Playbooks

The proven path from idea to paying customers

Ash Maurya · Continuous Innovation Framework

Stop building things nobody wants.

Most startups die that way. BMD-25 designs a defensible business model on paper before you write a line of code. DVP-26 validates it with paying customers in 90 days. Together they're the proven path from idea to traction — without the wasted years.

Playbooks

Start here

Running Lean: The AI-Native Founder's Playbook

Building a startup when anyone can build anything

Start Chapter 1 → 5 chapters Prefer the PDF?
Chapters
  1. 01 The founder's job didn't change Anyone can build anything now. The scarce work moved from building to deciding what's worth building.
  2. 02 Business Model Design Get your guesses onto one page and find the riskiest one. The work is clarity, not code.
  3. 03 Problem/Solution Fit Prove a problem worth solving exists — and that someone will commit to your solution.
  4. 04 Product/Market Fit Turn early commitments into a repeatable Customer Factory — and keep them.
  5. 05 Resources Build on LEANSpark. Go deeper on the methodology.
Plausible stress-test passed

Is Your Idea Worth Pursuing?

Pressure-test any idea in an afternoon, before you write a line of code

Start Chapter 1 → 8 chapters Prefer the PDF? Run this book in your own AI
Chapters
  1. 01 The million-or-billion-dollar question The answer costs you the most expensive thing you own — time. There are three ways to find it, and only one is both fast and safe.
  2. 02 Stress-testing is a thought experiment An architect finds the cracks in the blueprint before pouring concrete. So do you — with thought, because thought is free and experiments are expensive.
  3. 03 Clarity — one model, not three in a trenchcoat You can't test three businesses at once — and neither can you build them. The fix for a blurry idea isn't better writing. It's splitting it into separate bets.
  4. 04 Desirability — a switch, not a compliment Desirability isn't 'did someone say they'd buy it.' It's whether one specific customer would fire what they use today and hire yours instead.
  5. 05 Viability — desirable and broke is still broke The dimension that quietly kills real, customer-having businesses. Does the math close to your goal? Answer it in thirty seconds, on paper.
  6. 06 Feasibility — the old risk is dead Feasibility isn't 'can I code it.' It's 'can I execute the whole model' — reasoned backwards from the goal. And the better you build, the more this dimension can fool you.
  7. 07 Place your bet Worth pursuing isn't a feeling — it's a bet you can see. One idea, its directions, a score on each, and a chip pushed forward on one.
  8. 08 Where this goes next Worth pursuing is the first loop, not the last. Run it on LEANSpark, then go find out if real customers want it.
Problem evidence discovery interviews

How to Talk to Customers

Getting the truth, not compliments, from the people you're building for

Start Chapter 1 → 7 chapters Prefer the PDF? Run this book in your own AI
Chapters
  1. 01 Why you can't trust what customers say What people say and what they do are different things. The interview is how you get past the say to the do.
  2. 02 Who to talk to A precise target beats a long list. You're hunting recent switchers, not opinions.
  3. 03 What to ask Mine the last time it happened. Map the forces. Don't pitch, don't lead, don't hypothesize.
  4. 04 Making sense of what you heard One messy conversation becomes one Customer Forces Story — and the pattern emerges across them.
  5. 05 From conversation to commitment A 'yes' isn't evidence until someone gives something up for it.
  6. 06 Love the problem The founders who win don't fall in love with their solution. They fall in love with the problem.
  7. 07 Resources Run your discovery on LEANSpark. Go deeper on the method.

How to Design What Customers Want

The 5P offer: turning what customers told you into the thing they'll actually switch for

Start Chapter 1 → 7 chapters Prefer the PDF?
Chapters
  1. 01 An offer, not a product A product is what you build. An offer is what someone buys. Design the second one first.
  2. 02 Mix the feature cocktail Delighters first, then performance, then must-haves. If a feature doesn't trace back to your interviews, it's a guess.
  3. 03 Problem and Promise State their situation better than they can. Then name the after-state so specifically it becomes believable.
  4. 04 Proof Prospects don't doubt the Promise in general. They doubt it for their situation, from you. Answer all three doubts.
  5. 05 Product and Price Product is the minimum mechanism the Promise requires. Price is a fraction of the value, not a multiple of your costs.
  6. 06 One page, one story Five good fragments don't add up to an offer. Integrate, read it aloud, and only then go pitch it.
  7. 07 Resources Run your offer design on LEANSpark. Go deeper on the method.
Solution demand mafia-offer pitches

How to Sell Before You Build

The Mafia Offer: designing an offer the right customer can't refuse, and counting who actually commits

Start Chapter 1 → 7 chapters Prefer the PDF?
Chapters
  1. 01 An offer they can't refuse A great interview tells you a problem is real. An offer is how you find out anyone will pay to solve it.
  2. 02 Design the offer Maximize the dream and the proof; minimize the time and the effort. Anchor the price to what they already pay.
  3. 03 The four-act pitch Reset their reference point so the old way feels like a loss — then make the new way the obvious way back.
  4. 04 The demo Show the smallest thing that makes the sale. You don't need a working product — you need a believable one.
  5. 05 Run the pitches A handful of real commitments beats a hundred 'that's interesting's. Pitch, count, and watch for the fear that kills the deal.
  6. 06 Learn, then decide Score the conversation, qualify the prospect, and let the numbers — not your hopes — call persevere, optimize, or pivot.
  7. 07 Resources Run your offer on LEANSpark. Go deeper on the method.
Solution validation it works & they stay

How to Turn Visitors Into Customers

Landing Pages: Room 3, where the worldview you built finally cashes out into a customer

Start Chapter 1 → 7 chapters Prefer the PDF?
Chapters
  1. 01 The third room Your content fills the first two rooms. The landing page is the third — the path, and the one asset most founders write once and never revisit.
  2. 02 The brief is the bottleneck Five questions, answered from validated evidence. A promise you can prove false in ninety days. Receipts, not adjectives.
  3. 03 Taste opens the door — evidence converts Brand buys you a few points. Validated context buys the rest. One context engine feeds two surfaces.
  4. 04 Score the page Seven dimensions, a hundred points, a gate on each. Stop guessing whether the page is good — measure it.
  5. 05 Measure the room, not the likes Five metrics, in order. The only one that ties the page to the business is qualified signup.
  6. 06 A loop that learns Change one variable per cycle. Plan, do, check, act. A loop that learns beats a line that runs.
  7. 07 Resources Score and iterate your page on LEANSpark. Go deeper on the method.

Go deeper: the video courses

  1. 01

    Continuous Innovation Foundations

    Module 1 free

    The 10 mindsets behind building what customers want

    7 modules · 24 lessons · ~1 hour 20 min Open playbook
  2. 02

    Business Model Design

    Module 1 free

    Transform Your Idea Into a Validated Business Model

    14 modules · 174 lessons · 26 hours Open playbook
  3. 03

    Demand Validation Playbook

    Module 1 free

    From Problem Discovery to Paying Customers in 90 Days

    6 modules · 113 lessons · 19 hours Open playbook
Books The Innovator's Trilogy and the stories behind the method.

Start with Module 1 — free, no credit card required.

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