Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsRealistic, practical, focused
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2012
I have read my fair share of books on starting a business. As an engineer, the "building the product" part is the easy part. What has always challenged me is the entire process. Eric Ries was correct in saying that many books and magazine articles paint a wonderful picture of overnight success. And in my own business challenges, I wonder why I am not having this overnight success that I read about all of the time.
Finally I have the answer. The overnight success is a myth. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries changes the perceived paradigm of business. 9 out of 10 startups fail. I personally have been in startups that failed and put it down to a learning experience but still could not pin point exactly what was the cause of the failure. Why didn't people purchase the products/services that I was creating.
Am also a fan of Seth Godin and he professes that we build the Wow! into the product as a strategy.
But Ash Muraya gets real and for the first time I truly understand why I have failed in the past with the startups that I had been involved in. It was the process. We never got out of the building. We always built software in a vaccuum smugly thinking it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I have used the latter strategy and I can say from sheer experience it does not work.
It all makes sense now. Seems a little obvious now.
This book in itself is lean. It does NOT make the same point over and over again using example after example. Every part of the book is useful. In fact it may be more of a user manual on business than a book. It shows you realistic step by step methods of reducing the time that could be potentially wasted in turning an idea into a product/service. I have already started to use the strategies and it is making a huge difference in my work.
I have been through a process of creating an MVP and testing it. The process has already saved me tons of time and to be honest, much heartache.
Every time I think of a new product or service I always go back to Running Lean to ensure that I do not repeat past mistakes and to use it's methods once again.
Thank you Ash Muraya. It's one of the best books in this genre I have ever read.
