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Take a proven concept. Add new jargon. Promote the mixture as a brand, shiny new bit of business magic.

That's what seems to be going on with the idea of "lean start-ups." Recently the NY Times ran an article titled "The Rise of the Fleet-Footed Start-Up." Here's the lead.

"ERIC RIES and Steven Blank think they have a better way to build a start-up, one that takes less time and money to try new ideas and find paying customers. They are leading proponents of the “lean start-up” — a fresh approach to creating companies that has attracted much attention in the last year or so among Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, technologists and investors. "

This is good stuff. But it only seems new and innovative if you think the last twenty years were normal. They weren't. Instead, during the Dot-Com Era we bought the Myth of Venture Capital. It went something like this.

First you get a great idea. Next you crank out a great business plan and shop it around to venture capital firms. When you get your funding, off you go. It sounds like it ought to work, but reality is different.

For starters, most business start-ups are "me-too" businesses. They're beauty salons and body shops and retail stores and food services and professional service firms. Their basic business model is just like all the other similar businesses. Their challenge is to set themselves apart, but little more.

Most of the other start-ups don't use venture funding. They use investment funds and second mortgages. They load up their credit cards. They borrow money from every friend or relative who has a few bucks to spare. And they start small and, well, "lean."

YOUCentric is a good example even though it comes straight out of the heart of the Dot-Com Era. The founders used their own money to get started in 1993. Nobody took any salary in the beginning. Instead, they used the money for marketing. After a year, when there was something to show, they got some more money from family and friends.

It took four more years to "prove the business model." By the five year point they had a solid product. They had positive cash flow. And they were growing.

That's when the first round of venture money came looking for them. A second, much larger, round followed a year later. Eventually, the company was sold to JD Edwards.

When you start a business, there's a lot to learn. But as Hector Barreto points out in his excellent book, The Engine of America, you don't know what you don't know. So you need time to find out.

That's the time when you have to stay lean. Don't buy anything that doesn't directly contribute to success. Keep expenses down. Learn from what works and from what doesn't.

That's what a lean start-up really is. It's staying lean while you learn fast, so you can turn that learning into profit.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.