Theorizing the Lean Startup Approach: Towards Well-Grounded Design Principles

The lean startup approach and its principles are increasingly gaining relevance in entrepreneurial theory and practice. At the same time, key principles such as ‘pivoting’ and the ‘build-measure-learn cycle’ remain under-theorized. This hurts the clarity of these concepts, and it hinders more effective use of them in practice. We tackle both issues in this article. First, we draw on action regulation theory to theorize the practice concepts of ‘pivoting,’ as well as of the ‘build-measure-learn cycle.’ Subsequently, we build on this theorizing to develop theoretically grounded design principles. This article contributes to literature in two ways. First, theorizing the lean startup principles improves the clarity of the focal concepts and helps to understand why, for whom, and when they work. Second, the developed design principles contribute to the increasing body of design knowledge which provides scientifically grounded guidance for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship educators.