Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works

The first edition of Running Lean (released as an ebook) was targeted primarily at people like me: technical founders building web-based products. I was running my first company and on my fifth product at the time. I had been inspired by Steve Blank’s book The Four Steps to the Epiphany (http://www.cafepress.com/kandsranch) and the early works on the Lean Startup methodology by Eric Ries. My goal with the ebook was to create an actionable guide for other entrepreneurs building web-based products. I wrote and self-published the ebook iteratively using the same methodology outlined in the ebook. However, once the ebook was published in January 2011, the audience for the book grew beyond my prototypical early adopter, and I was repeatedly met with two kinds of feedback: “I can see how these techniques worked for your business, but they won’t work for me because I am building X.” “Even though I am building X, these techniques have greatly helped my business with only slight modifications.” (Where X ranged from software to hardware, B2C to B2B, and high-tech to low-tech.) I was curious and decided to explore further. In the past year, I have actively sought opportunities to expose and test these ideas with a wide range of businesses by way of running workshops, taking on mentor positions at several accelerators, and working closely with other entrepreneurs. I still remember being nervous the first time I delivered a workshop to a room full of biotech entrepreneurs. But each time, the results were positively encouraging. The second edition of Running Lean aims to synthesize my learning over the past year and broaden the audience. Even though a lot of these ideas came out of the high-tech startup world, I believe the principles they embody are universally applicable to any startup or product. This is reflected in a completely new layout for the book that delineates meta-principles from tactics. I have also replaced the Lean Canvas case study (which some people found confusing) with a more complete example that follows throughout the book from ideation to exit. In addition, I’ve supplemented the text with several other smaller case studies from a wide range of products that illustrate these principles at work. Finally, since I wrote the first version, Eric Ries has published his book, The Lean Startup (Crown Business). Along with being the authoritative guide on Lean Startups, the book also introduces several new and powerful concepts like Innovation Accounting and Engines of Growth that I have incorporated into this edition.