Eric Ries
The Lean Startup
ISBN: 978-0-307-88789-4
In any field, there are a number of books that tend to be referenced the most. These are the classics that everyone in the field should read, or at least be familiar. In entrepreneurship, many people start with the work of Steve Blank on customer discovery or Alexander Osterwalder on the Business Model Canvas. However, there’s a book by one author that I’ve heard referenced more than any of the others: Eric Ries, and his 2011 entrepreneurial classic The Lean Startup.
This is a book I should have read years ago – I’ve been using lean startup tactics through nearly my entire journey in the startup world. I’ve grazed up against this work hundreds of times, so it was a lot of fun to finally read the original text. If you’re just starting out on your entrepreneurial journey, this book should be one of the first five books you tackle as you begin your own startup. Ries details the entire lean startup process from beginning-stage startups through mature businesses. The build-measure-learn feedback loop applies to startups and businesses of all sizes, as a process to quickly move toward product-market fit.
The author discusses his own use of the build-measure-learn feedback loop while he was building his startup IMVU. He quickly learned that he and his team were building a lot of things that people did not ultimately want, and by building things that nobody wants, you’re just wasting time, energy, and money. Startups, and by extension intrapreneurial new project groups in existing larger businesses, don’t have the luxury to waste resources building things that have no audience. The feedback loop is one of the first things that I teach to new entrepreneurs and try to instill in Startup Weekend participants during events I facilitate. It’s just as important as the value proposition statement and understanding the different sections of the Business Model Canvas.
Most of the book is incredibly well-paced and absolutely bursting with valuable insights of entrepreneurs of all stripes. The book starts off a bit slowly before getting to the core information – I was a bit worried when the introductory information seemed to drag on in the first couple dozen pages. Things did start to pick up after a couple of chapters, though. Yes, this is a minor complaint, and I’m glad it resolved itself as the book progressed. Once the information starts flowing, you had better be prepared to take some notes and do some reflection on the state of your own startup.
The only other minor complaint I have (which could be easily resolved) is that, due to the age of the book, some of the references are a bit dated. The core information is still as fresh as it was in 2011 when the book was published. However, the landscape of the startup world has changed a lot in the past decade, and it would be amazing to see a newer version of the book released at some point with some of the references updated. Needless to say, the content around the build-measure-learn feedback loop is timeless, and needs no updated.
Overall, 10/10, would highly recommend to anyone in entrepreneurship. This is one of a handful of books I recommend to any startup founder to read before many of the other books I’ve reviewed in this series. It ties together a number of other foundational texts quite well, including much of Steve Blank’s work in customer discovery. Along with Blank, Ries is one of the few authors who truly understands the necessity of constant experimentation along with being able to pivot freely, in order to save resources for what truly counts in a business. If you haven’t had a chance to read this yet, get it on your reading list as soon as possible!