The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

by Eric Ries

★ 4.11 (341K) • 2011

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⚡️ 10 Quotes from the book

“The goal of a startup is to figure out the right thing to build—the thing customers want and will pay for—as quickly as possible.”

“A startup is a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.”

“Validated learning is the process of demonstrating empirically that a team has discovered valuable truths about a startup’s present and future business prospects.”

“Lean thinking defines value as providing benefit to the customer; anything else is waste.”

“Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop is at the core of the Lean Startup model.”

“As you consider building your own minimum viable product, let this simple rule suffice: remove any feature, process, or effort that does not contribute directly to the learning you seek.”

“The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else.”

“Innovation accounting enables startups to prove objectively that they are learning how to grow a sustainable business.”

“The biggest advantage of working in small batches is that quality problems can be identified much sooner.”

“Our society needs the creativity and vision of entrepreneurs more than ever. In fact, it is precisely because these are such precious resources that we cannot afford to waste them.”

Related videos

58:09

Author presents in Talks at Google format plus slides and Q&A

0.9M 10K

Apr, 2011

Spoiler: The author gives his definition of a startup, which makes it clear that a startup could be two best friends working out of their garage or a project involving thousands: “. . .a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.” He points out that the movie Ghostbusters, for example, was essentially about a startup that offered a new service. He shares stories of his own business failures, warning that it is essential to know who your customer is and what they want.

11:20

Author welcomes audience to Lean Startup Conference

21K 214

Sep, 2017

Spoiler: The author says that any management book written in the 20th century focused on standardizing procedures and avoiding variation. That business model worked in a world of relative certainty; however, when there is high probability of uncertainty, different strategies must be employed because preventing variation means preventing innovation. He says that the vast majority of people who need to hear the Lean Startup message have not heard it yet, so “the battle is just beginning.”

4:36

Five key ideas from the book, explained in animated format

13K 422

Jul, 2019

Spoiler: While people inherently think of management as boring and startups as exciting, one of the key ideas from the book is that “entrepreneurship is management” and that ideas from lean manufacturing, such as accelerated cycle time and small batch sizes, should be integrated into a successful startup. Another concept is “build-measure-learn,” meaning that many startups suffer from analysis paralysis or end up creating a project that nobody wants. On the other hand, the build-measure-learn feedback loop allows entrepreneurs to learn quickly and make adjustments.

Follow the author

Publications

The Wall Street Journal: ‘Lean Startup’ Author Eric Ries: Big Companies Can Be Bold, Too

Forbes: 10 Years Since 'The Lean Startup': A Product Developer's Perspective

Business Insider: The Lean Start Up by Eric Ries

Financial Times: Book review: The Lean Startup

National Public Radio: 'Lean Startup' Advice: Think Big, Start Small

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