Lean Startup: Books
Books chosen by our experts; Summaries offered by Google’s GenAI Gemini
This book provides a practical, 4-step Customer Development process to guide startups towards successful product development. It emphasizes customer feedback and testing to avoid costly mistakes, ultimately leading to a well-organized and successful business.
Source: Blank, Steve (2020). The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products that Win. Wiley. [Link]
This book introduces the Lean Startup approach, a method to avoid common startup pitfalls. It emphasizes rapid experimentation, validated learning through customer focus, and building businesses that thrive even in uncertain conditions.
Source: Ries, Eric (2011). The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses. Crown Business. [Link]
Blind decisions hurt customer experiences and product development. This book advocates for experimentation as the key. Leading companies run thousands of tests to gain an edge. Learn how to build an “experimentation culture” for better decisions and innovation.
Source: Thomke, Stefan H. (2020). Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business Experiments. Harvard Business Press [Link]
Lean Startup: Articles
Articles chosen by our experts; Summaries offered by Google’s GenAI Gemini
A/B testing is a common method for data-driven decision making. It compares two versions of something (like website designs) to see which performs better. Businesses can use A/B testing to improve websites, apps, and more. The article also covers how to interpret test results and avoid common mistakes.
Source: Amy Gallo (2017) “A Refresher on A/B Testing,” HBR.org [Link]
This article outlines a step-by-step approach to conducting effective business experiments. It emphasizes focusing on individual customer actions and measuring purchasing behavior to validate the impact of changes made.
Source: Anderson, Eric T. and Duncan Simester (2011), “A Step-by-Step Guide to Smart Business Experiments,” Harvard Business Review [Link]
This article argues that traditional business plans stifle innovation. The Lean Startup approach emphasizes rapid experimentation and customer feedback to build products that succeed in uncertain markets.
Source: Blank, Steve (2013), “Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything,” Harvard Business Review, May [Link]
This article explores the concept of hypothesis-driven entrepreneurship, specifically how lean startups operate. It details how they test business ideas through minimum viable products (MVPs) and use the results to decide whether to pivot, persevere, or abandon the startup altogether.
Source: Eisenmann, Thomas, Eric Ries, and Sarah Dillard (2011), “Hypothesis-Driven Entrepreneurship: The Lean Startup,” Harvard Business School – Background Note [Link]