Creating an aggregator of pawnshops by the method of a lean startup
Abstract
The environment is changing all the time, and the rules for creating a business with it. No business plan is experiencing a real meeting with customers, so new approaches to starting a business are beginning to emerge.
There are several reasons for this: the entrance threshold with the advent of the Internet has significantly decreased, information has become available for everyone, and the consumption model has changed.
This paper will describe the “lean start-up” approach, describe the basic principles and tools. The result of confirming the development of the material will be the creation of your own project using the method of "lean startup".
Introduction
Since the study is a project - the topic is interesting for us to consider from two sides: theoretical and practical.
The classic approach to creating a business involves developing a business plan with a detailed description of each area of activity: strategy, marketing, manufacturing, organizational structure, etc. There are a large number of business plan creation manuals with detailed recommendations for each functional area. This suggests that the classical approach is theoretically already deeply studied, which is not the case with the startup approach, which is beginning to gain popularity in the scientific community only now.
The most popular concept is “Thrifty Startup” by Eric Rees. The citation of this approach, according to the Web of Science, is increasing every year, and such well-known business journals refer to it: Harvard Business Review, Reuters. The economist and others.
Speaking about the practical relevance of a startup campaign, it is important to note that production companies are no longer drivers of economic growth. In the United States and China, the share of technology companies in the past start-ups is already more than 10% of the gross domestic product. In almost all developed countries, this indicator is growing, Russia is no exception.
The main goal of a startup is to find new and scalable business models, which means constant changes that are not amenable to accurate planning. This is contrary to the classical approach, which requires planning all future actions necessary for the implementation of the business plan.
The lean startup approach is based on a scientific approach based on experimentation to better understand customer needs. Thanks to this approach, unlike the classic one, a startup can test the business model many times faster and for less money.
The problem of the study is to create a startup using the concept of a lean approach.
The purpose of the study is as follows: create an aggregator by a pawnshop using the “lean startup” method
The object of the work will be the created start-up pawnshop aggregator. The subject will be the method of creating a "lean startup".
To achieve the main goal of the work it will be necessary to perform the following tasks:
• Explore the concept of a lean startup, highlight the advantages and disadvantages, compare with the classical approach
• Analyze the international and Russian venture capital market, key investment sectors to identify trends and promising start-up business models
• Select a business model, conduct “consumer development” and test the “minimum viable product” for the business model of the pawnshop aggregator
• Decide on the feasibility of continuing the activities and further development of the startup
Literature review
The study of the concept of "lean startup" requires the study of a large number of literary sources. The main ones are the works of Paul Graham, Steve Blanc, Eric Rees.
The basic is the book Steve Blanca “4 steps to insight. Strategy for creating successful startups. It defines the startup that we will use throughout the study: “A startup is a temporary structure that exists to search for a replicable and scalable business model.” It follows from the definition that a company ceases to be a startup when it is finally determined with the business model and starts to scale it.
Steve Blank is the author of the concept of "customer development" and highlights 4 key stages of creating a business:
1. Identification of consumers
2. Consumer verification
3. Expansion of client base
4. Building a company
At the head is the following idea: “To err is in the order of things, if you plan to learn from your mistakes.” A return to the previous stage is not perceived as a failure, but is a normal practice and in the long run leads to a successful business.
The stages of identifying and verifying a consumer are called “consumer development”. That is, you first need to identify the problems of consumers that you can solve, and the next step - through sales, confirm the seriousness of the intentions of consumers. If you are not ready to pay for the product, return to the previous stage.
In his other book, The Handbook of Startup Founder, Steve Blank, along with Bob Dorf, suggest using
