favoring working software over rigid planning.
Concepts
Frameworks and methodologies that shape how startups operate.
Beginner strategy
Ansoff Matrix
The Ansoff Matrix is a strategic framework that maps four growth strategies based on whether you sell existing or new products to existing or new markets.
Intermediate strategy
Blue Ocean Strategy
Blue Ocean Strategy is a framework for creating uncontested market space by making competition irrelevant through value innovation rather than beating rivals.
Beginner framework
Business Model Canvas
A one-page visual template that maps how a company creates, delivers, and captures value across nine building blocks.
Intermediate strategy
Category Creation
A go-to-market strategy where a company deliberately defines and names a new market category rather than competing inside an existing one.
Intermediate growth
Community-Led Growth
Community-led growth uses an engaged user community as the primary acquisition and retention flywheel. Learn the CLG model and when it works.
Intermediate strategy
Crossing the Chasm
Crossing the Chasm explains why most tech startups stall between early adopters and mainstream customers, and how to bridge that gap strategically.
Beginner methodology
Customer Development
Steve Blank's framework for validating startup assumptions through direct customer contact before and during product development.
Beginner methodology
Design Thinking
A human-centered, iterative problem-solving process with five stages: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test.
Intermediate strategy
Disruptive Innovation
Disruptive innovation explains how smaller companies unseat incumbents by targeting overlooked segments with simpler products, then improving to dominate.
Intermediate product
Dual-Track Agile
Dual-Track Agile runs product discovery and delivery in parallel, ensuring teams validate ideas before building and never run out of high-confidence work.
Beginner methodology
First Principles Thinking
A reasoning method that breaks problems down to fundamental truths and rebuilds from scratch — avoiding assumptions inherited from analogy.
Intermediate growth
Growth Loops
Growth loops are self-reinforcing systems where each cycle's output becomes the next cycle's input, generating compounding rather than linear growth.
Intermediate methodology
Innovation Accounting
Eric Ries' framework for measuring startup progress using leading indicators when traditional revenue metrics are too early to be meaningful.
Intermediate framework
Jobs to Be Done
Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) explains why people choose products. Customers don't buy features — they hire products to make progress in a specific circumstance.
Intermediate framework
Kano Model
A framework for categorizing product features by how they affect customer satisfaction — from basic must-haves to unexpected delighters.
Intermediate product
Minimum Loveable Product (MLP)
An MLP is the minimum version of a product a user could genuinely love — not just tolerate — balancing learning speed with first impressions.
Intermediate strategy
Network Effects
Network effects occur when a product becomes more valuable as more people use it, creating compounding growth and a defensible competitive moat.
Beginner operations
OKRs — Objectives and Key Results
OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are a goal-setting framework that aligns teams around ambitious, measurable outcomes on a quarterly or annual cycle.
Beginner framework
Pirate Metrics (AARRR Framework)
The AARRR framework breaks startup growth into five measurable stages: Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, and Referral.
Intermediate framework
Porter's Five Forces
Porter's Five Forces is a framework for analyzing competitive intensity in any industry across five structural forces that shape profitability.
Beginner team
Radical Candor
Radical Candor is Kim Scott's management framework that combines caring personally for people with challenging them directly and honestly.
Intermediate framework
RICE Framework
A scoring model for product prioritization using four variables: Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort.
Intermediate team
Situational Leadership
Situational Leadership teaches managers to adapt their style — directing, coaching, supporting, or delegating — based on each employee's needs.
Intermediate framework
Technology Adoption Lifecycle
The Technology Adoption Lifecycle describes how new technologies spread through a market across five adopter segments, from innovators to laggards.
Intermediate strategy
The Flywheel Effect
The flywheel effect describes how consistent momentum across linked business activities creates compounding growth with no single breakthrough moment.
Beginner methodology
The Lean Startup
The Lean Startup is a methodology for building products under extreme uncertainty, centered on validated learning and the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop.
Intermediate business model
Two-Sided Marketplace
A two-sided marketplace connects two distinct user groups who each provide value to the other, powered by cross-side network effects.
Beginner framework
Value Proposition Canvas
A two-sided tool that maps your product's features to real customer jobs, pains, and gains — ensuring you build what customers actually need.