Lean Startup, Agile Methodologies and Customer Development for business model innovation: A systematic review and research agenda

Purpose: Startups have attracted increased attention over the past years. While entrepreneurs develop startups to capture new business opportunities, also large companies are turning to these fast-growing organizations in efforts to become more agile. However, managing business model innovation and validation is challenging. A number of methodologies, like the Lean Startup (LS), emerged to reduce uncertainties concerning innovation-based projects, and to contribute to business model validation. Despite its popularity, the literature on the LS and its key underpinnings (Agile Methodologies and Customer Development) is sparse, lacking an integrated and structured analysis of their impacts and potentialities. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a comprehensive systematic literature review on the topic fully analyzing a final set of 71 papers. Findings: There is a turning point in the research stream’s maturity with publications in conferences and major journals, with the predominance of empirical investigations in the European region. Articles on the topic are on the rise in several technology fields. However, the literature on the subject falls short on providing guidance to assist practitioners and scholars on the adoption and investigation of these methodologies. Practical implications: The paper provides guidance for practice by presenting a staircase roadmap for the LS implementation drawing from the final set of papers reviewed. Originality/value: The study categorizes the current literature through a concept map, and offers a structured research agenda beyond the categories from the thematic analysis.