KCC Book Review:  The Lean Startup By Erik Reis

In this book, Eric Ries discusses the lean startup methodology…where the following principles are discussed:

Principles of The Lean Startup

Entrepreneurs are everywhere

You don’t have to work in a garage to be in a startup.

Entrepreneurship is management

A startup is an institution, not just a product, so it requires management, a new kind of management specifically geared to its context.

Validated learning

Startups exist not to make stuff, make money, or serve customers. They exist to learn how to build a sustainable business. This learning can be validated scientifically, by running experiments that allow us to test each element of our vision.

Innovation accounting

To improve entrepreneurial outcomes, and to hold entrepreneurs accountable, we need to focus on the boring stuff: how to measure progress, how to setup milestones, how to prioritize work. This requires a new kind of accounting, specific to startups.

Build-Measure-Learn

The fundamental activity of a startup is to turn ideas into products, measure how customers respond, and then learn whether to pivot or persevere. All successful startup processes should be geared to accelerate that feedback loop.

http://lean.st/

My favorite part of the book was how Erik demonstrates how A/B split testing can be applied to product development in a lean or agile environment using the Build-Measure-Learn continuum.  The benefits include smaller capital costs and faster market introduction. 

- Bottom Line -

If you are a startup or an existing company with a stale product line, you need to read this book.  It will change how you view product development.

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