While not the same thing, Bootstrapping and Lean Startups are quite complementary. Both cover techniques for building low-burn startups by eliminating waste through the maximization of existing resources first before expending effort on the acquisition of new or external resources. While bootstrapping provides a strategic roadmap for achieving sustainability through customer funding (i.e. charging customers), lean startups provide a more tactical approach to achieving those goals through validated learning.
But before going any further, I’d like to dispel some common misconceptions about both models:
Myth: Lean Startups are cheap startups
Steve Blank wrote a similarly titled post to address this mis-definition. Yet, I still hear lots of people wrongly associate the word “lean” with “cheap”. This characterization isn’t entirely misguided but it only captures a sliver of what being lean is all about. Eric Ries co-opted the term “Lean” from “Lean Thinking” which comes from manufacturing.
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