Jeff Lerner Review by Sarah Tate
Review by Sarah Tate
I feel like the larger packages of Jeff’s training are a little expensive for the average work at home parent. My favorite coach is definitely Jeff Lerner - but they are all good - at least the folks I have talked to.
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Check out Side Hustle Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
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Related Marketing Topics and Book Reviews for Business Focus:
The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
Audible Audiobook – Unabridged
Eric Ries (Author, Narrator), Random House Audio (Publisher)
4.6 out of 5 stars
Most startups fail. However, many of the errors are preventable. A Lean Startup can be described as an innovative approach that is being implemented all over the world, transforming the way businesses are constructed and the way new products are introduced.
Eric Ries defines a startup as an entity that is committed to generating something new in circumstances of uncertainty. This is equally true for a person living working in a garage, or an experienced group of experts in the Fortune 500 boardroom. What they all share is the desire to break through the fog of uncertainty and identify a viable path towards a sustainable company.
HTML0 is the Lean Startup method helps create firms that are both capital efficient and able to harness human creativity more efficiently. Inspiring by lessons learned from manufacturing lean, it focuses upon "validated learning", rapid experiments in science along with various counter-intuitive methods that speed up product development and track improvements without resorting back to false metrics, and understand what the customers actually need. It allows companies to change direction with ease and change plans one inch at a time and minute by minute.
Instead of spending time developing complex strategies for business, The Lean Startup gives entrepreneurs - in businesses of all sizes the chance to constantly test their vision in order to change and adapt until it's time to make changes. Ries offers a scientific approach to developing and running successful startups in an period when businesses need to be more innovative than ever before.
A quintessential read for entrepreneurs looking to innovate
Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2016
The concept of Lean is centered on value adding activities and reducing everything else. The Toyota Production System (TPS) implemented in the 1990s focused on eliminating waste at the manufacturing plant in Japan. Their efficient manufacturing system subsequently became known as the first lean process. So lean methodologies have existed for some time, but Eric Ries succeeds in putting an entirely new spin on the concept by applying it to innovation. As someone who majored in Industrial & Systems Engineering in college, the themes in the book struck right at home for me.
The Lean Startup model focuses on creating a minimum viable product for the market and receiving customer feedback along the way to improve the product. Oftentimes a rough draft of a working product is enough to gain valuable feedback and ideas that would never have been thought of if the project had been refined to death by its developers. What if your team toiled away for years creating advanced software and the finished product doesn’t have the features the customer really wanted? Avoid this mistake. The Lean Startup methodology is a way to ensure the final product is as optimized as possible.
Eric also introduces pivots as a means to take a new approach, if necessary, instead of starting over from scratch. This is in contrast to the old way of doing business where a product is launched only when it is fully functional and high quality in the creator’s eyes. Oftentimes, perfectionism can be costly both in time and in money. Eric does a wonderful job outlining how a product (online or physical) can be built and refined from a customer feedback loop.
Not only does The Lean Startup serve as a methodical roadmap for creating your business efficiently and effectively, but also the book delves into startup metrics that will give a new meaning to how you measure your progress. Ries calls this “innovation accounting”. Innovation accounting is a way of looking past the headline numbers such as revenue growth and instead tracking changes in customer adoption, retention and usage patterns.
A successful startup does not just flourish because of a brilliant idea. Success in a condition of uncertainty (in this case innovation) requires managing people through all the challenges of innovation and growth. It means understanding your customer and keying in on statistics that tell the true story of progress. Whether you are a product developer for a company or an executive at a high-tech startup or even a fresh-faced college graduate, this book benefits positions from all perspectives in every industry.
Read more here: [...]
29 people found this helpful
Great Insight on the subject of Start-Ups and the leading trend of doing so Lean
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2020
Eric Ries has some "priceless" insight. As a Start-Up Mentor and I-Corps Instructor I now make this a strongly suggested read, along with Steve Blank and Bob Dorf's "The Startup Owner's Manual". Eric covers many of the areas we coach ventures such as preparing a product or service vision. Equally important, to get out there to get voice of the customer (VOC) input to test their venture hypothesis. He makes another compelling case, for not doing things that don't have a lean start-up short term return. This wisdom applies equally to new start-ups and to traditional companies that seek to build new products and services.
2 people found this helpful
Great knowledge for productivity in general, not just business
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2021
This book was recommended to me by colleagues who center their entire business on Lean production approaches. It was their way of introducing me to the system. I found dozens of helpful, actionable, road-tested strategies in the book to just be more productive, both as an individual and for my business. It was a very quick read -- read it in 3-4 hours one afternoon -- but it was so full of information that I was compelled to take notes and highlight along the way so I could revisit the information.
Several key aspects I liked:
- the author employed the strategies in real-world settings and shared both positive and negative outcomes
- the repetition of the key ideas in different contexts really helped to drive the main point home
- the customer-driven / client-driven nature of the entire process
- finally, perhaps most of all, the drive to streamline the entire entrepreneurial process with quick-to-market prototypes and measurement strategies designed to spark useful iterations.
I'm quite new to Lean approaches, and this was a great and useful primer.
for that I recommend "Tuned In" (another book)
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2018
Lean startup outlines how to execute a hypothesis... with the scientific method. If you're willing to have the discipline to use these principles, it works. There's a lot of pitfalls (vanity metrics) but if you follow the book & use it as a reference it works. I used this at a startup where the company grew revenue almost 100x during my time there. This book was one of the key strategies we used. This book doesn't dive deep into getting the right hypothesis; for that I recommend "Tuned In" (another book). It's complementary to this.
8 people found this helpful
Fresh ideas on entrepreneurship
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2013
Lean Startup is a well-written book with a lot of fresh ideas and thinking about start-ups and entrepreneurship. Eric Ries, author of the book, has had a fair share of start-up experience and in his last start-up (IMVU) experimented with a lot of non-standard ways of managing start-ups influenced by Steve Blank and the Toyota Production System (or lean and hence Lean Startup).
The book is divided in 3 parts which roughly map to 'phases' of start-ups: 1) vision, 2) steer, and 3) accelerate. Each of these parts is divided in 4 chapters each simply named with one word such as "Test" or "Measure" (not incredibly descriptive).
The first part is called Vision and defines Lean Start-up and its influences. It explains how start-ups are about validated learning and how the optimization of start-ups needs to be about how fast they go through the build-measure-learn cycle. When starting a new product, the first thing you need to get is feedback on the product, so it is important to get a Minimum Viable Product out as quickly as possible as learning about how to use the product is a lot more powerful than research or asking customers.
The second part continues with the Minimum Viable Product and the learning. The learning we'll need to get from the product is whether our business assumptions (leap-of-faith assumptions) were in fact correct. Start-ups need to change their accounting system to measure their progress in validated learning. When there is enough learning, they can check their leap-of-faith assumption and make the decision to pivot (change a bit in one direction) or persevere (continue).
The last part (accelerate) first covers small batches, one of the basic concepts behind lean start-up and then explores the different "engine of growth" that companies have and stress to focus on one of these. After that it gives Eric's perspective on building lasting companies that continue to improve. The author shared his adaptation of the five why technique. It ends with some general discussion about innovation in larger companies.
The epilogue contains a surprisingly positive perspective on the principled of scientific management from Fredrick Taylor.
All in all, I enjoyed the book quite a lot, especially the first 2 parts. The way the author has weaved a bunch of concepts together into one holistic framework is quite nice and very concrete. It is not easy to manage your company the way the author suggests as it requires a lot of discipline and introspection (both lacking in many companies). But the Lean Startup moves us away from the black art of startups and creates an interesting structure, or at least perspective, to starting up new ventures. Recommended reading.
6 people found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2019
I have been running a software business for 30 years, and, after reading this book, my eyes were opened to the “system” for starting and growing a business. Eric provides the core processes for identifying, developing, and refining products, and the key metrics to use for growing your business. I really appreciated his concepts of validated learning vs. the typical “gut” approach to decision making. I also got a lot of value out of his distain for vanity metrics. I now feel like I have a framework for improving and growing my business. This book is an excellent resource for anyone looking to create products that create value.
Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2020
I wish I had this book 30 years ago when I was more involved with startups. I could have avoided so many mistakes and I might be sitting on a warm beach in the tropics writing a review on the local bars instead. I highly recommend this book if you are involved in startups from scratch or inside an established company. It is well worth the time you invest in reading and reflecting on its messages.
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2013
A number of websites recommended The Lean Startup and I finally decided to follow their recommendations and read it. I'm glad I did.
Eric Ries provides a map on starting a business with concrete steps and strategies for executing a plan. He gives guidance on how and when to persevere with the initial plan or to "pivot" into another approach based on the results, or lack of results, arising from an entrepreneur's initial plan. Entrepreneurs need to learn what their market wants and to provide this and not some product or service that the entrepreneur thinks that the market should want or need. To do this requires building and testing a minimum viable product to determine the markets reaction. He advocates attention to innovation accounting to measure progress in the market's acceptance of your product or service and to avoid vanity metrics. Of all the concepts in the book the idea of what it will take to build a minimum viable product is the one necessity for which I didn't see any clear-cut guidance. I do not say this as a criticism of the book because the entrepreneur must use vision and judgment to decide what a minimum viable product or service must be. It is this product or service that starts the process of learning what the market wants that is critical to success. Simply building a product or providing a service because the entrepreneur thinks that the market wants it leads to failure. Ries gives an approach based on testing and learning what the market wants while conserving money and resources that gives an entrepreneur a better chance at success.
This is a book written by someone who has experienced success and failure. He understands what it takes to succeed. I strongly recommend the book.
3 people found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2018
I’m an entrepreneur but more like a bad artist, whose idea is in constant flux, and become excited very easily. I believe in that the resourefulness of an entrepreneur is crucial for success, but have overlooked the science behind it. This book just awakened the scientific mind in me. Now I can see how my mind will serve as a great tool for my entrepreneurial endeavor. Test your vision! Don’t just dream about it and narcissistically think how people are just going to adopt it right away and a new earth shall thereby begin. Test it! Test it! Test it! The RIGHT experimentation is the key!
One person found this helpful
Fantastic book with actionable advice
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2022
Almost every chapter provides actionable advice with real-life examples drawn from the authors’ personal experience. So many essential books on start-ups reference this novel and with good reason—the lean start-up method is even more relevant in today’s data-driven, software-saturated world. My only criticism is that the book’s last two chapters feel quite redundant—it could’ve been leaner.
Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2016
The top two ideas for me.
1. You should release products as early as possible (the Minimum Viable Product) so that you can start getting feedback from customers as soon as possible. Otherwise, you will waste a lot of time adding features that are really not critical to success.
2. You should track retention of customer cohorts that all signed up at the same time and with the same new features. This will make it possible to identify the features that are causing growth to accelerate versus the features that make no difference or even cause loss of customers. Once you know the baseline customer acquisition and retention rates, you can compare that to the acquisition and retention rates of customers that signed up just as a new feature was added.
One person found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2012
It is so very difficult to find books on business startups that do not paint a wonderful beautiful picture. Being self-employed, I have read quite a few books on starting and running a business. Many books suffer from lots of inspiration but no road map and no practical steps to take. After reading these books, you figure that you are the only small fry out there, that your business should be taking off by leaps and bounds just as those related in the wonderful stories.
"The Lean Startup" is light years ahead and in it's own category. Here is a book that punches you straight in the face and tells you like it is. No sugar coating. No wondrous stories of success. This book, rather, presents a methodology to increase your chances of success. Note that I did not say "guarantee" but "increase". The author is honest enough to say that and I respect that a whole lot.
The central idea I went away with after reading the book was the notion of Customer Development. It was a Eureka moment. I have begun using the techniques in the book in a new start up business that I am working on. And so far, I have saved myself some real $$ and heartache that would have happened if I used my old method of thinking about starting a business.
Eric Ries ... thank you!
4 people found this helpful
EXCELLENT content with some tolerable organizational issues
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2014
The content is fantastic and should not be missed by anyone interested in either a start-up or any new endeavor (whether or not it’s in a traditional company), thus my high rating. The methods eventually reached in the book are insightful and applied expertly to both startups and larger organizations. Eric makes clear the many benefits and warnings of misuse and wisely encourages the needed customizations for each context (this is, after-all, a framework, not a recipe). These benefits are why I love this book.
Yet, I hope he does a second edition that organizes the material much better. The beginning is very wordy and disorienting because Eric spends excess time building credibility (in himself, the process, showing the need and other contextual concerns) leaving the reader to hold a lot in her/his head without the core point. For example, a list of benefits (the effects of a coming key concept) may be given long before the key concept is given, requiring the reader to hold too much in mind and retroactively absorb the full impact (or re-read for best absorption). I found this part taxing.
Make no mistake though, I highly recommend this book. In spite of how I felt 20% in, the fantastic content of this book superseded all organizational issues I had with it.
One person found this helpful
Common sense guidelines for an aspiring entrepreneur
Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2016
If you have a sound business strategy and need to figure out how to carry it out, this book is for you. The book focuses more on implementation (how to make decisions to waste the least time/money) than business strategy (how your business plans to make money). The Lean Startup provides simple methods to measure the efficacy your actions, and gives common sense advice for how to structure your time to make the best business decision. It is slightly redundant, but each of the supporting example sheds different perspectives on the overarching theme of the build-measure-learn loop. I am an engineer myself, and it gave me some sound business pointers going forward with a small business. It is overall very well written, and gives clear lean guidelines to follow. I will definitely read it again in the future.
2 people found this helpful
A Most Valuable Book for startups, but even more so for large companies
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2011
An an entrepreneur and angel investor with several startups under my belt, I believe that Eric Ries' The Lean Startup is a MUST READ for anyone involved in startups these days. If I had to recommend one book to fledgeling entrepreneurs in today's market, it would be this book - no question.
People working in large and established companies, however, might need this book even more. The methodology described in "The Lean Startup" just might be the antidote to "The Innovator's Dilemma" that all established and successful companies must deal with.
Ries defines a startup as: "... a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty." Large companies are full of such "human institutions" and when it comes to creating new products they are dealing with the same conditions of uncertainty as startups. If anything, large companies are much more likely to commit larger and more costly mistakes than startups and much slower to react to them.
If you are an entrepreneur you need to study and practice the advice in this book. If you want to be an entrepreneur and start a company, but you believe that you need a ton of VC money to do so, "The Lean Startup" will set you straight and motivate you.
But don't let the title mislead you; people working in organizations that are as far removed from the typical image of a startup as can be (e.g. large companies, government organizations) need to read, absorb and practice the lessons in this book even more to remain competitive.
One person found this helpful
A must read for all leaders -I could not put it down until I finished it
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2012
Absolutely spot on book. I have lived through just about everything Eric talks about in this book. Especially when he comes to companies that fail. I wish I had this book fifteen years ago. However dear reader you can benefit from this book now. Our firm is meeting way to many companies who go lean in development (agile) without adjusting their management style. Ries gives these folks a process and systems that can be used to dig themselves out of their holes. Most of the points are not new, we have been using them for decades. What is new is how they are strung together to dramatically improve a start ups chance to get traction , break out into huge income territory and prevent "the fail". For example:
Startups must be and can be managed
Use learning milestones vs goods produced
A hundred tests is preferred to one big launch
look for positive improvements in core metrics = market what the buyer will buy
stay away from vanity metrics
test your assumptions as you separate them from facts
be thorough and thoughtful
In technology a must read for all leaders. Other leaders will benefit from this as well.
3 people found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2015
As an aspiring entrepreneur I found this book very helpful and informative. It Gives entrepreneurs the tools they need to turn ideas into products and avoid common mistakes. It is clear that the author has years of experience creating startups and he provides the reader with the mindset that entrepreneurs and innovators should have. Eric Ries takes the uncertainty associated with creating a startup and turns it into a science.
I initially feared that this book would read like a business textbook but I was quickly proven wrong. The book is very well written and easy to read. Eric Ries explains everything in plain english so that it is clear and intuitive. Ries does a good job of using real world examples and anecdotes to explain his concepts. Ries has experience consulting for companies like Intuit and IGN and includes lots of valuable insider information that can't be found in most business textbooks. He also includes alot of real start up success stories as well as many failures and discusses what must be learned from each.
Before reading this book, I was discouraged from going forth with my Ideas because I feared my lack of business experience would hold me back. Now I feel like I have the tools to execute my ideas. If I had not read this book, I could easily see myself making some of the common mistakes that lead to startup failures. Instead of creating a minimum viable product to quickly get feedback like Ries recommends, I would spend months or even years developing what I considered to be the perfect prototype, only to find out nobody wanted to use it. All his ideas make perfect sense. Don't make assumptions about what people want, rather find out what your customers want before hand. Everything is about feedback, collecting it then applying it to your product. Don't waste anytime developing something unless you know it creates value.
Anyone who is considering creating a startup or new product should read this book. The best thing about this book is that you don't need business experience to understand the core concepts.The principles he talks about can be applied to all types of types of business but are particularly helpful for software and tech products.He answers alot of the questions I had and even question I did not think of but should have been asking.It is only a matter of time before the lean startup method is universally adopted.
7 people found this helpful
Essential Information All Startup Businesses
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2020
Guidebook for Startup! Essential information about business for all startup businesses. This book has many excellent case studies and examples. The book is very well researched and well written and very important for everyone dealing with startup people. Excellent narration. I recommend this book without qualifications for everyone in startup business process
Although the true worth of a book on finance or ...
Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2014
Although the true worth of a book on finance or entrepreneurship is if the reader actually uses the information for their own gain, this is the first book on business and entrepreneurship that made sense to me. It has many specific ideas but it all comes down to using the scientific method every step of the way in a start up. This explains why the endless fears of "most businesses fail" and "entrepreneurship is too risky" exist. Most people, even big businesses function under false assumptions.
I have a psych master's and this method reminds me about the creating of a new scientific hypothesis. A small pilot study is devised with a small N. If the initial study or studies show promise, more robust studies are performed. From that place of knowledge, the hypothesis is held or a new hypothesis and subsequent theories are devised.
I knew these years of scientific training would pay off some way!
One person found this helpful
A great read for entrepreneurs and business people everywhere
Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2011
I am in the midst of doing a new startup. I have been creating products and companies since I was 13 years old (20+ years now). I wish I would have had this book back then. It provides a framework for constant innovation and validates what I know to be true in the world of business. I am confident that I have the right business model at the right time but have spent months fine tuning, trying to make it perfect before launch. I have heard over and over again that I just need to get it out there whether perfect or not but never fully bought into that until reading this book. I now understand. This book has inspired me to speed up my plan and I think at the end of the day I will have a much stronger product and startup because of that.
And this book isn't just for startups. In addition to my new startup, I own a marketing firm. While reading this book I kept thinking of the ways the methodology in in could benefit all of my clients - from my doctors to my retailers to my restaurant clients. Just a great read for anyone that has a product that they want to sell to the masses. So pretty much - if you are in business, you should read this book.
2 people found this helpful
Loved it, but I wish it covered other industries besides games
Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2013
This book goes over how a startup or development group in a larger org can do experiments to see what customer's perceive as adding value. I love the philosophical start about how in the past people knew we needed to produce more, but the modern industrialized world has more than enough products and services, so the trick is to work out what people want.
It goes into logical fallacies and misleading thought processes that cloud an entrepreneur's judgement.
My only complaint is that in almost every example case, the product or service is a game. What if your product is medical product, scientific instrumentation, or a module used in industrial automation? That's not covered. When reading stories about figuring out which chat programs kids will find cool, it's hard to make the leap and apply it to working out which features a laboratory would pay for on a spectrometer.
2 people found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2021
Read this for my MBA class and no single book has bad more impact on me than this book. Upon reading this book you realize how much of our modern business world has been shaped by the concepts in this book. People may not be doing it exactly but the foundation is there. Would highly recommend everyone interested in business, start-ups read this book.
Clearly worth the purchase for me.
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2012
This is a great book in the sense that the author is a serious student of his subject and accordingly has created a viable synthesis. It is also great because it led me to "Crossing The Chasm." by Moore and "The Innovator's Dilemma" by Christensen.
The last three steps in the author's method, Validated Learning, Build - Measure - Learn, and Innovation Accounting, seem compelling and the steps to put them into action are clear.
To me everything else in the book was encapsulated inside of getting an MVP out there and commencing the iteration process.
Reading this book and then Moore's "Crossing The Chasm" immediately after has greatly deepened my marketing insights.
I also think that having basic business management and marketing theory prior to reading these books will increase the value of these books.
One person found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2014
You don't need to have a business background to understand this book, nor do you have to be an entrepreneur or established manager to benefit from the Lean methodology. This book completely changed by perspective on managing business (not just Start Ups but even programs within big companies).
Basically, Lean methodology is the application of the scientific method to profit-making. Your goal is to learn what problems people have by observing their measurable behavior (quantitative and qualitative). Solutions (products) are essentially hypotheses (assumptions about the problems' solution) that need to be tested.
Only by testing through the shortest possible feedback stages, can you maximize learning. Then, either test a new hypothesis based on what you've learned (pivot) or optimize those correct assumptions (persevere).
That's it: Test your assumptions in the world and learn as fast as possible before your capital runs out. Everything else (design tweaks, website color schemes, scaling before confirming you're on track) is a form of waste.
How to scientifically create innovation
Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2018
It's a great book, easy to read and understand.
It present many great ideas on how to innovate and change the way we do our work. What is most amazing of it, is its focus on the scientific method to understand what to create and specially to learn.
The proposal for new metrics to account for learning and accountability, in order to avoid waste is a great idea. A must read if you are looking to became an entrepreneur or if your are looking at a different way how to do things at your company. I hope you have a chance to enjoy it as mush as I did.
A wonderful book with a great philosophy.
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2014
Eric Ries', The Lean Startup, is by far the most important piece of literature an entrepreneur could have on his bookshelf.
Whether you're a product developer for a company or an executive at a high-tech startup, this book benefits many positions from all perspectives in just about any industry. The nature of the Lean Startup itself is something that can be applied to nearly all facades in life. I read The Lean Startup a few times a year just because it always amazes me on how much I continue to learn from its philosophy.
Eric Ries does more than create wishful thinking, he sets standards for how businesses should operate, how investors should treat a startup, and most of all how a company can create products people not only use, but love.
Entrepreneurship is Everywhere
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2011
The stories, disciplines and methodologies in this book are invaluable to all of us determined to achieve something meaningful. Whether that goal is to bootstrap our own business, revitalize a division of an existing company or even make a social cause do more for its beneficiaries, The Lean Startup charts clear and memorable path to getting stuff done.
The book emphasizing concepts from Design Thinking. Ries encourages entrepreneurs to quickly "get outside the building" and connect with potential customers. In so doing readers will understand what their customers actually need by first understanding their situation and the problems that they need to solve. This is just one of the ways that Ries articulates a simple, self-correcting approach to avoid wasting precious time and resources.
The value in The Lean Startup is not the sheer brilliance or novelty of any particular gem, but in it's overall usability. In under 300 pages, Ries articulates a complete yet simple system for enterprise success that entrepreneurs everywhere can put to work.
One person found this helpful
Essential reading if you are starting just about anything
Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2018
This book is a game changer. It's bout building anything new in a way where you create a product quickly and cheaply and then gather data about how to make the product better before you invest a lot of time and resources in a high quality product. The basic idea in this book is that the JOB of an entrepreneurial endeavor is "validated learning", or gathering and assimilating data about HOW to build the right product. A great guide to smarter entrepreneurship.
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2020
Eric Ries puts together as timeless classic in “The Lean Startup”. Cogent and insightful advice and recommendations on metrics to govern a startup. I wish I read it sooner. Everyday language, not pie in the sky theory. Whether starting a company, product or service this is the book. Also if part of an existing legacy company, great ideas to continue to spot innovation.
One of the best books I’ve read.
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2020
One of the best articulation of the relationship between design thinking and lean, coupled with how to use it to structure a learning organisation.
One person found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2015
Believe the Hype, because this time it's not from the author or the publisher, but from those who read this and found themselves yelling "Yes" at the book at various stages... It's true, that there's a lot in here that there is not new, but the author doesn't pretend to be the Fount-of-All-Knowledge (which, in itself is new, not to mention refreshing). The merit is in taking something that has plainly transformed one industry, and then applying it to an *entirely* different industry. Moreover, because of the way it's presented - clearly, accessibly, with personal insight and experience - to *any* industry, as one can see in the experience of those who have taken the principles forward and applied them in the public and private sector, in industries from healthcare to banking and even to the manufacturing industry in which many of the principles had their genesis. Yes, some of the chapters are a little engineer-math geeky on measurement techniques, but for those who don't want to go there (i.e. my people, for better or worse) there is plenty before and after to more than justify the rest of the purchase price.
2 people found this helpful
Beyond "The Best" - Long Hoped for Business Methods -with Science Behind It
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2015
Eric Ries took Marketing - and building a Startup - to a new, and much more believable level. Eric's discipline to experiment - then document them - and then analyze the results would make this a great book if it stopped there. The exciting part - and the incredible clarity he provides to convey it - is that with The Lean Startup I can see building businesses - and expanding existing ones - with a clarity I am grateful to him for. I believe that we will look back years from now and see his inventiveness, authorship and business leadership as a milestone.
That he also emphasizes in his methods the saving of energy, resources, and the all-so-vital hope of entrepreneurs - leads me to praise him for his compassionate understanding of what Marketers like myself have been going through. I plan to dog-ear this book over the years to come....and watch the growth come out of it.
One person found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2013
Looking at the startup world from the outside, it always seemed chaotic to me. Scrappy, a bit glamorous maybe, but also off-the-cuff and disorganized.
This classic (I think it can be called that, by now) makes starting and running a startup a much clearer affair. From build-measure-learn, to executing a pivot (which is not just a buzzword, as it turns out), to the later phases of growing your company -- this is a great first read for anyone interested in bringing a startup to life. Actually, I think you should read this even if you just work for a startup -- it would enable you to make some valuable suggestions and work more effectively.
Great book for startups and innovative companies
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2016
If you are looking to create a startup business yourself, bring innovation to your workplace or consult on either behalf, this is a fantastic read. It appears to me more tailored to software companies, however this can be used for produuct and service companies as well. In fact it is mentioned a few times throughout the book on how to do just that.
These ideas helped me consult a friend of mine who is cofounder of a startup make smarter decisions. He has thanked me for the advise and is purchasing the book himself.
Great book for anyone in any business!
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2013
This book does a great job of teaching the principles of lean and applies them to startups and new ventures within existing businesses. If you have been given a new project at work or you are working on a new business of your own this is an essential book for you. I was already familiar with lean principles from my job as a Manufacturing Engineer but the way Reis puts the application of these principles into the context of any new undertaking gave me a new perspective and a renewed vigor to apply lean principles in all that I do. Thank you for writing this book, I am sharing it with everyone at work and with friends.
One person found this helpful
Indispensible! Useful for many professions.
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2019
Indispensible! Useful for many professions.
2 people found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2018
I'm about to begin with a startup and this one has opened my eyes. It was recommended by my wife's boss (from a fortune 100 company) and I have realized that most of my ideas have to be reorganized. I loved the book not only for an entrepreneur but for most small and medium-sized businesses as well as for large companies.
Stunning impact, inspires clarity
Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2011
Stunning.
In short, I've developed software and led product development teams in a variety of startups for 20+ years and I've worked with bright, committed people. In all this time, there was a clear boundary: we built the product (or service), and someone else told us what to build. To a great degree, it was a black box how the "what & why" was determined. While we build lots of great stuff - too many times, it wasn't what the real, paying customers wanted. Additionally, an unfortunate, side-effect was that the development team rarely had that emotional connection & investment with solving real problems for real people. Instead, the team was more focused on making product management happy instead of the customer.
Fast-forward having applied lean startup to two different startups, and the results are profoundly different. There's never a question (for all of us) why we are building what we are building, how it's related to solving a real problem for real people & who will pay for the problem to be solved. There's never a guarantee there's a sustainable business, but the clarity of what needs to be done, who it's for and why we are doing is inspiring.
I've suggested this book, this approach and related materials to lots of folks - and it's a pleasure to see how many people intuitively get it so quickly!
Having said that, this isn't always easy: old ways die hard, shiny objects are interesting, ego, desire & bias get in the way of interpreting the results, etc. However, I can't imagine going back.
Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2012
Lean Startup discusses macro level strategies to improve the likelihood of viability of new products and services. Moving away from the more rigid academic approaches that are largely finance oriented, Ries takes a market oriented approach and demonstrates with numerous examples how flexibility and testing based on data are key to determining real not "believed" market needs and the extent to which those needs are commercializable. Reis also recognizes that his approach is for the early part of a product/company life cycle and that, once established, product redevelopment should follow a similar path in the face of market competition.
One person found this helpful
Essential reading for founders of startups
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2013
As this book makes clear, a startup is not just any entrepreneurial venture. If you're buying an existing business or franchise, or starting a business in an established field, there are many sources of information and guidance on how to proceed. This isn't one of them.
Ries defines a startup as "a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty." This book is aimed at guiding entrepreneurs through the process of reducing the uncertainty and finding a match between the founders vision and the wants and needs of the marketplace. The earlier in the process you read this book, the better.
Saves you money, time, and a whole lot of effort.
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2011
In The Lean Startup, Eric Ries brings the scientific method to entrepreneurship.
Hypotheses, experiments, tests, usable data. Then innovating from there.
If applied within a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty (Eric's definition of a startup), this methodology will save you money, time and effort by showing you via lots of lots of testing with real customers what's worth pursuing and what's not.
The Lean Startup will challenge your assumptions, re-frame your thinking, and help you to stop dreaming and start doing...successfully.
2 people found this helpful
I have to admit that when I started reading this ...
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2014
I have to admit that when I started reading this book my first thought was that this is not very applicable to the businesses I am in or the businesses I want to be involved in. However, after internalizing what I had read links between the topics and my daily challenges became very clear. I have to say that this book changed the way I think about certain things and codified the way I do others. If you are an entrepreneur (or an intrapreneur) of any kind, or working for a company that needs modernization and innovation, this is required reading.
I will say that junior level employees at larger corporations, although will benefit from this book, will probably find implementation a little bit difficult. Again, anyone can benefit from this book, but from a practical perspective, those who can implement its lessons and wisdom need to be in a position of authority/respect/seniority.
2 people found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2018
The correlation between lean manufacturing and a startup is surprisingly fitting.
Author does a great job explaining the lean concept and relating it to startup phase/topic.
Also does a great job explaining that startups aren’t only new companies, but subsets of larger organizations too
Makes his case well, easy read.
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2018
I can see why Ries is getting so much traction with the Lean Startup concept. He's a good evangelist for the approach, and the ideas and case studies illustrate the system well. He also points to a variety of other useful resources late in the book. It's more like a resource for entrepreneurs than a textbook but I can imagine some places also using it for that purpose.
One person found this helpful
Phenomenal Book every Entrepreneur should read
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2020
This book gives you a fundamental break down step-by-step on how to use the scientific method for building any new startup by going through the Build-Measure-Learn loop (BML) and by collecting innovative accounting metrics about your customer experience with your product. This book is for anyone who is trying to build anything new and trying to find product-market-fit (PMF)
The foundation of lean entrepreneurship
Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2020
A quick, concise, and incisive read - get it for all founding principles of lean entrepreneurship.
Valuable Ideas Poorly Articulated
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2019
I am torn by giving this book a "5" rating. On the one hand, it is, in my opinion, appallingly badly written, however, on the other, if you work at deciphering them, there are both a valuable framework suggested for startup management and a number of VERY valuable "tools". I thought the effort worth it though it could have been unnecessary.
Good: skimmable and actionable
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2013
Ries provides lots of examples and stories to back up the punch line of his book. If you don't need to be sold, or don't need to sell the idea, then you can skim that and just follow the tables and intro/closing paragraphs.
His approach boils down to using rapid prototyping / agile development to make constant, iterative market tests in situations where the market is very new or unknown. The audience includes business R&D units in established companies tasked with making breakthrough products. He lists a few measures that should be used to gauge performance in these situations and then gives hints on forming an organizational culture in which this process is self-sustaining.
Actionable and therefore useful, once you identify relevant growth model and then performance measures for your situation.
Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2021
An essential tool for anyone who wants to learn more about entrepreneurship, the tools you gain from here will really give you knowledge empowerment you need to startup anything
Learn how to experiment with minimum viable products to one customer validated-learning and more
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2014
Ries really knows about startups. Invaluable and insightful are his ideas about the use of scientific methodology to test minimum viable products (MVP). He sets out a disciplined and systematic approach he calls "innovation accounting" to figuring out if you are achieving validated learning about the success of your ideas. His guidance is hugely valuable because it greatly reduces the cost of failure, enabling a startup to pivot and try again. For instance, first selling your MVP to one customer, improving and working out the bugs, instead of trying to sell a buggy product to millions, is the right way to build scalability. The book is packed with valuable nuggets of advice like building products in small batches, single piece flow, building a product's immune system, writing a high-quality playbook, creating an engine of MVPs, determining the lifetime value of a customer (LTV), friction free customer sign-up, continuous deployment. Highly recommended reading for anyone involved in a startup. Read it and re-read it.
One person found this helpful
Anyone thinking about innovation product development needs to read this book!
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2017
This book is fabulous. I love Eric's honest in addressing situations faced by startups, and his intellectual curiosity and pursuit of excellence shines through. I have a ton of items circled and underlined for future reference and looking into more. Anyone thinking about innovation or even product development needs to read this book!
One person found this helpful
The new bible for starting a successful business
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2011
Millions of dollars are spent by startups that build things that nobody ever really wants. This might seem shocking because the media narrative that appeals most to us is the one where a few kids in a dorm at Harvard have a simple idea and create a billion dollar business as a result.
Eric Ries reminds us in "The Lean Startup" that building a successful business requires constant validation of ideas and iteration in order to get to a point where success is really possible. This book aims to change the way that founders and venture capitalists think by making it okay to measure success by how much we learn about what works and what doesn't, instead of looking only at classic metrics.
The real lesson of the Lean Startup movement is one of humility and exploration. It teaches us to accept the reality that great ideas still need to be validated and proven in order to become real profitable businesses.
One person found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2014
Business planning as a science? Formulating a hypothesis and testing?
This is a great, entertaining view of what entrepreneurship can be when it is done right. Not the be all and end all on the subject and the serious reader will want to dive into some of the other books on the subject.
I do agree with some of the other comments by reviewers, but I found the rambling to be fun. Yes, he could have written a shorter book, but it was worth the read.
Go and see for yourself. Good advice.
If Lean Startup was religion, this would be its Bible.
Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2016
A must read for every entrepreneur, especially those who are skeptical about Lean Startup methodology. In fact, a large part of the book is devoted to explaining the merits of the Lean methodology and convincing the unconvinced. The rest of the book explains the basic principles of Lean in great detail, with many real-life examples, which are highly inspiring too. One particular example describes a founder who managed to reach a conversion rate of well above 50% using the iteration principle. And that's must one example.
but he includes some great examples of the same principles being applied to established ...
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2014
Must read for anyone involved in product development--regardless of their role or the size of the company. Eric is a serial entrepreneur, but he includes some great examples of the same principles being applied to established companies developing new products. The principles are simple--you need an efficient process for learning what the customer really wants--instead of what you think the customer wants. Instead of developing a product, develop a minimum viable product (MVP) and gather data from customers to test your theories. After you gather data you repeat or pivot. The section focused on pivoting is worth the cost of the book alone. This is what every successful company does, but it is rarely planned. Often it occurs much too late out of desperation.
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2013
This is an easy read with solid insights on creating a viable, profitable product. Ries uses examples, both good and bad, from his own experiences creating and running startup businesses. The Minimum Viable Product perspective facilitates getting product to market and generating revenue. In many ways, the parallel is good gets in the way of great comments from Jim Collins.
Anyone trying to create a new product, startup or as part of a larger company should find the perspectives and guides useful.
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2015
Not bad, inspiring for the aspiring entrepreneur. Furtive advertising in the form of anecdotes about the author's alma mater companies. Typos such as the dyslexification of acronym "CPFB" on page 69, 2nd paragraph (should be "CFPB") and numerous instances failing to pluralize the definite article for "data" were distracting, but message me and I'll discount editing services for any sophomore effort (*furtive advertising).
One person found this helpful
Starting a business that requires development, read this book
Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2014
The guidance in the Lean Startup seems fitting and appropriate, especially against the backdrop of my (so far) 20+ year career in large companies. It's a quick, fulfilling read and will arm you with some good techniques for engaging in business.
I started out by borrowing this book from my local library. But as I read it I found myself wanting to highlight meaningful passages and terms and write in the margins - so I thought it best to buy my own copy through Amazon :-)
Very useful for the small business owners
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2019
Helps you understand the process of putting together ideas and implementing them under a practical method. Experimenting and learning are essential parts of this process. Very nice case studies. Helpful and pragmatic approach to the startup business.
bringing together experience, theory, and practice in a powerful way
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2013
Eric does an amazing job pulling together his experience, industry theory and industry experience with practical recommendations on how to implement lean approaches in your startup or large enterprise. I've read a lot around how to organize around lean and agile practices with dense and amazing content from books like Scaling Lean & Agile Development: Thinking and Organizational Tools for Large-Scale Scrum, by Bas Vodde and Craig Larman Scaling Lean & Agile Development: Thinking and Organizational Tools for Large-Scale Scrum . While very interesting, queue theory is fascinating for modern worker efficiency by the way, they are still difficult to apply. The Lean Startup makes it clear what tools you should use and hinges on a critical element of using data in a rigorous approach to be your guiding star on what the next most important task should be. Great stuff.
One of my favorite exercises in team and employee efficiency is the envelope problem, very mind blowing on challenging commonly held efficiency beliefs. Check it out on Eric's blog under The Power of Small Batches, by Eric Ries.
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2017
Second time reading this book and it is a great book to read a second time, to remember his insights and to help formalize the thoughts I have many days at work. Asking why and getting smarter while at work is so critical to being successful. Not just doing what someone else suggests but rather, looking for how it aligns back to the customer and the goal, and striving for outcomes that help to approximate the ideal our customers want, or should I say need.
thank you Eric for this book and I look forward to your next / new book the Lean Startup Way
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2015
Awesome book not only for startups, but applications for any company. I use these thought processes even though I work for a Fortune 500 consumer goods company. The startup mentality isn't only for entrepreneurs, but just the entrepreneurial minded. I don't have any worthwhile ideas to start a company, but i like to think I have that entrepreneurial spirit!
One person found this helpful
Made me rethink finishing my MBA
Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2012
Okay, not to get too crazy about this, but I just finished the Audio version of this, and ordered the print version yesterday. It made me seriously reconsider finishing my MBA this Fall. It is that good. It summed up in a concise and much more clear way much of my marketing and entrepreneurship classes. It just makes so much sense. One warning: it will change the way you think about your current operations. I've been recommending it to all of my friends and coworkers. If I had the power, I'd make everyone in my company read it. One of my new favorites.
One person found this helpful
Required reading for anybody involved in startups
Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2017
This an exceptional book. Well written, well organized, brief, based on experience, good balance of theory and case studies. One of the best management books I have read and probably the best on startups. As a bonus, you get a sense of the lean methodologies as well.
2 people found this helpful
Do yourself a favor. Read it many times!
Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2020
Any entrepreneur, innovator, salesman or evangelist should read this book before serving anything that people would be willing to put money into.
Fascinating lessons for entrepreneurs of every kind
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2011
Eric Ries defines a startup as "a human institution designed to create new products and services under conditions of extreme uncertainty." As a new college professor -- trying to serve student learning for the first time in a new environment -- I find that the principles of his innovative practices extend far beyond the boardroom or garage. Build, measure, learn, and then pivot (or persevere): I build all the time: class plans, syllabi, assignments. But I need to develop ways to measure the success of what I build, and consider pivoting, by creating radically different kinds of classes and assignments in hopes of advancing student learning. Even in a university setting, in other words -- which is about as far as you can get from the fast-paced world of the startup!-- Ries's lean startup principles can apply and help hone services. Moreover, the book is an engrossing and lively read, stocked with vivid examples. Ries's intelligence and lucidity make for a fascinating guide to the world of 21st century business.
One person found this helpful
Was recommended to me by one of my mentors
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2017
Was recommended to me by one of my mentors. Fantastic book. Gives both practical and meaningful advice on testing your methods and tracking your practice. I also enjoyed the tips on how to be an 'intrapenaur' meaning working within a corporation to do new initiatives well. Top of my list of business books.
Useful Perspective and Entertaining Read
Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2014
I will start the review by saying that I am the President of a small/mid sized technology based company (100 employees) - with about 20 years of management experience and a lot of business school as well as a Lean Six Sigma black belt. The fact that this rated five stars for me is an indicator that, unlike some of the other reviewers, I believe that this is not only a valuable read,but a beautiful melding of lean principles with practical business start up information at a level that anyone contemplating entrepreneurship should grasp.
I found the concept of applying lean principles to the start up world ingenious. We are an agile (scrum) shop, and the drumbeat has been fewer, faster, focused, fail fast and engage the customer early and often. While many of the agile methodologies espouse lean principles implicitly (and in some cases explicitly), many of those resources are geared to project management. This book transcends the business as a product - and the start up as the project. The application of lean and agile principles to the day to day management of the business works - and is compelling.
If you are contemplating a role in a start up - or even as a manager/intrapreneur in a larger organization, the principles and insights found in this book will be invaluable and easily understandable - especially to the agile practitioner. A must have resource for the technologist entrepreneur - or candidly any manager in any type company. The book is that transcendent.
2 people found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2021
Needed this for class
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2020
I you are serious about innovation you must read this book! In my opinion this is no tnn a recipe for success but instead the baseline you should follow innovate and create a sustainable business upon your ideas.