Image source: https://steveblank.com/2015/05/06/build-measure-learn-throw-things-again...
When KisStartup began disseminating the Lean Startup methodology in Vietnam in 2015 after the Vietnam-Finland Innovation Partnership Programme - IPP2, hardly anyone was talking about MVP, validated learning, or innovation accounting. Most startup classes at the time revolved around writing business plans, and the numbers founders presented were based on intuition rather than evidence. Ten years have passed, and if we had to summarize that journey, KisStartup would choose two words: "co-learning." We didn't teach startups how to "do Lean," but rather lived Lean with them, experimenting together, failing together, and learning to adapt together. And through that process, KisStartup also became a "Lean organization"—a continuous learning organization, operating leanly, and constantly evolving.
Lean Startup – A Mindset for Learning and Management in Uncertainty
Eric Ries's book, The Lean Startup, was born from the author's own failed startup experiences in Silicon Valley. Ries didn't write about "secrets to success," but about how to reduce risk when you don't know what's right. He laid the foundation for the concept of "management of uncertainty"—a type of management where the goal is not to maintain stability, but to learn quickly to adjust quickly.
The five core principles of Lean Startup—from "Entrepreneurs are everywhere" to "Innovation accounting"—became the compass for the first generation of Vietnamese startups that KisStartup supported. But we quickly realized that Lean only truly makes sense when it is reinterpreted to suit the Vietnamese context, where resources are scarce, data is limited, and perseverance is the most precious asset.
For KisStartup, "Lean" does not just mean technical efficiency; it is a mindset of economizing and intelligently using all available resources: time, money, knowledge, people, and especially trust. In a country where most startups begin with small personal savings, loans from friends, or family capital, "Lean" must mean "enough to try, not too much to break."
Lean thus became a philosophy of practice, not a slogan. It reminds us that every decision is a hypothesis that needs testing, every step should generate data, and every failure is a lesson cheaper than a big failure later on.
KisStartup's Choice to "Work Together" Instead of Just "Teaching"
When starting out, KisStartup realized that if they only "taught Lean," the Lean Startup would easily become a theory on paper—easy to understand, but difficult to execute. This is because Lean is not a tool, but a habit of action: getting out to meet customers, asking the right questions, running small experiments, and measuring in a tangible way.
Instead of organizing courses that "talk about Lean," KisStartup chose to design real Lean workshops—where startups had to find customer insights themselves, generate hypotheses, create MVPs, and receive real feedback. We read data together with them, analyzed signals, and many times witnessed the "aha moment" when a founder realized: what they thought the customer wanted and what the customer actually needed were two different worlds.
This "co-working" approach is what made KisStartup different. We did not stand in the position of "instructor" but became the second learner, going through each Build–Measure–Learn cycle with the startup. When startups experimented with products, we also experimented with coaching methods. When they measured customer feedback, we measured the effectiveness of our support activities. And when they failed, we learned how to redesign our service model.
From hundreds of workshops, KisStartup gradually formed its initial incubation models—models that also went through their own Lean cycles: small tests, measuring effectiveness, scaling if successful, and "sunsetting" if they failed to generate learning value. It is thanks to this spirit that KisStartup has been able to survive and thrive for 10 years without becoming "bloated" or falling into the bureaucratic spiral often seen in innovation support organizations.
Lessons from Practice – When Lean Becomes a Mirror
After a decade, KisStartup has accompanied hundreds of founders and organizations on their Lean journey. There are success stories we are proud of, but also many incomplete stories that we still cherish as hard-earned lessons. Over 10 years, KisStartup has encountered every scenario: eager startups, discouraged startups, surprisingly successful startups, and seemingly viable models that quickly collapsed.
One tech startup in the tourism sector was passionate about perfecting their app with all features—maps, booking, payment—only to discover that their target customers—homestays in the mountains—had no need for it. It was only after trying an "MVP without an app"—using just a Zalo group and Google Form—that they truly understood the value they could offer. This lesson became a prime example in KisStartup's training program: The MVP is not a technological product, but a learning product.
Conversely, there were also startups that persevered with experimentation and achieved surprising success. A processed agricultural product team used Lean to identify the "flavor and packaging specifications" most favored by consumers. They didn't invest in a large production line from the start but ran small batches, measured feedback, and then scaled up. After two years, their product was sold in many markets—not due to luck, but due to the discipline of learning.
But it is from these differences that we have distilled three core lessons:
- The MVP is not a technical product – but a learning product.Many startups in Vietnam spent months perfecting features but never asked customers what truly created value. Lean helped them reverse this: test the value before building the feature.
- No measurement, no learning.Some startup teams "run Lean" but fail to collect quantitative data—all decisions are still based on gut feeling. We learned how to set up minimal "innovation accounting": clearly define the hypothesis – the metric – and the decision threshold before each experiment cycle.
- Failure is not scary, only the failure to learn is.The models that stopped the earliest often left the most valuable data—because they showed which hypotheses were wrong, thereby opening up new directions.
“There is no failure, only an incomplete loop.” (KisStartup internal note, 2019)
From these successes and failures, KisStartup draws a simple principle: Lean cannot save every startup, but Lean helps every startup know why they failed. And only by understanding the cause can they get back up on the right track.
When Lean Meets Design Thinking and Effectuation – "Lean with Vietnamese Identity"
Throughout the process of practicing Lean, KisStartup realized that there is no single template for innovation. Lean Startup is very strong in the experimentation and measurement phase, but to deeply understand customers and create true value, it needs Design Thinking, and to start in resource-constrained conditions, it also needs Effectuation—the entrepreneurial mindset focused on achieving results from available resources.
Design Thinking: people at the center of leanness
If Lean Startup answers the question "How to learn fastest?", Design Thinking helps us answer "What to learn from people?" Design Thinking begins with empathy—deeply listening to people's difficulties, needs, and motivations—and from there forming ideas, testing solutions, and continuing to learn from feedback.
By combining Lean with Design Thinking, KisStartup helps startups create products that are not only "market-right," but also "people-right." For example, in community tourism projects in Son La and Lao Cai, instead of starting with the question "How to sell tours?", we guided local groups to start with the question "What are visitors truly seeking when they come to our village?" That question opened up a series of observations, conversations, and service experiments—and each subsequent Lean cycle became deeper because every experiment was based on genuine human insights
Design Thinking, therefore, does not oppose Lean, but complements the "emotional" part of the learning loop—so that the product is not only optimized but also meaningful.
Effectuation: leanness from available resources
While Design Thinking starts from the customer, Effectuation—the theory of entrepreneurship by Professor Saras Sarasvathy (Darden School, University of Virginia)—starts from the entrepreneur themselves. Instead of setting a big goal and then figuring out how to mobilize resources, Effectuation teaches us to start with what we already have: knowledge, relationships, small assets, and belief.
When KisStartup applied Effectuation along with Lean, we saw "leanness" reaching a new depth. Founders no longer worried about "lacking capital," but focused on "what do I have in my hands to start the first test cycle?" A founder in the mountainous region started producing herbal tea from her own family garden. Without waiting for fundraising, she tried selling via Facebook, recorded feedback, adjusted the flavor and packaging, and then scaled up. This is Lean originating from Effectuation—learning by doing, within the constraints of real resources, but full of creativity.
For KisStartup, this spirit is especially suited to Vietnam: don't wait until you have enough to start—start to learn and find a way to get enough.
When AI Accelerates Build–Measure–Learn
In 2025, AI is completely changing the rhythm of Lean Startup. If each Build–Measure–Learn cycle previously lasted weeks, AI now helps shorten it to hours or days:
- Build: Create content, mockups, and simulated scenarios using AI and no-code tools.
- Measure: Automatically collect user behavior and analyze real-time feedback.
- Learn: AI suggests pivots, identifying hidden insights in small data.
Thanks to this, startups—and KisStartup itself—can experiment faster, deeper, and more accurately. But even as technology changes, the Lean spirit remains the same: genuine learning, avoiding "vanity metrics," and making evidence-based decisions.
Lean within KisStartup – The Learning Organization of Co-Learners
When KisStartup helps startups learn Lean, we also apply Lean to ourselves. Every program (such as IDAP – Inclusive Digital Transformation, GEVA – Green Export, or DormLab – Student Laboratory) is built as an organizational MVP: starting small, with a hypothesis, a measurement method, and criteria for adjustment.
If a program brings learning value to both participants and KisStartup, it is scaled up. If not, it is improved or terminated. This approach has allowed KisStartup to maintain the flexibility of a startup throughout 10 years of operation, avoiding operational inertia or dependence on a single model.
It is through this journey that KisStartup understands that leanness is not about reducing scale, but about optimizing meaning—doing less but learning more, doing things right for people, and creating a more lasting impact.
MVP 2025 – Learning from Action, Not Plans
After 10 years of practice, KisStartup has developed the MVP 2025 framework—the "minimal but valuable" version of Lean Startup, suitable for the era of AI and automation.
Today, an MVP not only needs to be "minimal" but must also have a clear learning objective. A good MVP is not the cheapest product, but the product that can generate the strongest signal from the market at the smallest cost.
We often ask founders three questions before they start:
- Which hypothesis do you want to test first?If you don't know what you're testing, your experiment is meaningless.
- How will you measure it?No data, no learning.
- What will you learn if the result is unexpected?Each Lean cycle is only valuable if there is a plan for... failure.
Today, "MVP" is not just "Minimal Viable Product"—it is "Meaningful, Valuable & Practical." The table below is the checklist KisStartup uses when working with startups and designing new services:
| Criteria | Verification Question | Practical Example |
| Core Hypothesis | What are we testing? (need, pricing model, distribution channel?) | “Are customers willing to pay for Product X?” |
| Learning MVP | Does the experimental version help collect real data? | Selling first via a landing page instead of investing in a website. |
| Measurement Metrics | Have the pivot/persevere decision metrics been clearly defined? | Number of trial orders > 30 in 2 weeks = continue. |
| Learning Loop | Is there a plan for improvement after each experiment cycle? | Weekly result review, canvas update. |
| True Insight | Does the collected data help understand customers deeply, not just "count clicks"? |
Analyze feedback to understand why they didn't buy. |
When startups can answer these three questions, they have a true MVP in hand. And when they maintain a disciplined Build–Measure–Learn cycle, they are creating a sustainable foundation for learning—not just product development.
The Lean Mindset is Not Outdated, Just Evolving
After ten years, KisStartup realizes that Lean Startup remains one of the most powerful mindsets for dealing with uncertainty. But Lean cannot exist alone. It needs the human element of Design Thinking, the flexibility of Effectuation, and the profound understanding of people in every learning cycle.
Leanness—in its deepest sense—is about living with limits but not being limited, having the ability to learn fast, adapt quickly, and create long-term value even with the smallest resources.
In the AI era of 2025, the Build–Measure–Learn cycle can happen in hours instead of months. But speed is only meaningful when accompanied by depth of learning. That is what KisStartup continues to pursue—not just to help startups succeed, but to build a learning, adaptive, and sustainable ecosystem, where every experiment is directed toward a bigger goal: developing people and businesses in a changing world.
“Lean doesn't mean less—it means learning faster, adapting better to create more sustainable value.” — KisStartup, 10-year reflection
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