The Lean Startup

The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses is a 2011 book by American entrepreneur Eric Ries. It outlines the lean startup methodology, a framework for startup development that prioritizes rapid prototyping, validated learning, and iterative product releases. The goal of this methodology is to shorten product development cycles.

The methodology advocates for building a minimum viable product and gathering user feedback to refine the offering of a product over time. Ries reports developing this approach based on his experiences as a startup advisor and founder, following challenges faced with his first startup.

The lean startup method draws on ideas from lean manufacturing and agile development. It focuses on adapting strategies based on experimentation and user feedback rather than relying on long-term business planning.

Some organizations have implemented the lean startup approach, including Alphabet Energy, Dropbox, Wealthfront, and General Electric.