Before you launched your business, you created a forecast of what your first year cashflow would be. To achieve that forecast, you made a lot of assumptions about things like sales, stock levels, marketing spend, employees, costs etc.

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Similarly, operating a startup using a Lean Startup approach, is about making plans based on assumptions, then testing your assumptions in a conscious, measured way. In this way, you'll get better and better at fitting your products to your market. 

 

As each assumption is proven or disproven, either completely or partially, you'll adjust your plans based on the evidence you've gathered. 

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Repeatedly use the scientific method to improve your business:

1. Hypothesize.

2. Create an experiment to prove or disprove your hypothesis and assumptions.

3. Execute your experiment.

4. Collect data during the experiment.

5. Review your results.

6. Adjust your business.

7. Go back to hypothesize.

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You will need plans that cycle annually, quarterly, monthly and per experiment. Experimentation results will alter your plans, with most experiments resulting in minor tweaks to your business operation. Sometimes results will make you think again about your monthly, quarterly or annual plans. Some may even cause you to change your whole business vision and approach; this is known as a business pivot! 

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The key to success in a new business is flexibility in adapting to what your customers want. Repeated application of this learning process is the key to being responsive to, and meeting your customers' needs.