Four Stages of Startup Innovation Lifecycle for Mature Companies

In ICT sector and software industries, especially in cases of start-ups, time to market process is really fast, or otherwise business opportunity might be lost. Lean thinking have been successfully applied to product development at startup companies, which is called the Lean Startup method. Despite lean methodology origins are in manufacturing industries, today product innovations are done in multiple stages in traditional European manufacturing industries. Study seeks the answer in the question: how to improve mature companies' product innovation lifecycle in traditional product based businesses? Study is based on the literature review and on the empirical case data evidence from the multiple case studies in Europe. This study indicates four stages how to accelerate idea to market time in manufacturing industries, by combining lessons learned from startups and Lean Startup methodology. The presented acceleration stages are intended as a step towards a better management of time to market processes.