Build a successful business with minimal risk!
The Lean Startup
by Eric Ries
Business/Entrepreneurship
TL;DR
TLDR: Stop building stuff nobody wants by acting like a scientist, not a fortune teller. Build the absolute minimum thing you need to test your riskiest idea (MVP), Measure what happens when real people use it, and Learn from the data (Validated Learning). Use Innovation Accounting to track actual progress, not just bullshit numbers. If your idea sucks based on the data, Pivot to something else. If it works, Persevere. It's all about rapid experiments and learning fast before you run out of cash or build a product that's dead on arrival.
Key Chapter
Chapter - Build-Measure-Learn
Forget spending years perfecting something in secret only to launch it to crickets. The real game is the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop. You've got an idea? Build the absolute simplest version of it – the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) – that lets you test your riskiest assumption. Then, get it in front of actual customers and measure how they use it, what they like, and what makes them run screaming. Finally, learn from that data. Did your assumption hold up? Great, keep going. Did it crash and burn? Time to pivot and try a different approach based on what you learned. This isn't just building stuff; it's about validated learning, proving (or disproving) your core beliefs about your business with real-world evidence, not just gut feelings or spreadsheets.
Key Methods and Approaches
Validated Learning
(AKA: Stop Wasting Time on Dumb Ideas)
Description:
Instead of making grand plans and hoping for the best, you treat your business ideas like scientific hypotheses. You identify the riskiest assumptions you're making (e.g., 'people will pay for this,' 'they'll use it this way') and design small, quick experiments to test them.
Explanation:
It's like trying to figure out if your friend actually likes that weird band you're into. You don't just assume they do and buy them concert tickets. You play them one song and watch their face. If they look like they're gonna puke, you learned something valuable without wasting money on tickets. Stop guessing, start testing reality.
Examples:
Thinking people want a subscription box for artisanal dog socks? Don't build the whole damn supply chain. Just make a crappy landing page, run some ads, and see if anyone clicks 'subscribe' or 'notify me'. If nobody bites, your assumption is probably wrong.
Got an idea for an app that finds the nearest public toilet? Build a super basic version that only works for one city block and see if anyone downloads it or tries to use it before coding the whole damn planet.
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