Experimenting with one full loop of the BUILD MEASURE LEARN loop...

The Build Measure Learn curve is intellectual property of the leanstartup. Leanstartup is a trademark owned by Eric Ries. Go to the LEANSTATUP CONFERENCE in San Francisco in November. 

It is really really hard to get teams THROUGH one loop of the build measure learn loop in conjunction with problem interviews. I have been experimenting with some carrots and some sticks recently to help motivate teams through the loop. John Sechrest, one of the greatest minds in the space... has graciously offered to help us through one of our own BML loops. 

Here is the hypothesis that I am trying to test, as part of my vision to make early stage funding more equitable, and frankly to prove the value of leanstartup:

I believe that it will take less than $25,000 to prove that at least 25 early stage startups who have been working on their idea for less than a year and who have raised less than $100,000 will get THROUGH one BML curve within 6 months (and will accept the challenge within 1 week). 

through the curve means... 

1. They state their hypothesis 
2. Their hypothesis is accepted (by an unbiased community based on predetermined criteria) 
3. They have a CRYSTAL CLEAR ACTOR, a crystal clear action that that actor will take, 
4. A success criteria 
5. An experiment design 
6. An experiment being run
7. At least 5 "problem interviews" conducted on the CRYSTAL CLEAR ACTOR in the hypothesis... 
8. A report in this exact format that shares PUBLICLY the learnings from this experiment
9. A documented plan to run a second experiment with reasonable justification 

There is a LOT of work in the above. But it is achievable in under a month. I have seen good teams run a real experiment and do EVERYTHING LISTED HERE IN UNDER A WEEK. 

The first ten teams who do the above get $1,000. This is an EQUITY FREE, NO RECOURSE LOAN. Basically that means it is a gift - but we want teams to repay it IF THEY CHOOSE, if they get funded or turn into consultants etc. 

Here is a real example of exact steps a team will take to get the money. 

I believe that $500 will prove that 5 of 100 solo-practitioner doctors( with whom I have completed and submitted 0 interviews ) will pay $10 to trial a voice based in-room note system. This is my 1st experiment. Referred by @johnseacrest

This hypothesis was found in column 3 of our trello board. By definition it has met criteria 1-4. Maybe "solo practitioner doctors" can be more specific, like what kind of doctors for example, but it has met the minimum criteria. 

Here's where the hard work starts. 

The team needs to actually run this first experiment on their own. They need to come up with the $500 or with the assets on which they would have spent $500. They do not necessarily need to get the 5/10 doctors to do the thing... but they must make a REASONABLE EFFORT to GET THEM TO DO IT IN AN UNBIASED WAY. It is up to the team to seek mentoring from Lean Startup Circle or from the MILVALCHAL COMMUNITY if they need help. This is the hardest part of the challenge, there is NO EXPECTATION THAT WE WILL HELP... but there are PLENTY OF FOLKS OUT THERE RUNNING EXPERIMENTS. 

In addition to the experiment, this team needs to talk to 5 solo practitioner doctors. Not other founders. Not mentors. Not patients. Not hospital admins. 5. They can do it before they run the actual experiment, during, or after. But they need to talk to 5. And submit their results here. 

They then have to write about the whole thing, and publish it on medium. This format includes the HYPOTHESIS. 

Frankenstein is ALIVE when the medium post is posted and the medium post contains a NEXT HYPOTHESIS. 

Piece of cake right?

We never ask anyone to do anything unless we are sure it can be done. 4 people have already done it. Are you #5 @ipeerbhai - forget the $100 - you personally get $1000 if you can complete this by the end of this year's leanstartup conference.