How the Lean Startup Method Empowers Brazil’s Creative Economy

April 3rd, 2020: A Personal Turning Point

On April 3rd, 2020, I took another step in my academic journey: I completed a post-graduate program in Creative Economy Management at Belas Artes University in São Paulo. I had the opportunity to present my final project to a remote committee — this was during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic — and, thanks to the generosity of my professor and (what an honor!) advisor Rodrigo Amorim, we developed a piece that highlights the importance of the Creative Economy in Brazil.

The project also showed how The Lean Startup methodology by Eric Ries offers not just a method, but a practical toolkit for Brazilian micro and small entrepreneurs to build sustainable businesses — and avoid becoming part of SEBRAE’s alarming statistic: 50% of Brazilian ventures fail within their first five years due to lack of lean management strategies.

One of the questions that stuck with me came from Professor Adriano Brainer, who asked:

“Did you fulfill your objective with this article?”

I answered, “No.”

Because the real work starts now. I need to write more, go deeper, open dialogue, and make this content accessible to those who need it most — who are often the least likely to access academic content. So this article marks the beginning of that process.

---

Why Lean Startup Matters for Small Entrepreneurs in Brazil

Most Brazilians have never received formal training in management, financial education, or strategic business thinking. Many small business owners struggle to transform their ideas into profitable, sustainable ventures.

From an economic standpoint, Brazil has been facing persistent challenges. Unemployment remains high, and the purchasing power of the average Brazilian continues to shrink. In this context, the Creative Economy is not just a way to supplement income — for many, it’s their main source of livelihood.

That’s because creative sectors are deeply rooted in cultural elements that naturally exist within a country. In Brazil, people often tap into these assets — whether it’s food, fashion, crafts, or storytelling — to generate income and build small ventures quickly.

But producing something creative is not the same as building a business.

And it’s certainly not enough to be called a startup.

What Turns a Creative Activity Into a Business?

To move from informal initiative to formal enterprise, creative entrepreneurs need more than passion — they need lean, effective management models to scale and sustain operations over time.

A well-run creative business requires business planning, marketing strategy, funding, and sales structure. That’s where the Lean Startup methodology becomes critical.

It offers a repeatable, resource-efficient framework that enables entrepreneurs to:

• Launch small and fast

• Learn through iteration

• Adapt based on customer feedback

• Grow in response to validated market signals

The Rise of Creative Entrepreneurs with Higher Education

According to SEBRAE (2019), 63% of Brazilian micro-entrepreneurs have enrolled in higher education — even if they didn’t complete their degrees. That’s already well above Brazil’s national average, where only 20% of the population reaches college.

This shift is driven by broader access to affordable private universities and financial aid programs. According to Guia do Estudante (2018), Business Administration is the second most sought-after degree in Brazil.

This data reveals an emerging profile: creative entrepreneurs in Brazil are becoming more educated and increasingly interested in building businesses, not just side hustles.

Creative Economy: A Strategic Asset for Brazil

Let’s be clear: Creative Economy = Creativity + Economics.

Economics is the study of how to allocate finite resources to meet infinite human needs. Creativity, on the other hand, is the ability to invent, imagine, and innovate — individually or collectively.

As John Howkins, one of the leading voices in Creative Economy, puts it: “Creativity is not a product — it’s a process. It’s what we do with what we have.”

In essence, creativity is the ability to produce something new — whether from scratch or by transforming something that already exists. It’s the ongoing act of making, expressing, sharing.

Is Creative Culture an Economic Engine?

Yes.

Even if Creative Economy represented just under 3% of Brazil’s GDP in 2017, it was growing at 6% annually — twice as fast as traditional service sectors and four times faster than traditional industry (OECD).

In emerging economies, creativity becomes a competitive advantage. Culture adds intrinsic value to creative products, turning them into unique offerings that are difficult to replicate.

Take Brazilian MPB (Música Popular Brasileira), for instance, or Havaianas — rubber flip-flops that gained global fame not for their utility, but for the cultural codes they represent.

Culture, when harnessed strategically, can power local economies, promote inclusion, and generate long-term economic returns.

The Digital Landscape and Brazil’s Cultural Shift

According to IBGE (2017), 96.7% of Brazilian households have at least one television. TV remains the primary form of home entertainment. However, the internet has become nearly universal: three out of four homes have internet access, and 98% of them access it via smartphones.

Digital adoption is changing how Brazilians interact with culture. A 2019 study by W3Techs Estimates revealed that Portuguese content represents around 3% of the internet’s global output — ranking seventh among languages. Even more telling: Portuguese is the only language growing at double digits, with a 12% year-over-year increase in 2019.

Practically every internet user in Brazil is also active on social media. Roughly 66% of the Brazilian population engages with at least one social platform, and the adoption rate keeps rising. Brazil is the fourth fastest-growing country in global social media use, expanding by 8% annually. Much of this growth comes from Class C consumers, whose internet access has grown by an average of 17% per year since 2015.

Digital Belongs to Every Generation

Digital access in Brazil is not limited to the young. According to IBGE (2018), 31.1% of seniors (60+) use the internet. Among 18–19-year-olds, that number jumps to 88.1%.

The message is clear: digital access is not a trend — it’s a structural transformation.

Culture Is Being Built (and Monetized) Online

Brazilian culture is no longer expressed only through streets, festivals, or traditional media. It now thrives in group chats, livestreams, memes, e-commerce pages, and podcasts.

We are consuming and producing culture online — in real time.

Never before have Brazilians:

• Bought so much online

• Promoted their products so extensively via social media

• Used mobile devices so intensely

• Read so much digital content — from news to ebooks

The internet has become a democratic content engine, accessible and scalable. It plays the same role that encyclopedias, comic books, or Sunday TV shows once did — but now at scale, and with participation.

For Creative Entrepreneurs, the Internet Is a Launchpad

You don’t have to rely exclusively on digital channels to survive — traditional marketing still works. But there’s no escaping this fact: the internet is part of the Brazilian way of doing business.

Whether you're a startup founder seeking market validation or a neighborhood baker trying to supplement your retirement income, the logic is the same.

Take “Dona Maria,” a retiree making brownies at home to earn extra cash. As a businesswoman, she sees her stove, baking pans, and family-approved recipe and says: “I have everything I need.”

But as an entrepreneur, she thinks: “This is a great starting point for where I want to go.”

That mindset shift is what separates passion from business.

Applying the Lean Startup Method in Brazil’s Creative Economy

The journey of building a business — or even just a business model — in a highly uncertain environment is exactly what entrepreneurship is about. And that uncertainty is amplified in Brazil’s creative sector.

Many ventures fail not because the idea is bad, but because the entrepreneur defaults to “just doing” instead of applying structure, management tools, and metrics. That’s where The Lean Startup by Eric Ries becomes a powerful ally: it offers a simple, fast, and adaptable way to create and manage small businesses.

Below are two real examples of how this methodology has helped structure businesses, validate ideas, and generate impact in Brazil’s Creative Economy.

Case 1: Fa.Vela – Accelerating Creative Potential in Favelas

João Souza, a young Black entrepreneur from a favela in Belo Horizonte, always dreamed of reaching the same places that privileged people did. He also knew he wanted to give back — and that entrepreneurship could be a tool for empowerment in under-resourced communities.

In 2014, João co-founded Fa.Vela, a business accelerator focused on equipping favela residents with tools for entrepreneurship and creative thinking. His goal was to integrate the favela into the urban economy, bridging social and economic divides.

The Lean Startup mindset was instrumental. Fa.Vela used it not only to structure its internal operations but to teach lean tools to others — financial literacy, marketing, customer discovery, MVP testing, and more.

One of its first participants, Gilmara from Morro do Papagaio, wanted to open a bridal spa inside the favela. While João initially assumed she would start a beauty salon (a more common path), Gilmara insisted: the pain point wasn’t generic beauty services. It was that brides in the favela had to leave their community to access the “bridal experience.” She wanted to change that.

And she did. Her spa served not only brides but also photographers, hair stylists, makeup artists, and other creatives in the community. Three years later, Gilmara expanded to a second location. Fa.Vela has since supported 159 businesses and 167 entrepreneurs across 15 municipalities, with major partners including UNESCO, Itaú Social, and the British Council.

This is Lean Startup at work:

• Start small

• Test a real pain point

• Validate through experimentation

• Grow from the product’s own success

Case 2: TAG – Turning Literary Passion into a Scalable Business

In 2014, Arthur Dambros was in a library when he had a revelation — what he describes as an artistic urge to create something that would influence people’s lives. He loved books. So, alongside his co-founder, he launched TAG, a book club with a premium twist.

TAG’s model was innovative:

• Monthly book deliveries with titles curated by renowned authors

• A collectible box, themed gifts, and an exclusive reading experience

• Curation by figures like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Luis Fernando Verissimo

Despite Brazil’s historically low reading rates, TAG grew rapidly.

Why? Because the team applied Lean Startup principles with precision:

• Viral growth loops via influencers and booktubers

• Low-cost media buys targeted at niche audiences

• Recurring revenue model via subscription

• Validated learning through constant feedback and community interaction

TAG even built an app for subscribers to discuss books, reinforcing retention and engagement. By 2016, TAG had over 20,000 active subscribers.

Its growth wasn’t based on high budgets. It was fueled by product-market fit, creative distribution, and a clear value proposition — all cornerstones of the Lean Startup framework.

The Core Pattern: Build — Measure — Learn

In both cases, success came from following the Lean Startup cycle:

• Build: Create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

• Measure: Gather feedback through real user behavior

• Learn: Pivot or persevere based on insights

Eric Ries emphasizes reducing the total time spent within this cycle — and that’s exactly what these entrepreneurs did. With agility, humility, and experimentation, they created real businesses that grew beyond the founders’ initial visions.

Final Thoughts: Lean Startup as a Tool for Equity and Growth

In Brazil, 96% of small businesses fail each year. According to SEBRAE, half of them collapse within the first five years — and most of those lacked any form of lean management.

When applied with discipline, Lean Startup principles can help micro and small creative businesses survive, scale, and thrive. This not only strengthens the Creative Economy but empowers entrepreneurs to improve their quality of life, often surpassing average formal employment income.

Creative sectors are already growing faster than traditional industries. But growth without structure is fragile. And that’s where Lean Startup becomes essential — especially in environments full of uncertainty.

Lean Startup + Creative Culture = Scalable Impact

Brazil’s creative entrepreneurs are increasingly educated, digitally connected, and culturally rich. But most of them still lack access to practical tools that help them:

• Build viable business models

• Test their ideas without burning capital

• Learn from real-world feedback

• Grow without losing their core identity

The Lean Startup methodology offers more than theory. It gives them a framework they can execute, even with limited resources.

We’ve seen this in practice — from João Souza’s Fa.Vela, which turns favelas into entrepreneurial hubs, to Arthur Dambros’ TAG, which redefined the book subscription model in Brazil. In both cases, we saw:

• Clear product definition based on real customer needs

• MVPs launched early to test viability and scalability

• Validated learning at each step of the journey

• Growth as a consequence, not the starting point

Digital Culture as a Launchpad for Brazil’s Creative Economy

Brazilian creativity is no longer confined to analog formats. It’s everywhere — podcasts, memes, marketplaces, mobile apps. Culture is being shared, monetized, and scaled online.

And the internet, while not the only channel, is a strategic enabler.

• It provides visibility to creators

• Reduces barriers to entry

• Democratizes access to content and knowledge

• Connects niche audiences to niche solutions

This hybrid ecosystem — where tradition meets tech — is where the next wave of Brazil’s Creative Economy will thrive.

Conclusion: Start Small. Think Big. Stay Lean.

You don’t need a perfect plan. You need a tested idea. You don’t need a big team. You need validated learning. You don’t need to go viral. You need to solve a real problem.

That’s what Lean Startup offers to Brazil’s Creative Economy: a methodology that respects creativity, empowers entrepreneurship, and turns ideas into sustainable businesses