Tools for IT Startups

Greetings from the Australian Computer Society (ACS) in Sydney, where Fernando Parra from Pollenizer Global, is speaking on "How to Use Lean Startup Tools to Build, Test, Measure and Learn". ACS NSW Branch has a very active Startups & Small Business Special Interest Group (Startup SIG).

Fernando cautioned against premature expansion of a new business. He argued that the business should first carry out experiments to see if they are solving a real problem before making a large investment. With new on-line tools a business does not have to big to start out. Fernando pointed out that Facebook started out with students at just one university as customers and then added others. He has a set of recommended tools for test, build, measurement, and learning.

One of Fernando's insights was to experiment to see how long it takes the user to "get" your product. As an example, a user has to have about 14 friends in a social media product for it to be useful.