A good introduction to the Lean Startup approach to building and launching products for new markets. This book draws upon numerous works that have addressed the dynamics of new markets, discovering what customers really want, fact-based decision making and lean manufacturing. What is interesting is the way Lean Startup brings these ideas together into a cohesive and powerful framework. A framework built around a fundamental insight: building a new products for a new market should be considered a high risk experiment. Or rather, a series of experiments that successively prove (or disprove) whether we are building products that customers actually want. So, make assumptions explicit, test them vigorously, learn, repeat. Iterate through this loop as quickly as possible by deploying cross functional teams that build the product in small batches.

I have launched new products at startups and established companies. I have lived through the dysfunction of silo-ed teams guessing what customers want and then investing in long development cycles before they find out the truth, if ever. So personally, I find Lean Startup ideas appealing and at least worth attempting.

Teams that have gone through the process of adopting agile and lean for software engineering will recognize many of the rationales and principles laid out on this book. They will also realize that they implemented those principles too narrowly to be truly effective. Limiting lean and agile practices to just product engineering does not solve the dysfunction in other areas that are equally important for market success.

My concern is whether this approach will doom teams to only make small incremental improvements that can be readily tested. Will it stifle intuition and courage to make big, bold decisions? Will 'let's test it' become a crutch for people who don't have the guts to make a call based on incomplete information (and information needed for big decisions will always be incomplete)? Time will tell. The Lean Startup movement is still in it's early days.

I should point out that the book lacks specific ideas on how to implement the Lean Startup approach. The book has several high level stories, but very few methods, techniques and practices that can be readily implemented. This can be a bit frustrating if you are trying to imagine what Lean Startup ideas look like in action. Ries explains why specifics are missing at the very end of the book. The Lean Startup approach itself is an experiment! It is in its early stages and there is a lot of learning needed to implement it in a repeatable fashion. Further, the emphasis on learning means that any existing method should be continuously questioned, improved or even transformed. Ries says he does not want the movement to be reduced to a set of prescribed methods and tactics. Instead, he recommends joining a community of practitioners to learn how to implement Lean Startup ideas.

Another ding against this book is a chapter on how established companies can nurture innovation. Ries feels out of his element on this topic. He puts forth a series of that are either vague or akin to motherhood and apple pie. But it doesn't matter. Because this book is really for technology start-ups. And for them it does put forth some truly insightful ideas that will make any entrepreneur pause and reconsider the traditional approach.