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Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster (Lean (O'Reilly)) by [Alistair Croll, Benjamin Yoskovitz]

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Alistair Croll

Benjamin Yoskovitz

Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster (Lean (O'Reilly)) 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

by Alistair Croll (Author), Benjamin Yoskovitz (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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—

Marc Andreesen once said that "markets that don't exist don't care how smart you are." Whether you're a startup founder trying to disrupt an industry, or an intrapreneur trying to provoke change from within, your biggest risk is building something nobody wants.

Lean Analytics can help. By measuring and analyzing as you grow, you can validate whether a problem is real, find the right customers, and decide what to build, how to monetize it, and how to spread the word. Focusing on the One Metric That Matters to your business right now gives you the focus you need to move ahead--and the discipline to know when to change course.

Written by Alistair Croll (Coradiant, CloudOps, Startupfest) and Ben Yoskovitz (Year One Labs, GoInstant), the book lays out practical, proven steps to take your startup from initial idea to product/market fit and beyond. Packed with over 30 case studies, and based on a year of interviews with over a hundred founders and investors, the book is an invaluable, practical guide for Lean Startup practitioners everywhere.

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9781449335694
ISBN-13

978-1449335670
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1st
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On Kindle Scribe
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O'Reilly Media
Publication date

March 8, 2013
Language

English
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From the brand

The Lean Series: Essential books for Entrepreneurs and Innovators

The Lean Series, curated by Eric Ries and published by O'Reilly Media, is a collection of books written by the best people in the field, on topics that matter. The authors dive down into Lean Startup implementation-level details, providing readers with information they can use immediately.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Your competition will use this book to outgrow you." -- Mike Volpe, Hubspot.

"Alistair and Ben have written a much-needed dose of reality, and entrepreneurs who ignore this data-driven approach do so at their own peril." -- Brad Feld, Foundry Group & Techstars

"This is applicable to organizations of all shapes and sizes, from small business to big government." -- Jennifer Pahlka, Code For America

"No innovator should be without this book." -- Eric Ries, The Lean Startup

"In Lean Analytics, Alistair and Ben have done a masterful job showing us how to use data and metrics to peer through the haze of uncertainty that surrounds creating new businesses and products. This book is a huge gift to our industry." -- Zach Nies, Rally Software

"As useful for today's multi-billion dollar companies as it is for entrepreneurs." -- John Stormer, Salesforce.com

"Lean Analytics is the missing piece of Lean Startup, with practical and detailed research, advice and guidance that can help you succeed faster in a startup or large organization." -- Dan Martell, Clarity

From the Inside Flap

Whether you're a startup founder trying to disrupt an industry or an intrapreneur trying to provoke change from within, your biggest challenge is creating a product people actually want. Lean Analytics steers you in the right direction.

This book shows you how to validate your initial idea, find the right customers, decide what to build, monetize your business, and spread the word. Packed with more than 30 case studies and insights from over a hundred business experts, Lean Analytics provides you with hard-won, real- world information no entrepreneur can afford to go without.

Understand Lean Startup, analytics fundamentals, and the data-driven mindset
Look at six sample business models and how they map to new ventures of all sizes
Find the One Metric That Matters to you
Learn how to draw a line in the sand, so you'll know it's time to move forward
Apply Lean Analytics principles to large enterprises and established products

About the Author

Alistair Croll has been an entrepreneur, author, and public speaker for nearly 20 years. He's worked on a variety of topics, from web performance, to big data, to cloud computing, to startups, in that time. In 2001, he co-founded web performance startup Coradiant (acquired by BMC in 2011), and since that time has also launched Rednod, CloudOps, Bitcurrent, Year One Labs, the Bitnorth conference, the International Startup Festival and several other early-stage companies.

Alistair is the chair of O'Reilly's Strata conference, Cloud Connect, and Interop's Enterprise Cloud Summit. This is his fourth book on analytics, technology, and entrepreneurship. Alistair lives in Montreal, Canada and tries to mitigate chronic ADD by writing about far too many things at Solve For Interesting.

Benjamin Yoskovitz is a serial entrepreneur with 15+ years experience in web businesses. He started his first company in 1996 while completing university. In 2007 he co-founded Standout Jobs, a B2B software company in the recruitment space. The company raised $1.8M from venture and angel investors. In 2010 after exiting Standout Jobs, Ben co-founded Year One Labs.

Ben has been blogging since 2006. His "Instigator Blog" is recognized as one of the top blogs on startups and entrepreneurship. Ben is also an active mentor to numerous startups and other accelerator programs, including FounderFuel (a TechStars-like program in Montreal.) He regularly speaks at startup conferences and events, including the Michigan Lean Startup Conference, Internet Marketing Conference, etc.

Ben is currently the VP of Product at GoInstant, a venture-backed startup developing co-browsing technology for shared web experiences that was acquired by Salesforce.com in 2012.

Amazon.com Review

Q&A with Alistair Croll, coauthor of "Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster"

Q. Why is your book timely-- what makes it important right now?

A. There's been a flurry of startup activity made possible by the lowered barriers to entry of cloud computing, social media, and app platforms. But there's less accountability. If you look at the numbers, it's a bloodbath: you're almost certain to fail. One reason for this is that founders are delusional. But data doesn't lie, and the right data in the right place at the right time can change your business (to steal from Steward Brand.) That's what this book is about-- using data to build a better business faster.

Q. What information do you hope that readers of your book will walk away with?

A. We have a ton of concrete data-- ideas of what's normal; what metric to watch at what time; and so on. But more than any of this, we hope they'll come away with an experimental eye, realizing that they're not building a product. Instead, they're building a tool to figure out what product to build.

Q. What's the most exciting and/ or important thing happening in your space?

A. That nearly every mature industry is ripe for disruption. An entrepreneur, working within a host organization, can absolutely revitalize the business (as Procter & Gamble did when it introduced Swiffer, for example.) And a small business can tackle giants or entrenched competitors by being more agile (as Uber did to taxis, or Airbnb did to hotels.) Mops, taxis, and rentals aren't new. But they're hugely susceptible to change if it's applied in a measured, careful way.

--This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00AG66LTM
Publisher ‏ : ‎ O'Reilly Media; 1st edition (March 8, 2013)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 8, 2013
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 17291 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 499 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #183,479 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #16 in Statistics Economics
- #66 in Business Statistics
- #122 in Startups

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Alistair Croll
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Author, analyst and entrepreneur who's somehow turned chronic ADHD into speaking with smart people about interesting things.
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Benjamin Yoskovitz
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Margue L. Hunt

Perfect Menu for the New to Entrepreneurial-ship

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 23, 2013

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Perfect Menu for the New to Entrepreneurial-ship ...

I have encountered many GREAT new ideas throughout my career in Technology & Retail that never transitioned to reality, not because of lack of passion, but due to stunted entrepreneurial capability in the captain of the ship. LEAN ANALYTICS Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster will enable the New to Entrepreneurial-ship, formally educated or not. If you are embarking or are already deep into a Start-Up adVenture, Alistair Croll & Benjamin Yoskovitz share with you what you to incorporate to be successful at reaching that end objective and do it faster, better and in the longer-term cheaper.

Relevant evidence will help build confidence into the Start-Up enterprise; it will assist in validating what you already know, set direction and re-direction when it is needed - it will also help build the confidence of others in you & your Start-up to succeed. Understanding the value of establishing perception in others that will prove to be gateways to your Start-Up's success is a key element within the concepts shared and done in such a way that makes sense to the lay-person; you will not find a similar approach to this message in any of your typical analytics, statistics, performance management or six sigma book.

There appears to be a magical-season for Start-Ups between bootstrapping and initial investment that will make or break the potential for that GREAT new idea to move through infancy; many all-out ignore data to assist in decision making and other become petrified by a drive for data perfection before setting direction. There are real risks to over/under complication; following the step laid out in this book will set you up to have a practical evolution in your relationship with measurable evidence.

The only suggestion that I have (& the reason for 4 versus 5 stars) and that I will be doing for the Start-Ups that I work with is to have a summary map of the book that allows the reader to check-mark what they have already accomplished and move forward to that that section of the book that aligns to where they are in their evolution of their business. This recommendation speaks to the diversity of Start-Up businesses & their entrepreneurial capability that I believe this book was written for; the book is comprehensive in content for the audience, but usability for a population that wants to move fast may not get anchored in Chapter 1 and it would be a tragedy to lose the opportunity to enable the GREAT new ideas and the captains of the ships.

13 people found this helpful

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Quick delivery!!!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 9, 2022

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John Whitlock

Startups are all about execution, and here's the science of execution

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 10, 2014

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This book has several gems. Highly recommended.

Focusing on the One Metric That Matters forces you to run targeted experiments, to find the hard truths about your product, and to push things forward.

The model of startup phases was very useful. It argues that successful startups move from from empathy to stickiness to virality to revenue to scale. It gives useful criteria for determining which phase you are in, how to decide to move to the next stage, and why you should stick around in your current phase for as long as it takes.

I loved the practical advice for important metrics for each phase, what your "line in the sand" should be for the metrics, and a strategy for maintaining the metric after you've moved to the next phase.

The discussion on types of business and the applicable metrics and case studies is gold. I found the advice for internal entrepreneurs to be spot on, and a good complement to The Innovators Dilemma.

I was hoping for some practical advice on analytics packages, aggregating analytics, and presentation. There is a little bit there, on recognizing vanity metrics, and using the first- and second-order derivatives to get actionable analytics. I found it lacking on actual recommendations of software I could buy or license. However, when I went to investigate online offerings, I was able to quickly determine if a package fit my startup's phase and business type. The framework made it easier to make my own choices, and to recognize that I'm going to have to do some of the work to create analytics that apply to my projects. I imagine the different vendors will focus their pitches toward Lean Analytics readers in the future.

I expect this book will earn a place on most founder's shelves, next to the Lean Startup and others, but with a lot more bookmarks and notes in the margins.

5 people found this helpful

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I. Souweine

Lean Startup Keeps Growing Up

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 28, 2013

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The lean startup movement is entering an exciting new phase, with big picture theory + evocative anecdotes giving way to careful case studies and more refined analysis of how to apply lean as a management discipline. The O'Reilly Lean Series is of course central to this transformation, and this Lean Analytics book in particular is a fantastic contribution.

I especially appreciated the clear exposition on key startup types (SaaS, E-Commerce, Media etc.) and the thorough analysis of what a customer funnel looks like for each model. If some of this material covers old ground, it does so in a fresh and easy-to-consume way that is valuable for novices and experienced practitioners alike. The case studies are also excellent and clearly reflect a significant amount of careful and passionate research.

My one gripe for the book is that there is too much time spent on lean startup refresh. I understand the urge to get readers on the same page, but it seems unlikely that many readers of a "lean 2.0" book such as this would not have the basics down, and so some of the material feels a little basic and repetitive. I would have rather seen less intro theory and more deeper dives on advanced issues like different ways to approach cohort analysis.

In any case, it's awesome work and well worth a read for anyone who cares about web analytics and applying lean in a systematic way.

9 people found this helpful

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Donnchadhh

Brilliant book for growth focused startups who want to measure progress

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 13, 2013

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The Clash have a brilliant song called `Should I stay or should I go'. I don't know what the lyrics exactly refer to but it is a question most startup entrepreneurs probably ask themselves at some point. I regularly meet startups who are torn between `banging your head against a brick wall' and `doing everything you can to run through a brick wall' to use two popular analogies. Lean Startup and now Lean Analytics can provide an answer to manage the balancing act of giving everything you can without chasing a lost cause.

Running Lean by Ash Maurya is the first in the O'Reilly Lean Startup Series. It is brilliant. Lean Analytics by Alistair Croll and Benjamin Yoskovitz is the second in the series. It is equally brilliant. It is comprehensive and it should change how you do business in your startup. Eric Ries writes a wonderful Foreword to Lean Analytics which he describes as moving beyond the Lean Startup bumper stickers and diving deep into the details of innovation accounting thereby avoiding the perils of vanity metrics. He concludes that the book is a `guide for all practitioners who seek new sources of growth'. I believe that `measuring what you do is critical to achieving success in a new business venture' - this book will help you to figure out what you should be measuring by helping you to ask the most important questions and get clear answers quickly. It is critically important that you can firstly measure your progress and communicate that with your internal and external team.

The Preface explains that Lean Startup helps you identify the riskiest parts of your business plan, then finds ways to reduce those risks in a quick, iterative cycle of learning. Most of its insights boil down to one sentence: Don't sell what you make; make what you can sell. And that means figuring out what people want to buy. Lean Analytics shows you how to figure out your business model and your stage of growth. It explains how to find the One Metric That Matters to you right now, and how to draw a line in the sand so you know when to step on the gas and when to slam on the brakes.

Who the book is for:

The preface acknowledges that the book details tools and techniques which were first applied in consumer web applications, adding that they are now being applied to a much broader audience and that the authors have talked to tiny family businesses, global corporations, fledging startups, and charities, all of whom are applying lean analytical approaches **.

I think Lean Analytics can be read in isolation but armed with knowledge from books such as The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development, The Lean Startup; and of course Running Lean, I think that this book will put you in a frame of mind that you have to take action. The book is broken into four parts. Part 1 summarises (brilliantly) all the building blocks of Lean Startup to include the aforementioned books to prime you for the next 3 parts.

I love the structure of this book. It gives you just enough and then moves on to another area but returning again to build on that knowledge. For the record, Part II looks at six sample business models and the five stages that every startup goes through as it discovers the right product and the best target market. When you are done, you'll know what business you're in, what stage you're at, and what to work on. Part III, looks at what's normal. After reading this part, you'll get some good baselines for key metrics and learn how to set your own targets. Finally, part IV shows you how to apply Lean Analytics to your organisation making the point that data-driven approaches apply to more than just new companies.

The book looks at six sample business models:
- eCommerce chapters 8 and 22;
- SaaS chapters 9 and 23;
- Free Mobile App chapters 10 and 24;
- Media Site chapters 11 and 25;
- User-generated content chapters 12 and 26; and finally
- Two Sided Marketplaces chapters 13 and 27.

** The common denominator is online, and if you are operating in one of these six areas, this book is a Must Read - these are all relatively new areas and this book makes an excellent contribution to understanding success in these domains.
If you are not operating in these areas but have a strong interest in Lean Startup and want to move to the next level, there is plenty of food for thought provided by this book. Chapter 29 deals with enterprise focused B2B software startups. The metrics to measure here are focused on the stages of your Sales funnel with some real nuggets of advice on what to measure and watch out for e.g. ease of customer engagement; integration and support costs; and measuring customer use of your APIs as a strategy for customer retention.

If you are commercialising a physical product I would probably read the Startup Owner's Manual by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf first.

What I really liked about the book

Chapter 2 `How to Keep Score' talks about what makes a good metric and is the best discussion of vanity metrics to include plenty of reference to Donald Rumsfeld, former US Secretary of Defense. This is followed by a great introduction to Leading metrics, Segments, Cohorts and A/B Testing.

Chapter 5 presents a Lean Analytics framework with five distinct stages: Empathy, Stickiness, Virality, Revenue and Scale, that every startup goes through. The model includes the `gating' metrics that indicate that it is time to move to the next stage. The chapter summaries the four primary Lean Startup Frameworks:
- Running Lean Lean Canvas
- Lean Startup by Eric Ries
- Dave McClure Pirate Metrics
- Sean Ellis Growth Pyramid

And on Page 53 presents them visually in one figure along with the Lean Analytics framework thereby adding superb clarity to the discussion. The framework is referenced in the remainder of the book to allow visualisation of business models and user flow through the systems of the business.

The Chapters on eCommerce are particularly illuminating for me as I have limited direct experience in this area.

Finally, I can hardly believe that I have not yet mentioned the Case Examples used in the book. They are interesting and well written and used to illustrate key points - Startup Analytics Lessons Learned.

Overall, Lean Analytics is a fantastic book and definitely value for money!

19 people found this helpful

OpenToNewIdeas

Excellent

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 12, 2013

Verified Purchase

This is quite a long book. I think it's excellent, and a natural follow-on to The Lean Start Up, which I'd also rate 5/5. I've just finished it. Here is what I can remember:

It lists the different types of (mainly software) companies: e-commerce; Software as a Service, free mobile app, media site, user-generated content, 2-sided marketplace.

A start-up company goes through 5 stages of growth: Empathy - listening to the customer to learn whether you've got a business or not; Stickiness - making sure you have a product that users will come back to, one that is "sticky", by iterating; Virality - once you've got a sticky product, and not before, think about getting more users. Virality can be inherent, artificial and/or word of mouth. Next, is Revenue, when you start to really concentrate on making money (before, you were getting the product and market fit right); Scale - growing the business.

What is also very useful, and most apt for the title of the book, is knowing what is a good metric. There are lines in the sand for all the business types, and the different growth stages. These can help you know when to move to the next stage, or even whether to pivot, and change company type.

I'm going to read it again, faster this time, and make notes. I think it's well worth a second read.

11 people found this helpful

Ian H

An excellent guide to the metrics and data that matter for every company in the digital age

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 4, 2015

Verified Purchase

An excellent summary of the data that every business owner needs to be thinking about in the modern era. Although the authors aim this books squarely at companies in the IT space, the methodologies and data points that EVERY young (ie not yet-quoted) company needs to focus on. We are all operating in the digital age and understanding the metrics which matter in a digital world is essential to keeping one business moving forward. I found this an excellent book, even though I described it to my business partner as akin to a "horror story" you keep on turning every page knowing that the next discovery is yet another "body" to be uncovered, ie some metric/measure that you know you really should have data for, but for some reason has eluded you! A very useful practical guide to thinking about what metrics really matter in modern business.

One person found this helpful

Tolu A

Lots of useful information but too long

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 27, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book had lots of useful information and examples on important metrics and how they relate to different business models. There is actionable information in this book that I can apply immediately to my organisation.

However I felt the book could have been made shorter as the authors added lots of unrelated information on what I should be doing with my life..etc

4 people found this helpful

Andy O

Well worth the money spent

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 28, 2013

Verified Purchase

I'm still in the process of reading this, however, even at 50% completion this book has saved me a lot of time.
Some context: I'm focused on ecommerce and therefore parts of the book are relevant, whereas others need to be skipped over.
What I found valuable is the segmentation of metrics based on business model (e.g. what type of ecommerce business should be avoiding loyalty programs and focusing on customer acquisition). Also, the survey guidance alone has saved me hours of trial and error. Finally, the guidance on typical KPIs gave a quick leg up instead of starting with a blank piece of paper.

You won't read this book cover to cover, but it will guide you based on your business model through the book.

The reading style is quite easy going, and isn't laden with academic terminology.

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