The Lean Explorers Club Solution for Investors
The Lean Explorers Club is a new type of startup accelerator that solves many of the problems investors (and startups) face, in general, and with traditional startup accelerators. In particular, it:
1. Supports startups to search for and validate a desirable, feasible, and viable business by running fast and low-cost experiments that test business model hypotheses.
2. Is based upon the Lean Launchpad accelerator created by Steve Blank and now used by many organisations around the world, including by law within parts of the US government.
3. Is open to ALL applicants, i.e. there is no cohort or limit on who can participate (beyond the resources available to serve participants adequately), as it’s not possible to pick successful startups early on.
4. Is available online everywhere and any time, i.e. it is not limited to a specific geographic location, such as a major city, it’s available 24×7, and enables global collaboration amongst startups and investors.
5. Is ongoing, i.e. doesn’t have a start or finish date or set duration, individuals and teams can join whenever they want and stay as long as they want (within the full duration of the accelerator).
6. Is flexible, i.e. allows teams to start where appropriate and pivot if their hypotheses are invalidated since it uses the highly iterative Customer Development process,
7. Enables micro-investments, when important early hypotheses have been validated, and investors can choose to fund the search for and validation of a business model.
Figure – The Lean Explorers Club: A New Type of Startup Accelerator
