''The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses'' is a 2011 book by American entrepreneur
Eric Ries. It introduces the lean startup methodology, a systematic approach for developing businesses and products that emphasizes rapid experimentation, customer feedback, and iterative design.
[Roush, Wade]
Eric Ries, the Face of the Lean Startup Movement, on How a Once-Insane Idea Went Mainstream
''Xconomy''. July 6, 2011.
Ries proposes that startups can accelerate product development by employing "just-in-time scalability." This approach involves releasing a
minimum viable product (MVP) to early adopters, gathering feedback, and iteratively refining the product to better meet customer needs.
Drawing from his experiences as a startup
advisor, employee, and founder, Ries developed the lean startup methodology.
[Lohr, Steve]
The Rise of the Fleet-Footed Start-Up
''The New York Times''. April 24, 2010.[Solon, Olivia]
Interview: Eric Ries, Author Of The Lean Startup
''Wired''. January 17, 2012. He attributed the failure of his first startup, Catalyst Recruiting, to a lack of understanding of the target market and an overemphasis on a singular product vision.
[Loizos, Connie]
“Lean Startup” evangelist Eric Ries is just getting started
''Reuters''. May 26, 2011.[Venture Capital: Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup"](_blank)
''YouTube''. November 21, 2009.
''Livres Startups''. December 22, 2022.
He later worked at There, Inc., a virtual world platform.
In both cases, Ries identified a mismatch between product development efforts and customer needs, which informed his later work on the startup process.
The methodology draws from principles of lean manufacturing and
agile development. It emphasizes experimentation, customer feedback, and iterative design over detailed planning and intuition.
The book references several companies that have applied lean startup principles, including
Alphabet Energy,
Dropbox
Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and Client (computing), client software. Dropbox w ...
,
Wealthfront,
and
General Electric (GE).
Reception
According to the publisher, ''The Lean Startup'' has sold over one million copies and has been translated into more than thirty languages. It also appeared on
''The New York Times'' Best Sellers list.
Ethan Mollick, an associate professor at the
Wharton School of Business, has critiqued the book's emphasis on early customer engagement, suggesting that for emerging technologies, customers may not fully understand their needs. He also questioned the business model canvas's effectiveness, arguing that it may neglect a startup's unique hypotheses about the world. Nonetheless, Mollick endorsed the methodology's focus on rapid experimentation and iterative feedback.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lean Startup
Business books
2011 non-fiction books
Crown Publishing Group books