Here are 10 key takeaways from Eric Ries' book “The Lean Startup”:

  1. Entrepreneurs are Everywhere: Entrepreneurship is a mindset that can be applied in any organization, not just startups. Example: Ries cites the example of “intrapreneurs” who innovate within established companies.

  2. Validated Learning: Experimentation and testing are essential to determine if a product is viable. Example: Ries advocates using a “minimum viable product” (MVP) to get real customer feedback and validate assumptions.

  3. The Build-Measure-Learn Feedback Loop: Quickly iterate through building products, measuring customer response, and learning from the results to evolve the product. Example: Ries describes how his team at IMVU wasted months building features nobody wanted until they used this loop.

  4. Minimum Viable Product (MVP): Launch a basic version of the product to get customer feedback, rather than perfecting it before launch. Example: Ries cites examples of MVPs like a video showing a product concept, a “concierge” manual version, or a “wizard of oz” fake version.

  5. Innovation Accounting: Use specific metrics to track progress and make decisions, not vanity metrics. Example: Ries advocates A/B testing and measuring cohorts to determine if new features drive real customer behavior changes.

  6. Pivot or Persevere: Be willing to make major changes to the product or business model based on customer feedback. Example: Ries notes that almost every successful startup has pivoted at some point.

  7. Engines of Growth: Focus the company’s growth strategy on one of three engines - sticky (retain customers), viral (word-of-mouth), or paid (advertising). Example: Ries discusses how different companies have leveraged each engine.

  8. Batch Size: Reduce the time between iterations to get faster feedback. Example: Ries advocates shipping new product versions dozens of times per day, much faster than traditional methods.

  9. Continuous Deployment: Automatically release product updates to customers as soon as they are ready. Example: Ries cites companies like Etsy that deploy new code up to 50 times per day.

  10. Actionable Metrics: Track metrics that directly influence customer behavior, not vanity metrics. Example: Ries argues that measuring signups is less valuable than tracking engaged users who perform key actions.