1. 1-Sentence-Summary:
1.1. The Lean Startup offers both entrepreneurs and wantrepreneurs a semi-scientific, real-world approach to building a business by using validation, finding a profitable business model and creating a growth engine.
2. Favorite quote from the author:
2.1. "The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else." - Eric Ries
3. 3 lessons:
3.1. Find a solid business model by validating your idea.
3.1.1. In order to find a sustainable business model (i.e. one that you can roll with for at least 5 years), you have to (like a scientist) create a hypothesis.
3.1.1.1. For example, Amazon’s hypothesis was that people would buy books online, while Zappos thought people would do the same with shoes.
3.1.2. This is usually where scientists start building huge theories, researching, calling colleagues, and a whole bunch of other things, which won’t get them closer to finding out if the hypothesis is valid.
3.1.3. That’s why you have to be only semi-scientific, because now you just throw your hypothesis out into the real world.
3.1.4. What does that look like?
3.1.4.1. For Amazon it was a very rudimentary website, and for Zappos, the founder just set up a website with shoe pictures and let people buy. Once they bought, he went to a shoe store, got the actual shoes and shipped them.
3.1.5. The important part is to get people to pay as early as possible, because when people say “great idea” or “I’d buy that” that doesn’t put a cent in your pocket.
3.1.6. So get out there and instead of calling friends, researching and getting feedback, find people and ask them to buy.
3.2. Tell value from waste with split-testing.
3.2.1. Nowadays often called A/B-testing, this means you create 2 versions of your product, show both of them to the same amount of people, and in this way figure out which one people like more.
3.2.2. This allows you to tell the difference between features your customers value, and those they don’t want or need.
3.2.3. Today you can split-test any part of a website for free, for example with Optimizely, so before you add, drop or change features of your products, learn what the customers want and need.
3.3. Never ever indulge in vanity metrics.
3.3.1. The number of your Facebook likes is a vanity metric and you must never ever indulge in those.
3.3.2. Getting lots of page views is great, so is being covered in the press and having lots of followers on Twitter.
3.3.2.1. But none of those pay the bills.
3.3.3. The only metrics you should measure your success with are the ones who tell you if you’re profitable or not.
3.3.3.1. Do users recommend you? How many? Does the rate of recommendations go up or down?
3.3.3.2. Are existing customers coming back to buy more? Is the cost of your Facebook ads lower than your customer lifetime value?
3.3.4. Just because Jimmy in high school felt super cool when he was the first to get 1,000 Facebook friends, that doesn’t make him any more of a success in life.
3.3.5. Facing the truth means facing the right metrics, so get on with the flattery and focus on numbers that matter.