The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses

In The Lean Startup the successful serial entrepreneur Eric Ries throws traditional thinking out of the window, and presents his radically new methodology for building a successful business. Most startups, says Ries, fail - but they fail for preventable reasons. 'Lean thinking' is the key to success, and represents the next paradigm shift in business management. Most people assume that the key to a lucrative business is expert management, a high-performance product and good customer service. But the real secret, Ries argues, is creating things that people want to buy in the first place. Startups generally fail not because of missed deadlines, faulty products or blown budgets, but because entrepreneurs are too focused on their vision, on their great new idea, and don't know what it is that their customers really want. The solution, according to Ries, is 'lean thinking' and 'validated learning'. Rather than designing an elaborate business plan and committing large amounts of financial and human resources from the start, first find out what you can about your potential customers. And rather than adopting a static, product-centric approach, test your idea on your customers: respond to their feedback, and constantly be prepared to adjust your product, as well as your business.

About the Author :
Eric Ries is an entrepreneur and author of The New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup. He serves on the advisory board of a number of technology startups, and has consulted to new and established companies as well as venture capital firms. In 2010, he was named entrepreneur-in-residence at Harvard Business School and is currently an IDEO Fellow. In 2007, BusinessWeek named him one of the Best Young Entrepreneurs of Tech. In 2009, he was honored with a TechFellow award in the category of Engineering Leadership. The Lean Startup methodology has been written about in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Inc., Wired, Fast Company and countless blogs. He lives in San Francisco.

Review :
The Lean Startup is the book whose lessons I want every entrepreneur to absorb and apply. I know of no better guide to improve the odds of a startup's success' -- Mitchell Kapor, Founder, Lotus Development Corp If you are an entrepreneur, read this book. If you are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur, read this book. If you are just curious about entrepreneurship, read this book. Starting Lean is today's best practice for innovators. Do yourself a favor and read this book -- Randy Komisar, founding director of TiVo and author of the bestselling The Monk and the Riddle At Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from Eric's advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business -- Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder of Facebook and Asana Ries shows us how to cut through the fog of uncertainty that surrounds startups. His approach is rigorous; his prescriptions are practical and proven in the field. The Lean Startup will change the way we think about entrepreneurship -- Tom Eisenmann, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Harvard Business School Business is too important to be left to luck. Eric reveals the rigorous process that trumps luck in the invention of new products and new businesses. ... This book is the guided tour of the key innovative practices used inside Google, Toyota, and Facebook, that work in any business -- Scott Cook, Founder and Chairman of the Executive Committee, Intuit Every founding team should stop for 48 hours and read Lean Startup. Seriously stop and read this book now -- Scott Case, CEO Startup America Partnership