Whether you run a business, or dream about having one in the future, make time to read this book. Basing on personal experience of failure and success, experiment and innovation, Eric Ries introduces a new approach to managing in the context of complexity and uncertainty.
This approach is based on the belief that startup mastery can be learned and implemented by any entrepreneur. Blending together insights and learnings derived from lean manufacturing, agile development, design thinking, customer development, Ries comes up with a scheme that works and brings success to startups.
What I like the most about the book and the approach is its 'waste not' philosophy. With its clear-cut principles, the Lean Startup method is an Occam's Razor for startups. Eliminate waste, escalate learning. Go with 'eternal beta' and ship your product fast, drop assumptions and ask the customers what they really think. Learn your lessons, integrate, and realease a new, more advanced, version of the product. Learning, when it is derived and applied wisely, brings more customer satisfaction and, eventually, more growth and profit.
The idea that learning and customer feedback are crucial for startups is at the core of the approach. What matters is not how fast you grow, but how fast you learn and adapt to the real needs of the customer. Validated learning and innovation accounting - two of the five pillars of the Lean Startup approach - emphasize the importance of being open for the novelty of feedback, being able to rapidly change direction, and having the inner drive for discovery.
In some ways, this approach is strict and process-oriented. Yet, the Lean Startup method leaves space for intuition and gut feeling of the manager, who must decide when it is time to persevere and when it is time to change direction. In this light, the Learn Startup is not only a method, it is an attitude, a world outlook based on the above mentioned mantra - 'waste not'. As such, it can be transferred to other fields ' education, public policy, creativy, and life in general.
I find this book well-written and easy to understand, even if you do not have management background. The website (www.theleanstartup.com) is the best place to start and get a glimpse of the approach.