The essential book for anyone bringing a product to market, writing a business plan, marketing plan or sales plan. Step-by-step strategy of how to ...
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Sep 21, 2011
Herve
rated it: 
Although I had mentioned him in previous posts such as The Art of Selling and his Views on Entrepreneurship, I had never read Steve Blank’s until now. I just finished reading The Four Steps to the Epiphany and I must just say it is a great book.
I will explain into some details his theory but the main reason I love this book is how he explains why founders are critical in all the decisions of the early phases of a start-up. Not the usual “hire business people”, but “learn and become an More...
I will explain into some details his theory but the main reason I love this book is how he explains why founders are critical in all the decisions of the early phases of a start-up. Not the usual “hire business people”, but “learn and become an More...
Oct 18, 2010
Jeff
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This is a brilliant book.
It is a theoretical description, roadmap and workbook for how to think about aspects of marketing, sales, business development and even engineering for a startup and how they differ from processes you should follow in a mature company. It is a step-by-step process you can follow to do these things well written in a way that even an engineer can process and follow successfully.
My own experience is in startups is that sometimes the early vision is so g More...
It is a theoretical description, roadmap and workbook for how to think about aspects of marketing, sales, business development and even engineering for a startup and how they differ from processes you should follow in a mature company. It is a step-by-step process you can follow to do these things well written in a way that even an engineer can process and follow successfully.
My own experience is in startups is that sometimes the early vision is so g More...
Dec 10, 2010
Harish
rated it:
This is the best book I've read about starting a company, full of key insights about how startups differ from established organizations-- and the practical implications of how to run your business based on this core difference. An in-depth manual/how-to-guide/workbook all in one, the concepts in here are ridiculously valuable and will assist anyone interested in bringing a product to market and achieving the mythical "product-market fit". This is the first book I recommend to people in
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May 27, 2009
Kingsley
rated it: 
Excellent how-to book for anyone looking to start a business without learning by trial and error. Takes the commonly-made mistakes of any business (but more specifically web-based product) and corrects them by looking at the differences between marketing and product development. Goes into a lot of detail which is good for those seeking it. Probably should be used as a textbook in a Project/Product Management course.
Apr 02, 2011
Jeremy
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It holds very good information for people who run businesses of any size but this guy is a poor writer. It is so dry and hard to read. If this guy had to write it again with out help, I would tell him to condense the information down to just the main points in each paragraph. I'd have preferred he next write it with someone who can make the useful information more interesting to learn.
Jul 23, 2010
Anand
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Nov 24, 2011
Rahmad
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Highly recommended for people planning a startup. Key take away point: your business model and what your product/service delivers are all assumptions. Assumptions on what you think customers' need and want. You need to test this out and adjust your venture accordingly. Provide practical steps to accomplish this.
Nov 12, 2011
J
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This book is taking me a while, since it is more like a textbook for starting a business. Each chapter is taking me hours to read.
The only criticism I have of this book thus far is that it is not well edited. Some of the sentences are not well written.
Jan 03, 2011
Dan
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A very process oriented group that could be applied to a startup with a new product, or an existing company releasing a new product to market. Emphasizes customer feedback and a fast iterative approach with constant feedback, and cycling. A good read.
Jun 01, 2011
Matt
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While a bit dense, Four Steps presents a wealth of anecdotal advice for creating, evaluating, refining, and exexcuting a digital startup.
Great reading for anyone looking to start their own business in the web 2.0 world.
Great reading for anyone looking to start their own business in the web 2.0 world.
Dec 31, 2011
Muhammad
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Critical book for anyone looking to begin a startup. The only problem is that it is terribly edited and reads like a bunch of school notes cobbled together. It's hard to read because of the format but an important one!
Mar 26, 2009
David
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I wish I had this book 9 years ago when I started my first product company. Steven Blank has done an incredible job of laying out steps to creating market demand. A must read for any innovative entrepreneur.
Jul 11, 2011
Brian
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Blank advocates a parallel process of Customer Development alongside of Product Development. He had a number of interesting and depressing examples to illustrate his point. Quite good.
Jan 15, 2010
Babak Nivi: "The closest thing to a manual for building a startup. Marc Andreessen calls it 'a roadmap for how to get to Product/Market Fit.'"
Feb 23, 2011
Very good so far, talks about customer oriented development and how to make sure someone actually buys the product you're developing...
Apr 20, 2011
Russ
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Answers that question I've had many times in my startup: it's Monday morning, what should I be doing?
Aug 31, 2011
Nic
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"This book is a fantastic manual for any startup. It sets out a clear path from concept to successful scaling and there are lessons here for most companies. Like every business book you have to pick the relevant bits and discard the rest, but this one will score a much higher relevancy percentage than most.
It reads like a text book though."
It reads like a text book though."
Aug 30, 2011
Cameron
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This is a fairly dense book, with a lot of information from other books. The general theme of the book is to reach a greater understanding of your customer base, Steven also makes strong point on Market type and how this affects your strategy, something I didn't know much about. It also touches on strategic selling, which might not be new to everyone. Overall the process are thought provoking and won't hurt following.
Dec 01, 2011
Marc
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As others have mentioned, great ideas, could have been better expressed as a short essay.
Nov 06, 2011
Bob
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Dense and in serious need of some editing, but very good stuff. Anyone who is considering developing and taking a new product to market should be required to read this book.
Mar 23, 2010
Antti
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Lots of good value for entrepreneurs and how to run a lean startup. Read this earlier actually, but slowly getting back to Goodreads as I began listening to books on Audible.
Nov 04, 2010
Brock
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Absolutely critical reading for anyone in a startup, in product development, or thinking of doing a startup.
Sep 06, 2010
Jacob
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This is the closest thing to a startup blueprint I've read yet. Nothing quite like it.
Jul 12, 2010
Got very excited when this arrived - started reading - will keep you informed!
