LEANSTACK

We build world-class tools, content, and coaching resources that help entrepreneurs succeed.

Authored Running Lean
Authored Scaling Lean
Created Lean Canvas

Founder/CEO

WiredReach

WiredReach enables the creation of dead-simple peer to web applications that blur the boundaries between the desktop and web. Our flagship product is BoxCloud - a dead-simple way for creatives to share large files with clients and co-workers.

Founder

Sonus Networks

Prior to founding WiredReach in 2002, Ash was Director of Software Development at telecom technologies inc., which was subsequently acquired by Sonus Networks in 2001. Ash built and led the development team responsible for tti’s distributed Voice over IP Softswitch product.

Director of Software Development

telecom technologies inc

He joined tti as a local number portability (LNP) expert at a time when tti was transitioning from a professional services company to a product company. He help put together a team and led the development project for their flagship product.

Nortel

Was part of an initial team of 5 people that later grew to 70 working on a local number portability administration system.

Software Engineer

Founder/CEO @ LEANSTACK | Bestselling author and founder

I have bootstrapped several products to millions of users and worked with thousands of early-stage entrepreneurs worldwide - helping them systematically find repeatable and scalable business models using my battle-tested playbooks. 

Instead of:
-Spending several months building a product you hope people will buy.

Imagine a world where you:
- Spend several weeks defining a product you know people will buy.

For aspiring or early-stage founders:

If you’re looking to bootstart your idea, consider joining my 30-day Business Model Design Challenge below: 

You'll learn how to:
- Find or test a big idea worth pursuing,
- Design a business model blueprint,
- Stress-test your idea before investing time, money, and effort. 

Join the next Business Model Design Challenge:
https://runlean.ly/challenge

Ash Maurya

“Startups don't starve. They drown...”

They drown in too much information, too much analysis, too much conflicting feedback, too much "important" work.

Where do you start?

Even mantras like "right action, right time," I espouse, run up against practical ground realities.

Most people simply guess or vibe their way, but here’s the expensive reality: When you don’t have a systematic way to prioritize and pick what feels most urgent or what the loudest customer complained about, you end up burning time, cash, and momentum.

In this week's YouTube video, I outline a 4-step prioritization framework I use for picking where to focus. It combines a popular product priorization framework, RICE, with Fermi Estimations.

RICE stands for:
• Reach: How many customers will this impact?
• Impact: What's the value per customer?
• Confidence: How certain are we?
• Effort: What's the cost to build?

The formula: (Reach × Impact × Confidence) ÷ Effort

But here's the problem most people face: How do you score objectively without fooling yourself?

Should onboarding be a 7 or an 8? Is that feature worth $5,000 or $7,500?

This is where Fermi estimation comes in...

Instead of false precision, I use order-of-magnitude scales:
• Reach: 1, 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000, 100,000
• Impact: $100, $1K, $10K, $100K
• Confidence: 20%, 50%, 80%
• Effort: 2 hours, 2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months

You go from fudging numbers to justify the thing you want to build to prioritizing the right work. More in the full video...

Running Lean & Lean Canvas | Helping first-time founders (everywhere) succeed through battle-tested playbooks.

The biggest mistake in launching a startup isn't moving too fast.

It's validating for too long.

After validating hundreds of business models, I've seen a pattern: Most founders get stuck chasing validation—surveys, interviews, feedback loops—hoping that one more data point will finally give them certainty.

But here's the truth: You'll never have perfect validation because startups are not an exact science. And no funnel ever converts anywhere near 100%.

The real question isn't "How do I get perfect validation?"

It's "How do I know when I have SUFFICIENT evidence to move forward?"

Three validation traps that waste time:

Trap #1: Confusing Learning with Traction
I've had founders tell me: "I ran over 50 customer interviews!" That's great—but when I ask "How many customers did you convert?" the number is disappointingly low or zero. In startups, you don't get a gold star for following a process. You get results from traction.

Trap #2: Waiting for Statistical Significance
Some founders dismiss customer conversations as "not statistically significant" and instead chase landing page experiments. Here's reality: When 10 out of 10 people tell you they don't want your product, that IS statistically significant. Plus, people grossly underestimate how much traffic and conversions you need for statistical significance. With limited runway, you can't afford to wait.

Trap #3: Over-Planning
Founders spend months creating pixel-perfect pitch decks, 5-year financial models, comprehensive competitive analysis, and elaborate business plans. Then they launch and learn it's all wrong. This isn't "being thorough." This is analysis paralysis disguised as validation.

The solution? The Minimum Success Criteria Framework.

You don't need perfect validation. You need minimum sufficient evidence at three levels:
- Founder level (3-year goal)
- 90-day cycle (quarterly traction)
- Experiment level (2-week tests)

Define your minimum threshold BEFORE you start, not AFTER. Make it specific, measurable, and tied to traction—not vague vibes like "everyone loved it."

Full framework breakdown in this week's YouTube video.

First-time founders obsess about their

- company/product name,
- domain name,
- logo.

Good names and domains are hard to come by and premature optimization. 

Second-time founders obsess about building something worth naming. 

Then they buy whatever name they want. 

Starting Risks  Scaling Risks.

Stop Obsessing Over Your Startup Name

You can teach an AI agent to code, but can you teach it to build, measure, and learn? 

We just did. 

Check out the latest LEANSpark episode here: 
https://lnkd.in/gDcqKPwz

Stop building MUPs
MUP = Maximally Undifferentiated Product

Most MVPs Fail Because Founders Build the Wrong Thing

Next unlock achieved: 
LEANSpark can now design and run 90-day cycles and LEAN sprints. 

It has full memory of your business model, metrics, and experiments... So you don't have to do context/prompt sit-ups... It's ready to hit the ground running when you are.

When there's lots of uncertainty, you need light-weight dynamic models, not heavy-weight static plans.

Choose
- a Lean Canvas over a Business Plan
- a Fermi Estimate over a financial forecast spreadsheet
- a Traction Roadmap over a Product Roadmap

Yesterday: Episode 1 went live.

146 founders got full access to the first behind-the-scenes validation session.

What they're watching: The backstory behind the most ambitious project I'm undertaking: Build a daily AI-cofounder for systematic startup validation.

This isn't theory. It's real work. Real uncertainty. Real decisions.

13 weeks of systematic validation, completely over-the-shoulder.

You can watch Episode 1 (the pilot) here: https://lnkd.in/g9WvtG9H

Full access (all 13 weeks): https://lnkd.in/gBSar2bS

Next Friday: Week 2 - Business Model Stress-testing

 #LeanStartup #ProductValidation #BuildingInPublic

Open article: Your AI co-founder for systematic validation by leanspark.leanfoundry.com

Your AI co-founder for systematic validation

You have a starting business model. You know what needs to be tested.

But you're staring at 50 different experiments you could run.

Which one do you start with?

Most founders freeze. Analysis paralysis sets in.

Or worse - they try running all 50 at once and make slow progress on everything.

Time is your scarcest resource. 

And you make the most progress by focusing on the right actions, not all actions, at the right time. 

---

Episode 3 of the LEANSpark Over-the-Shoulder series (dropping Friday) shows you how I solve this:

✓ Why 90-day cycles are the "Missing Middle" between your 3-year goal and daily tasks

✓ How to design a validation cycle that prioritizes your riskiest assumptions

✓ The actual 90-day plan LEANSpark designed for me 

✓ Real results: 142 paying customers in 14 days using this framework

Practice trumps theory. 

I'm documenting the entire LEANSpark launch in real-time - the decisions, the pivots, the lessons learned.

Watch the full series:
👉 https://lnkd.in/gDcqKPwz

Episode 1: How LEANSpark started (the origin story)
Episode 2: Business Model Stress Testing (finding blind spots)
Episode 3: 90-Day Cycle Planning (drops Friday)

If you're building a startup and tired of guessing which experiment to run next, this is for you.

Open article: LEANSpark - Over the Shoulder Series by leanfoundry.com

I sold 209 customers on LEANSpark before building the product.

Here's how.

---

September: No product. Zero customers. Three massive unknowns.

October: 209 founders enrolled. $40+K revenue. Product is still being built.

What happened between those two points?

Episode 4 of the Over-the-Shoulder series just dropped, where I walk through the complete playbook [LINK IN COMMENTS]

Foundly

Being a passionate product manager and founder I've created Foundly to help first time tech founders navigate through the start of their journey and define their products in a way everyone understands.

Savic Motorcycles

Sales & Marketing Digital Ops and Advisory

Schooly.

At the helm of Schooly, I lead our mission to revolutionize communication and management within the educational sector. Schooly is a testament to our dedication to creating intuitive, comprehensive solutions for schools, academies, tutors, and parents.

I'm passionate about leveraging technology to simplify and enhance the educational experience. Under my leadership, Schooly delivers an all-encompassing, user-friendly application that's operational right from the start. We've focused on enabling educational institutions to effortlessly track, plan, analyze, and overview all aspects of their operations. Our platform is a pivotal tool for parents, providing them with immediate updates and a unified view of their child's educational progress across various stages.

My vision for Schooly centers on user experience, seamless integration, ease of use, and providing a singular platform to unify the educational journey from home to school. I am committed to driving innovation that fosters better communication, increased engagement, and a more cohesive educational community.

Technical Co-founder & Chief Everything Officer

The British Schools Foundation

Consult the group of international schools on various IT projects. Work with regional IT teams and central office on projects, from integrations between MIS and CRM systems, data migration andIT systems implementation.

Global Systems Analyst & Project Manager (External Consultant)

The British Schools Foundation is a UK registered non-profit Foundation and the governing body of a world-wide network of British International Schools.

Its network of schools is one of the largest in the world today, with 13 schools spanning 4 continents and 10 countries.

As Global Systems Analyst was responsible for implementation and roll out of central management systems across the group worldwide. Worked on digital transformation initiatives:
  - Implementation and adoption of new MIS systems
  - Development of bespoke management system within Salesforce ecosystem
  - Development and support of CMS for school websites
  - Development and support and Teacher and Parent portals  for managing enrolments, assessments, attendance and school calendar
  - Development and support of custom implementation of Salesforce CRM to manage HR, Admissions, Finance and other areas of the business in one place.
  - Integration schools' MIS with accounting, POS, marking, LMS and other systems
  - Establishment and management of centralised IT Support teams and processes
  - Development and roll-out of 1-2-1 Laptop and Tablet programmes for students (in some countries it was the first and one of a kind programme at the time)

As Operations Executive was responsible for: 
  - the smooth operation of the school uniforms supply chain for 13 schools worldwide (including establishment and operations and IT support of uniform shops in schools)
  - management of a global medical insurance policy for for 13 schools worldwide and HQ
  - management of centralised marketing operations

Global Systems Analyst & Project Manager

Creative IT & Development Agency

CIDA is a strategic partner for international schools to navigate through the digital world. 

Extensive experience in IT in private education sector helps us to design solutions that suit each school's individual needs be it an implementation of a new system, migration away from legacy or a tailor made solution.

Our specialists focus on adapting the latest technologies to solve problems in every aspect of a school's life cycle with the needs of the end user in mind. 

Our team is 110% committed to the client in understanding the pain points, designing the best solution and delivering the result.

Founder & CEO

Anton Simanikhin

I am passionately engaged in coding and advancing personal projects during my leisure time. This commitment enables me to remain at the forefront of technological innovations.

Presently, I am spearheading experiments utilising the latest in artificial intelligence technology, aiming to comprehend its potential in assisting educators with routine tasks. This endeavour is focused on enhancing their capacity to concentrate on core educational objectives.

Full Stack Developer

Telegram WebA

https://telegram.org/dl/weba

One the official web clients of the renowned messenger Telegram. As part of the project I was leading a small team of developers to create a lightweight web application to deliver all the features available in the messenger in a web browser with the highest quality and additional web browser specific functionality.

Development Team Lead

Nord Anglia Education

Worked with regional IT teams and central office on various projects, from integrations between MIS and CRM systems, data migration and IT operational consulting.

External IT Consultant

International School of Moscow

Achieving the highest standards in all areas of school life, underpins the ethos of the International School of Moscow.

Was responsible for:
  - Management of the business development project for the new school campuses including fire safety, construction standards and education standards compliance (school size increase from 250 to 600 students);
  - Management of the IT Support Team including budgetary planning, equipment purchasing, IT support process, cyber security procedures;
  - Management of the security team  including budgetary planning, equipment purchasing, staff planning, security procedures
  - Assistance to Director of Administration in obtaining educational licenses from Ministry of Education and other governing bodies

Deputy Head of Administration / Head of IT

Helping the school to deliver educational services of the highest international standards. 

Was responsible for:
  - Smooth and secure operation of all IT systems through multiple school campuses;
  - Budgetary and IT procurement planning
  - Development of ICT standards for teachers and students
  - Promotion of IT initiatives with the company staff

Systems Administrator

ICT Support Engineer

Sandoz

IT Specialist

Product leader passionate about solving complex challenges with elegant tech solutions. With 15+ years in EdTech and 10+ years leading tech teams and innovative products have given me a unique perspective on how to build products that truly make a difference.

From building easy-to-use solutions to complex problems through to developing growth strategy, I focus on creating customer experiences. 

Outside of work, I fuel my drive with motocross, CrossFit, and surfing. I value teamwork, open communication, and a balanced lifestyle. Let's connect and explore how I can contribute to your team's success.

taplio

The Battle

Ash Maurya

Anton Simanikhin

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreAsh Maurya's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Ash Maurya

Anton Simanikhin

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ash Maurya's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreAsh Maurya's LinkedIn Performance