Interview with Eric Ries - Transorted Testing Tachydidaxy

The Amp Hour · 21 Aug 2013 · 1h 12m · Episode 159

What this episode covers

Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, discusses applying lean manufacturing principles to product development, emphasizing rapid experimentation and the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). He explains how hardware companies can use mockups, soft tooling, and service contracts to iterate quickly and validate customer demand before committing to expensive hard tooling. Ries argues that internal risks and bureaucratic silos are the primary barriers to speed, not technical constraints, and that companies must pivot their management systems to handle uncertainty.

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Hardware Entrepreneur · 41m

    #066 - How to apply lean startup principles to hardware, with Ash Maurya of Leanstack, USA

    Ash Maurya, founder of Leanstack, explains how Lean Startup principles apply to hardware by prioritizing problem validation over solution building, using Tesla and Apple as key examples of companies that manage high-risk physical product development through staged rollouts and software-defined infrastructure. He details the three stages of development—Problem-Solution Fit, Product-Market Fit, and Growth—and introduces his Customer Forces Canvas and Jobs To Be Done framework to help innovators understand the psychological triggers behind customer purchases. Maurya emphasizes that hardware startups can compete with software companies by focusing on the speed of learning and using tactics like small batch production and over-the-air updates to iterate quickly.

  • Product Startup · 28m

    114: Designing an MVP for a New Consumer Product

    Magnus Skold, a senior industrial designer at Mako Design + Invent, explains the concept of a 'smart' Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for startups, emphasizing that simplicity and core feature focus drive better quality, lower costs, and smoother production than feature creep. He draws on his experience designing for high-end private jets, commercial airlines, and Dell to illustrate how 'levels of complication' in design directly impact manufacturing complexity and vendor communication. The discussion highlights the importance of matching product aesthetics to their usage environment and making 'free' versus 'costly' design choices to ensure a product is intuitive, robust, and ready for market validation.

  • Being an Engineer · 50m

    S2E37 Defied the odds: A Physical Product Development Firm That Focuses on Startups & Small Businesses, Mako Design + Invent –Kevin Mako

    Kevin Mako, Founder of Mako Design + Invent, explains how his firm supports hardware startups and small manufacturers by guiding products from initial concept to first production run. He details the financial journey for inventors, emphasizing the use of crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo to bridge the gap between prototyping and manufacturing, while advising on the importance of a 'Smart Minimum Viable Product' (SMVP) to manage complexity and cost. Mako also discusses his company's strict ethical policy of never taking equity in client products to avoid conflicts of interest, and highlights the role of his podcast, The Product Startup, in educating the hardware community.

  • Product Startup · 27m

    216: 5 Key Tips For Starting Your Product Development Journey

    Wade Harmidy, a Six Sigma Black Belt project manager at MAKO Design + Invent, outlines five critical strategies for hardware startups to increase their chances of success during the early product development phase. He emphasizes the importance of defining a clear product vision, understanding the end user, and adhering to Minimum Viable Product (MVP) principles to reduce waste and accelerate time to market. Harmidy also stresses the necessity of setting realistic timelines to avoid cutting corners and planning for the big picture, including manufacturing and business goals, from the outset.

  • Product Startup · 25m

    149: How to Professionally Prototype your Invention Idea

    Mike Morton, former Senior Principal Industrial Designer at Dell, HP, and Sunbeam, explains the critical role of prototyping in product development. He details the progression from rough mock prototypes to refined mechanical and pre-production samples, emphasizing that early, iterative testing prevents costly errors in tooling and manufacturing. Morton advises startups to involve manufacturers early in the design process to ensure designs are manufacturable and to use short pilot runs to validate the production line before full-scale launch.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Amp Hour. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.