Comments on: Why Ben Horowitz’s Article has nothing to do with ‘Lean Startups’ http://www.apeofsteel.com/1354/why-ben-horowitzs-article-has-nothing-to-do-with-lean-startups In Pure Water, No Fish Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:53:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: @honam http://www.apeofsteel.com/1354/why-ben-horowitzs-article-has-nothing-to-do-with-lean-startups/comment-page-1#comment-982 @honam Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:24:29 +0000 http://www.apeofsteel.com/?p=1354#comment-982 I agree that lean is not cheap (Steve Blank wrote a post about that last year which I referred to in my post below). However, as Ben writes in the follow up to his fat startup post (in response to Fred Wilson's rebuttal) it's not always clear when you have product market fit. To me, that argues for more caution, not less. It argues for lean, not fat. As David Packard liked to say, more companies die of indigestion (too much opportunity) than starvation. Here are some more thoughts on the debate. http://www.blog.altosventures.com/vc/2010/03/ben-horowitz-makes-compelling-case-for-lean.html I agree that lean is not cheap (Steve Blank wrote a post about that last year which I referred to in my post below). However, as Ben writes in the follow up to his fat startup post (in response to Fred Wilson’s rebuttal) it’s not always clear when you have product market fit. To me, that argues for more caution, not less. It argues for lean, not fat. As David Packard liked to say, more companies die of indigestion (too much opportunity) than starvation. Here are some more thoughts on the debate. http://www.blog.altosventures.com/vc/2010/03/ben-horowitz-makes-compelling-case-for-lean.html

]]> By: Scott Allison http://www.apeofsteel.com/1354/why-ben-horowitzs-article-has-nothing-to-do-with-lean-startups/comment-page-1#comment-973 Scott Allison Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:25:22 +0000 http://www.apeofsteel.com/?p=1354#comment-973 Dave thanks for analysing the two. It's frustrating that Ben Horowitz chose to compare fat with "lean" when he meant "cheap" instead. In fact he actually agrees with lean! According to the Oxford English Dictionary: (of a person) having no superfluous fat; thin. (of meat) containing little fat informal (of an industry or company) efficient and with no wastage. To summarise, lean means there's no fat, no wastage and efficient, which defines it perfectly, to me. Dave thanks for analysing the two. It’s frustrating that Ben Horowitz chose to compare fat with “lean” when he meant “cheap” instead. In fact he actually agrees with lean!

According to the Oxford English Dictionary:

(of a person) having no superfluous fat; thin.
(of meat) containing little fat
informal (of an industry or company) efficient and with no wastage.

To summarise, lean means there’s no fat, no wastage and efficient, which defines it perfectly, to me.

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