Lean LaunchPad is an

entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entrepreneu ...

methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...

created by

Steve Blank Steve Blank (born 1953) is an American entrepreneur, educator, author and speaker. He created the customer development method that launched the lean startup movement. His work has influenced modern entrepreneurship through the creation of tools a ...

to test and develop business models based on querying and learning from customers. It is said to be based on the scientific method and combines experiential learning with “The three building blocks of a successful

lean startup Lean startup is a methodology for developing businesses and products that aims to shorten product development cycles and rapidly discover if a proposed business model is viable; this is achieved by adopting a combination of business-hypothesis-dr ...

”: Alexander Osterwalder's " Business Model Canvas",

's "

Customer Development Customer development is a formal methodology for building startups and new corporate ventures. It is one of the three parts that make up a lean startup (business model design, customer development, agile engineering). The process assumes that ea ...

Model", and Agile Engineering. Students of Lean LaunchPad are said to propose and immediately test business

hypotheses A hypothesis (: hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. A scientific method, scientific hypothesis must be based on observations and make a testable and reproducible prediction about reality, in a process beginning with an educ ...

. It is also said that they get out of the building to talk with prospective customers and partners, using this customer feedback acquired in these interviews to refine their product or service; ensure their product or service meets a customer need or solves a customer problem; and validate that they have created a repeatable, scalable business model.

Methodology

Lean LaunchPad pedagogy is said to combine three elements: a

Flipped Classroom A flipped classroom is an instructional strategy and a type of blended learning. It aims to increase student engagement and learning by having pupils complete readings at home, and work on live problem-solving during class time. This pedagogical ...

Experiential learning Experiential learning (ExL) is the process of learning through experience, and is more narrowly defined as "learning through reflection on doing". Hands-on learning can be a form of experiential learning, but does not necessarily involve students ...

, and Team-based learning. During the course, students are said to interview potential customers in order to validate or invalidate their hypotheses, as expressed in the Business Model Canvas. Students are also said to listen to recorded lectures and presentations before each class, and use class time to present what they learned from customer interviews the previous week. Students present their findings which creates the basis for discussion, critiques, and brain-storming by both professors and students. As of 2021, the Lean LaunchPad has been taught in more than 300 universities worldwide to over 20,000 teams. More than 300,000 people have signed up for a free online version of the class.

Beyond the classroom

The course is considered core to the U.S. National Science Foundation Innovation Corps program. Two other versions of the class – Hacking for Defense and Hacking for Diplomacy – address national defense and foreign policy challenges. Piloted at Stanford in 2016, these classes connect the Silicon Valley innovation mindset with islands of innovation inside the U.S. Department of Defense, intelligence community and U.S. State Department. Hacking for Defense immediately began to scale after its pilot in spring 2016. As of 2017, it is taught in more than 15 other universities across the country.

References

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