Tech Books: The Lean Start-Up

"Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary." - Jim Rohn

Reading books is one of the most crucial and pivotal steps that I have taken in order to keep my ideas flowing, my mind sharp, and stay up to date with the latest trends of society. It also gives me the understanding to be able to comprehend higher level topics, grasp information, and stretch my imagination all the time. Through reading, I have been inspired through the journeys of the authors in which I have read about and my mind just grows continually.

(https://www.amazon.ca/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898)

One of the books, which I have found early on while choosing to get into the tech industry is the book called the Lean Startup, which has been a phenomenal read! It reminds me of the concept and philosophy of the Japanese called Kaizen, which means to make continuous improvements over time by testing and validating. Eric Ries is a software engineer, tech entrepreneur, who didn't do well at startups in which he did the past, but through that he innovated a new methodology called the Lean-Startup model. He used this methodology to advise new entrepreneurs and eventually it became a world-renowned method.

According to the book, the Lean Start-up methodology is a "method of managing and building a business or startup by experimenting, testing, and iterating while developing products based on findings from your tests and feedback." This methodology gives more assurance to the entrepreneur that they can succeed because it enables them to get into the market early, test their assumptions, validate them, and continually improve it wtih customer feedback. There are also five principles that he speaks on in the book, which he elaborates on, according to an article by leanstartup.com.

1. "Entrepreneurs are everywhere." You don't have to work in a garabge to be in a startup.

2. "Entrepreneurship is management." A startup is an institution, not just a product so it requires management, a new kind of management specifically geared to its context.

3. "Validated Learning." Startups exist not to make stuff, make money, or serve customers. They exist to learn how to build a sustainable business. This learning can be validated scientifically, by running experiments that allow us to test each element of our vision

4. "Innovation Accounting." To improve entrepreneurial outcomes, and to hold entrepreneurs accountable, we need to focus on the boring stuff: how to measure progress, how to set up milestones, how to prioritize work. This requires a new kind of accounting, specific to startups.

5. "Build-Measure Learn." The fundamental activity of a startup is to bring ideas into products, measure how customers respond, and then learn whether to pivot or persevere. All successful startup processes should be geared to accelerate that feedback loop.

Dropbox, is a success story of the Lean-Startup Methodology, and companies such as General Electric, Qualcomm, and Intuit. Even for the LeapIN business accelerator where I got a microcredential at, while going to Fashawe College taught this same methodology in order to learn how to be successful entrepreneurs. With this methodology you can learn how to acquire and retain customers at a way higher rate and save so much money in product development because you are essentially developing your product as you continue building with your customers. You and your customers are building together and are on the journey simultaneously, which is why the Lean Startup model is sufficient and effective. With that being said, I hope you enjoy the blog, and stay tuned for more soon! Cheers!