The Lean Startup
How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
by Eric Ries
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More Recommenders
“@chronic_trader I tried but I cant do ten and there isn't enough room for a full list so books Ive recently enjoyed are: Sapiens Homo Deus The Silk Road The Lean Start Up Trust me Im lying Conspiracy Chaos Monkeys David Bowie A life Why Minksy Matters The Sheltering Sky The Undoing Project | A “must have” for your shelf. | At Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from the author's advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business. | For B2C, one of my favorite books is “The Lean Startup,” which takes a narrower view but it gives one specific tactic for innovating quickly. It’s a little narrow but it’s very good in the area that it covers. | Great. | If I could only pick 5 books to learn how to build and scale a startup I would recommend... 1. To sell is human 2. From impossible to inevitable 3. Play bigger 4. Blueprint to a billion 5. The lean startup | The Lean Startup isn't just about how to create a more successful entrepreneurial business, it's about what we can learn from those businesses to improve virtually everything we do. | The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries, provides a great inside look at how the tech industry approaches building products and businesses. | The author has created a science where previously there was only art. A must read for every serious entrepreneur—and every manager interested in innovation. | This is a great companion piece to my #PowerofBroke and are principles I preach to all my entrepreneurs.”
Source →“@chronic_trader I tried but I cant do ten and there isn't enough room for a full list so books Ive recently enjoyed are: Sapiens Homo Deus The Silk Road The Lean Start Up Trust me Im lying Conspiracy Chaos Monkeys David Bowie A life Why Minksy Matters The Sheltering Sky The Undoing Project | A “must have” for your shelf. | At Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from the author's advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business. | For B2C, one of my favorite books is “The Lean Startup,” which takes a narrower view but it gives one specific tactic for innovating quickly. It’s a little narrow but it’s very good in the area that it covers. | Great. | If I could only pick 5 books to learn how to build and scale a startup I would recommend... 1. To sell is human 2. From impossible to inevitable 3. Play bigger 4. Blueprint to a billion 5. The lean startup | The Lean Startup isn't just about how to create a more successful entrepreneurial business, it's about what we can learn from those businesses to improve virtually everything we do. | The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries, provides a great inside look at how the tech industry approaches building products and businesses. | The author has created a science where previously there was only art. A must read for every serious entrepreneur—and every manager interested in innovation. | This is a great companion piece to my #PowerofBroke and are principles I preach to all my entrepreneurs.”
Source →“@chronic_trader I tried but I cant do ten and there isn't enough room for a full list so books Ive recently enjoyed are: Sapiens Homo Deus The Silk Road The Lean Start Up Trust me Im lying Conspiracy Chaos Monkeys David Bowie A life Why Minksy Matters The Sheltering Sky The Undoing Project | A “must have” for your shelf. | At Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from the author's advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business. | For B2C, one of my favorite books is “The Lean Startup,” which takes a narrower view but it gives one specific tactic for innovating quickly. It’s a little narrow but it’s very good in the area that it covers. | Great. | If I could only pick 5 books to learn how to build and scale a startup I would recommend... 1. To sell is human 2. From impossible to inevitable 3. Play bigger 4. Blueprint to a billion 5. The lean startup | The Lean Startup isn't just about how to create a more successful entrepreneurial business, it's about what we can learn from those businesses to improve virtually everything we do. | The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries, provides a great inside look at how the tech industry approaches building products and businesses. | The author has created a science where previously there was only art. A must read for every serious entrepreneur—and every manager interested in innovation. | This is a great companion piece to my #PowerofBroke and are principles I preach to all my entrepreneurs.”
Source →“@chronic_trader I tried but I cant do ten and there isn't enough room for a full list so books Ive recently enjoyed are: Sapiens Homo Deus The Silk Road The Lean Start Up Trust me Im lying Conspiracy Chaos Monkeys David Bowie A life Why Minksy Matters The Sheltering Sky The Undoing Project | A “must have” for your shelf. | At Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from the author's advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business. | For B2C, one of my favorite books is “The Lean Startup,” which takes a narrower view but it gives one specific tactic for innovating quickly. It’s a little narrow but it’s very good in the area that it covers. | Great. | If I could only pick 5 books to learn how to build and scale a startup I would recommend... 1. To sell is human 2. From impossible to inevitable 3. Play bigger 4. Blueprint to a billion 5. The lean startup | The Lean Startup isn't just about how to create a more successful entrepreneurial business, it's about what we can learn from those businesses to improve virtually everything we do. | The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries, provides a great inside look at how the tech industry approaches building products and businesses. | The author has created a science where previously there was only art. A must read for every serious entrepreneur—and every manager interested in innovation. | This is a great companion piece to my #PowerofBroke and are principles I preach to all my entrepreneurs.”
Source →“@chronic_trader I tried but I cant do ten and there isn't enough room for a full list so books Ive recently enjoyed are: Sapiens Homo Deus The Silk Road The Lean Start Up Trust me Im lying Conspiracy Chaos Monkeys David Bowie A life Why Minksy Matters The Sheltering Sky The Undoing Project | A “must have” for your shelf. | At Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from the author's advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business. | For B2C, one of my favorite books is “The Lean Startup,” which takes a narrower view but it gives one specific tactic for innovating quickly. It’s a little narrow but it’s very good in the area that it covers. | Great. | If I could only pick 5 books to learn how to build and scale a startup I would recommend... 1. To sell is human 2. From impossible to inevitable 3. Play bigger 4. Blueprint to a billion 5. The lean startup | The Lean Startup isn't just about how to create a more successful entrepreneurial business, it's about what we can learn from those businesses to improve virtually everything we do. | The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries, provides a great inside look at how the tech industry approaches building products and businesses. | The author has created a science where previously there was only art. A must read for every serious entrepreneur—and every manager interested in innovation. | This is a great companion piece to my #PowerofBroke and are principles I preach to all my entrepreneurs.”
Source →“@chronic_trader I tried but I cant do ten and there isn't enough room for a full list so books Ive recently enjoyed are: Sapiens Homo Deus The Silk Road The Lean Start Up Trust me Im lying Conspiracy Chaos Monkeys David Bowie A life Why Minksy Matters The Sheltering Sky The Undoing Project | A “must have” for your shelf. | At Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from the author's advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business. | For B2C, one of my favorite books is “The Lean Startup,” which takes a narrower view but it gives one specific tactic for innovating quickly. It’s a little narrow but it’s very good in the area that it covers. | Great. | If I could only pick 5 books to learn how to build and scale a startup I would recommend... 1. To sell is human 2. From impossible to inevitable 3. Play bigger 4. Blueprint to a billion 5. The lean startup | The Lean Startup isn't just about how to create a more successful entrepreneurial business, it's about what we can learn from those businesses to improve virtually everything we do. | The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries, provides a great inside look at how the tech industry approaches building products and businesses. | The author has created a science where previously there was only art. A must read for every serious entrepreneur—and every manager interested in innovation. | This is a great companion piece to my #PowerofBroke and are principles I preach to all my entrepreneurs.”
Source →“@chronic_trader I tried but I cant do ten and there isn't enough room for a full list so books Ive recently enjoyed are: Sapiens Homo Deus The Silk Road The Lean Start Up Trust me Im lying Conspiracy Chaos Monkeys David Bowie A life Why Minksy Matters The Sheltering Sky The Undoing Project | A “must have” for your shelf. | At Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from the author's advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business. | For B2C, one of my favorite books is “The Lean Startup,” which takes a narrower view but it gives one specific tactic for innovating quickly. It’s a little narrow but it’s very good in the area that it covers. | Great. | If I could only pick 5 books to learn how to build and scale a startup I would recommend... 1. To sell is human 2. From impossible to inevitable 3. Play bigger 4. Blueprint to a billion 5. The lean startup | The Lean Startup isn't just about how to create a more successful entrepreneurial business, it's about what we can learn from those businesses to improve virtually everything we do. | The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries, provides a great inside look at how the tech industry approaches building products and businesses. | The author has created a science where previously there was only art. A must read for every serious entrepreneur—and every manager interested in innovation. | This is a great companion piece to my #PowerofBroke and are principles I preach to all my entrepreneurs.”
Source →“@chronic_trader I tried but I cant do ten and there isn't enough room for a full list so books Ive recently enjoyed are: Sapiens Homo Deus The Silk Road The Lean Start Up Trust me Im lying Conspiracy Chaos Monkeys David Bowie A life Why Minksy Matters The Sheltering Sky The Undoing Project | A “must have” for your shelf. | At Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from the author's advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business. | For B2C, one of my favorite books is “The Lean Startup,” which takes a narrower view but it gives one specific tactic for innovating quickly. It’s a little narrow but it’s very good in the area that it covers. | Great. | If I could only pick 5 books to learn how to build and scale a startup I would recommend... 1. To sell is human 2. From impossible to inevitable 3. Play bigger 4. Blueprint to a billion 5. The lean startup | The Lean Startup isn't just about how to create a more successful entrepreneurial business, it's about what we can learn from those businesses to improve virtually everything we do. | The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries, provides a great inside look at how the tech industry approaches building products and businesses. | The author has created a science where previously there was only art. A must read for every serious entrepreneur—and every manager interested in innovation. | This is a great companion piece to my #PowerofBroke and are principles I preach to all my entrepreneurs.”
Source →“@chronic_trader I tried but I cant do ten and there isn't enough room for a full list so books Ive recently enjoyed are: Sapiens Homo Deus The Silk Road The Lean Start Up Trust me Im lying Conspiracy Chaos Monkeys David Bowie A life Why Minksy Matters The Sheltering Sky The Undoing Project | A “must have” for your shelf. | At Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from the author's advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business. | For B2C, one of my favorite books is “The Lean Startup,” which takes a narrower view but it gives one specific tactic for innovating quickly. It’s a little narrow but it’s very good in the area that it covers. | Great. | If I could only pick 5 books to learn how to build and scale a startup I would recommend... 1. To sell is human 2. From impossible to inevitable 3. Play bigger 4. Blueprint to a billion 5. The lean startup | The Lean Startup isn't just about how to create a more successful entrepreneurial business, it's about what we can learn from those businesses to improve virtually everything we do. | The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries, provides a great inside look at how the tech industry approaches building products and businesses. | The author has created a science where previously there was only art. A must read for every serious entrepreneur—and every manager interested in innovation. | This is a great companion piece to my #PowerofBroke and are principles I preach to all my entrepreneurs.”
Source →“@chronic_trader I tried but I cant do ten and there isn't enough room for a full list so books Ive recently enjoyed are: Sapiens Homo Deus The Silk Road The Lean Start Up Trust me Im lying Conspiracy Chaos Monkeys David Bowie A life Why Minksy Matters The Sheltering Sky The Undoing Project | A “must have” for your shelf. | At Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from the author's advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business. | For B2C, one of my favorite books is “The Lean Startup,” which takes a narrower view but it gives one specific tactic for innovating quickly. It’s a little narrow but it’s very good in the area that it covers. | Great. | If I could only pick 5 books to learn how to build and scale a startup I would recommend... 1. To sell is human 2. From impossible to inevitable 3. Play bigger 4. Blueprint to a billion 5. The lean startup | The Lean Startup isn't just about how to create a more successful entrepreneurial business, it's about what we can learn from those businesses to improve virtually everything we do. | The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries, provides a great inside look at how the tech industry approaches building products and businesses. | The author has created a science where previously there was only art. A must read for every serious entrepreneur—and every manager interested in innovation. | This is a great companion piece to my #PowerofBroke and are principles I preach to all my entrepreneurs.”
Source →Recommended by 12 notable people, including Marc Andreessen and Sophie Bakalar
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Reading Profile
Should I read this?
The Lean Startup reads like a startup coach walking you through a method for testing ideas quickly, filled with war stories from the author’s own venture. Ries’s build-measure-learn loop repeats often, driving the point home but feeling like a mantra. Early chapters energize; the book sags under its own terminology in the middle. You’ll get a useful lens for reducing waste, though you might tire of the repetitive experimental approach and recycled examples.
Read this if...
- •A product manager inside a large company who needs to convince leadership to fund a new project without a traditional business plan, using iterative evidence instead of upfront projections.
- •A first-time founder who has been building for months without customer feedback and is starting to realize they might be on the wrong track, needing a clear way to adjust quickly.
- •A corporate innovation lead tasked with launching an internal venture and hitting resistance from stakeholders who demand ROI guarantees, finding ammunition in the lean approach to shift the conversation toward learning milestones.
Skip this if...
- •You’ll likely put it down when the middle chapters circle back on the same terms with increasingly thin examples, making it feel like a lecture that overstays its welcome.
- •If you’re in a heavily regulated or slow-moving industry, the ‘launch fast and iterate’ mantra clashes with compliance realities, leaving you frustrated by advice that feels naive.
- •Readers who pick up business books for narrative drive and character-led case studies will find this too mechanistic and dry, missing the human drama of startup life.
Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched. Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. What they have in common is a mission to penetrate that fog of uncertainty to discover a successful path to a sustainable business. The Lean Startup approach fosters companies that are both more capital efficient and that leverage human creativity more…
Before You Buy
Reading Specifications
Difficulty:hard
Length:337 pages (Medium)
Audience Fit
- A product manager inside a large company who needs to convince leadership to fund a new project without a traditional business plan, using iterative evidence instead of upfront projections.
- A first-time founder who has been building for months without customer feedback and is starting to realize they might be on the wrong track, needing a clear way to adjust quickly.
- A corporate innovation lead tasked with launching an internal venture and hitting resistance from stakeholders who demand ROI guarantees, finding ammunition in the lean approach to shift the conversation toward learning milestones.
- You’ll likely put it down when the middle chapters circle back on the same terms with increasingly thin examples, making it feel like a lecture that overstays its welcome.
- If you’re in a heavily regulated or slow-moving industry, the ‘launch fast and iterate’ mantra clashes with compliance realities, leaving you frustrated by advice that feels naive.
- Readers who pick up business books for narrative drive and character-led case studies will find this too mechanistic and dry, missing the human drama of startup life.
Check formats, pricing, and availability options for Kindle, physical print, or audiobooks directly.
View available editions on AmazonKey themes
Why recommended
Recommended by 33 sources and appears in Nonprofit, Success, and Business Development.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Marc Andreessen
Co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz
“@chronic_trader I tried but I cant do ten and there isn't enough room for a full list so books Ive recently enjoyed are: Sapiens Homo Deus The Silk Road The Lean Start Up Trust me Im lying Conspiracy Chaos Monkeys David Bowie A life Why Minksy Matters The Sheltering Sky The Undoing Project | A “must have” for your shelf. | At Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from the author's advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business. | For B2C, one of my favorite books is “The Lean Startup,” which takes a narrower view but it gives one specific tactic for innovating quickly. It’s a little narrow but it’s very good in the area that it covers. | Great. | If I could only pick 5 books to learn how to build and scale a startup I would recommend... 1. To sell is human 2. From impossible to inevitable 3. Play bigger 4. Blueprint to a billion 5. The lean startup | The Lean Startup isn't just about how to create a more successful entrepreneurial business, it's about what we can learn from those businesses to improve virtually everything we do. | The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries, provides a great inside look at how the tech industry approaches building products and businesses. | The author has created a science where previously there was only art. A must read for every serious entrepreneur—and every manager interested in innovation. | This is a great companion piece to my #PowerofBroke and are principles I preach to all my entrepreneurs.”
Appears In
Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. Recommended by 60 sources.
“A blunt, conversational tour through the worst parts of building a company. Horowitz shares personal stories from his own startup failures and recoveries, offering practical wisdom on layoffs, pivots, CEO loneliness, and managing when times are bad. The value is in the honest, experience-based insight you won't get from business school. The limitation is its narrow focus on venture-backed tech startups—if you're not in that world, some advice may feel irrelevant. Reads like a wise mentor telling you what nobody else will.”
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Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.