How Musicnotes.com Achieves Success With a Lean Team

3. Leverage partnerships and technology for smarter marketing. Aicher mentioned that the when looking for technology partners, the sheer number and variety of vendors in the e-commerce space can be overwhelming for any company — not to mention a company with a small team like Musicnotes.com. It’s important not to let the complexity overwhelm you, Aicher said. “Find a partner who you can really work with, not just buy something from,” he added.

At Musicnotes.com, vendors become part of internal teams. “When I think of my merchandising team, I think of my internal team as well as the person I work with over at Monetate [Musicnotes.com’s online merchandising partner],” Aicher said.

4. Question everything you do and keep testing. Despite its size, Aicher said Musicnotes.com questions and tests everything it does. “You’re not going to grow unless you try different things,” he said. “I make a ton of mistakes, but that doesn't stop me from trying.”

Aicher also discussed how Musicnotes.com relies on a testing strategy called minimum viable product (MVP), which was introduced in the book "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries. The strategy allows for fast and quantitative market testing of a product.

“MVP allows you to try new things with minimal risk,” Aicher said.