Why people recommend it
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries is a foundational business text that advocates for validated learning, rapid experimentation, and the creation of minimum viable products to test market demand. Steven Bartlett brought up the book on The Diary Of A CEO to emphasize the core principle of quickly testing business concepts with minimal upfront resource expenditure. Tobi Lütke offered a critical perspective on Conversations with Tyler, questioning the long-term effectiveness and cross-pollination of lean startup methodologies within the traditional retail sector. Andrew Chen discussed meeting the author on Modern Wisdom while exploring early-stage startup metrics around user retention. Nick Jenkins mentioned the publication on The Diary Of A CEO to highlight the value of finding the simplest, cheapest ways to validate a business hypothesis without sacrificing years of effort. Greg Eisenberg shared on My First Million that reading the book upon a mentor's recommendation stopped him from pouring resources into an unvalidated venture before testing real demand. Additionally, a16z Podcast hosts connected the lean startup framework back to its historical roots in lean manufacturing principles and DevOps methodologies, demonstrating how Ries's philosophies continue to shape modern corporate culture, software engineering, and entrepreneurial strategy across multiple industries.
Who recommended it
- Steven Bartlett Discussed
- Tobi Lütke Discussed
- Cal Newport Discussed
- Andrew Chen Discussed
- Nick Jenkins Discussed
- Greg Eisenberg Discussed
Steven Bartlett — 2 mentions
“There was a book published published several years ago called the lean startup which talks about this idea of just like testing an MVP as quick as you possibly can.”
“like even your your idea of launching in a small area whether you can establish network effects and not necessarily doing marketing advertising to your friends stephen we didn't have money yeah this wasn't silicon valley i'm gonna raise a 30 million dollar seat i was funding the business myself”
Tobi Lütke — 1 mention
“so this is I'm a little bit like there was some cross pollination from The Lean Startup book to um the retail world and I think that's especially in retail this has been bad I'm actually wondering if that was such a good um uh set of ideas”
Cal Newport — 1 mention
“And you can actually see this by looking at business advice literature like books like the popular books, right? So in the 80s and 90s, he was like, the big name is going to be Stephen Covey, right?”
Andrew Chen — 1 mention
“i originally met for example eric reese who wrote the lean startup many years ago and and that company was doing a lot around retention curves”
Nick Jenkins — 1 mention
“if you read that book the lean startup it kind of talks talks to some of those values about just trying to is find find the simplest way to test the hypothesis as cheaply as you can without using losing years of your life”
Greg Eisenberg — 1 mention
“and then someone you know mano mentor gave me the book the lean startup and I was like oh [ __ ] yes we should test if there's demand before we pour everything into this inside personal guarantees for this lease”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker — 1
“Tito didn’t win by producing subpar cars faster; instead, he focused on making higher quality cars quickly with shorter market times. The lean manufacturing method inspired the Lean Startup approach and closely ties to DevOps, stemming from lean methodologies.”