Fast change comes in times of cheap experimentation.

However, other, rather similar, innovation methodologies such as design thinking and discovery-driven planning also exist.

We think that being a lean VC is really about being the card counter at the blackjack table.

optimization that adversely affects value being provided is not lean.

The key is to start at the same point as the Ishikawa, but then follow the causal path until one gets to the point where one is no longer in control; that is typically where the root cause is.

Innovative software coupled with new electronics results in new ways for computers and humans to interact (HCI), resulting in what investor Brad Feld of the Foundry Group calls “instrumenting human beings.” We are at the very infancy of HCI and its natural progression toward a “symbiotic human computer future.”7

we’ll make the case that innovating in uncertainty requires a highly iterative approach.

A learning organization puts data before rhetoric, testing before executing, customers before business plan. It runs experiments to reduce risk, uses data to resolve conflicts, and interacts with customers to understand them deeply.

Ponoko, a web-based platform for the manufacture of custom products.