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Startup: Manual do Empreendedor - O Guia Passo a Passo para Construir uma Grande Empresa
Startup: Manual do Empreendedor é exatamente o que diz ser: um guia passo a passo, abrangente, que orienta as startups a seguirem na direção correta. Ele encaminha os empreendedores através do processo de Desenvolvimento do Cliente, que os faz deixar o escritório e ir às ruas, onde os clientes estão para desenvolver produtos vencedores que os clientes irão comprar.
572 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
2078 people are currently reading
25688 people want to read
About the author
Steve Blank
25 books382 followersPut to a vote, I might have been chosen “least likely to succeed” in my New York City high school class. My path has taken me from repairing fighter planes in Thailand during the Vietnam War, to spook stuff in undisclosed location(s), and I was lucky enough to arrive at the beginning of the boom times of Silicon Valley in 1978.
After 21 years in 8 high technology companies, I retired in 1999. I started my last company, E.piphany, in my living room in 1996. My other startups include two semiconductor companies, Zilog and MIPS Computers, a workstation company Convergent Technologies, a consulting stint for a graphics hardware/software spinout Pixar, a supercomputer firm, Ardent, a computer peripheral supplier, SuperMac, a military intelligence systems supplier, ESL and a video game company, Rocket Science Games.
Total score: two large craters (Rocket Science and Ardent), one dot.com bubble home run (E.piphany) and several base hits.
After I retired, I took some time to reflect on my experience and wrote a book (actually my class text) about building early stage companies called Four Steps to the Epiphany.
I moved from being an entrepreneur to teaching entrepreneurship to both undergraduate and graduate students at U.C. Berkeley, Stanford University and the Columbia University/Berkeley Joint Executive MBA program. The “Customer Development” model that I developed in my book is one of the core themes in these classes. In 2009, I was awarded the Stanford University Undergraduate Teaching Award in the department of Management Science and Engineering. The same year, the San Jose Mercury News listed me as one of the 10 Influencers in Silicon Valley.
I also followed my curiosity about why entrepreneurship blossomed in Silicon Valley and was stillborn elsewhere. It has led to several talks on The Secret History of Silicon Valley.
In 2007 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed me to serve on the California Coastal Commission, the public body which regulates land use and public access on the California coast.
I am on the board of Audubon California (and its past chair) and spent several years on the Audubon National Board. I’m also a board member of Peninsula Open Space Land Trust (POST). In 2009 I became a trustee of U.C. Santa Cruz and joined the board of the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV).
After 21 years in 8 high technology companies, I retired in 1999. I started my last company, E.piphany, in my living room in 1996. My other startups include two semiconductor companies, Zilog and MIPS Computers, a workstation company Convergent Technologies, a consulting stint for a graphics hardware/software spinout Pixar, a supercomputer firm, Ardent, a computer peripheral supplier, SuperMac, a military intelligence systems supplier, ESL and a video game company, Rocket Science Games.
Total score: two large craters (Rocket Science and Ardent), one dot.com bubble home run (E.piphany) and several base hits.
After I retired, I took some time to reflect on my experience and wrote a book (actually my class text) about building early stage companies called Four Steps to the Epiphany.
I moved from being an entrepreneur to teaching entrepreneurship to both undergraduate and graduate students at U.C. Berkeley, Stanford University and the Columbia University/Berkeley Joint Executive MBA program. The “Customer Development” model that I developed in my book is one of the core themes in these classes. In 2009, I was awarded the Stanford University Undergraduate Teaching Award in the department of Management Science and Engineering. The same year, the San Jose Mercury News listed me as one of the 10 Influencers in Silicon Valley.
I also followed my curiosity about why entrepreneurship blossomed in Silicon Valley and was stillborn elsewhere. It has led to several talks on The Secret History of Silicon Valley.
In 2007 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed me to serve on the California Coastal Commission, the public body which regulates land use and public access on the California coast.
I am on the board of Audubon California (and its past chair) and spent several years on the Audubon National Board. I’m also a board member of Peninsula Open Space Land Trust (POST). In 2009 I became a trustee of U.C. Santa Cruz and joined the board of the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 186 reviews
October 17, 2013
This book is dry and formulaic, but it has one basic insight that's worth repeating: don't bother making anything until you discover & understand who's going to buy. I gave it 3-Stars because it's not an inspiring book. However, if you're considering bootstrapping a product or company, this is a slam-dunk, 5-Star must-read because it will save you years.
Many aspiring entrepreneurs fancy themselves as undiscovered geniuses, but the reality is that bootstrapping a product or company is much more formulaic than inspired -- it requires lots of gumshoe work finding and listening to potential customers. Any clown can make something. It's the clowns who make something that people will buy that count.
Many aspiring entrepreneurs fancy themselves as undiscovered geniuses, but the reality is that bootstrapping a product or company is much more formulaic than inspired -- it requires lots of gumshoe work finding and listening to potential customers. Any clown can make something. It's the clowns who make something that people will buy that count.
June 10, 2019
Startup
The Startup Owners Manual is a wonderful inspiring and informative book on how to start your entrepreneurial career. It doesn't cover the logistical or administrative tasks but it does focus on the most important aspect of how to achieve customer adoption and retention. In their terms how to discover customers and how to validate them. While every aspect of establishing a business is important, such as legal, finance, resources etc. if you don't have a path to customers you don't have a business.
The book is split into 3 Manuals:
The Startup Owner’s Manual Strategy Guide
The Startup Owner’s Manual for Web/Mobile Channel Startups
The Startup Owner’s Manual for Physical Channel Startups
This is an agile world where our goal is to build a Minimum Viable Product. The business and product in those early days go through the same experiences and are almost synonymous. The concept of Minimum and Viable are so difficult to balance but that is the secret.
Throughout the book, there are great formatting and visual techniques used to highlight major points. Graphics help emphasise key processes and examples are used to underpin an explanation. The step by step guide appeals to our process minds and helps us realise that while there is a lot of uncertainty there at least is an approach.
The Startup Owners Manual is a wonderful inspiring and informative book on how to start your entrepreneurial career. It doesn't cover the logistical or administrative tasks but it does focus on the most important aspect of how to achieve customer adoption and retention. In their terms how to discover customers and how to validate them. While every aspect of establishing a business is important, such as legal, finance, resources etc. if you don't have a path to customers you don't have a business.
The book is split into 3 Manuals:
The Startup Owner’s Manual Strategy Guide
The Startup Owner’s Manual for Web/Mobile Channel Startups
The Startup Owner’s Manual for Physical Channel Startups
“A startup is a temporary organisation in search of a scalable, repeatable, profitable business model.”What differentiates startups from established companies is defined better here than I have seen it anywhere else. To understand and live this definition is so important for new companies and it requires a special breed of people that hunger and flourish in uncertainty.
This is an agile world where our goal is to build a Minimum Viable Product. The business and product in those early days go through the same experiences and are almost synonymous. The concept of Minimum and Viable are so difficult to balance but that is the secret.
Throughout the book, there are great formatting and visual techniques used to highlight major points. Graphics help emphasise key processes and examples are used to underpin an explanation. The step by step guide appeals to our process minds and helps us realise that while there is a lot of uncertainty there at least is an approach.
June 7, 2013
The text I use for my class. Not perfect (e.g. doesn't emphasize competition, risks and category and concept economic viability enough) but still the best entrepreneurial guide I have found so far. If you don't feel like wading through the text book, try Udacity.com and stream a series of short ENTR lectures, also done by Blank.
June 3, 2023
The Lean Startup put to practice. Wonderfully practical
December 4, 2014
This is the best business book I have read till date.
It effortlessly dismantles the bullshit idea of a good entrepreneur as a modern day Indiana Jones hacking their way through a jungle of self-doubt armed only with an iron clad will and a penchant for making the right decisions at the right time. This books recast my understanding of the ideal entrepreneur as a scientist, methodical and precise.
The book outlines exactly what to pay attention to through each of the four stages of turning an idea into a sustainable business that earns 10x on its initial investment. To be honest, I didn't even know there were stages before I picked up this book, let along what to focus on in each one of them.
Zero bullshit, just super useful, highly-actionable advice from someone who sounds like they know what they are talking about. It's not a particularly enjoyable read but then again, its not the kind of book you read for enjoyment.
I intend to reread this incredible book at least once a year.
It effortlessly dismantles the bullshit idea of a good entrepreneur as a modern day Indiana Jones hacking their way through a jungle of self-doubt armed only with an iron clad will and a penchant for making the right decisions at the right time. This books recast my understanding of the ideal entrepreneur as a scientist, methodical and precise.
The book outlines exactly what to pay attention to through each of the four stages of turning an idea into a sustainable business that earns 10x on its initial investment. To be honest, I didn't even know there were stages before I picked up this book, let along what to focus on in each one of them.
Zero bullshit, just super useful, highly-actionable advice from someone who sounds like they know what they are talking about. It's not a particularly enjoyable read but then again, its not the kind of book you read for enjoyment.
I intend to reread this incredible book at least once a year.
February 17, 2021
This would be a great book for people in the very beginning phases of their business. I do think there are other books out there that are better though for that stage. If you are already somewhat established and have a proven product and market, I would look elsewhere.
December 31, 2016
OMC, boring as heaven, real life has no "step by step instructions". Like from Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days: "Second system may be years late and fixes none of the first system problems."
December 25, 2012
Blank, Steven Gary, and Bob Dorf (2012), The Startup Owner’s Manual: The Step-by-Step-Guide for Building a Great Company, K and S Ranch, Inc. K&S Publishing Division. This is a brilliant book about a new approach for entrepreneurs to build lasting companies. It includes a four-stage model Steve Blank made famous called customer development, which complements the traditional product development model. Customer Development is comprised of four processes: 1. Customer Discovery: Who will buy my breakthrough innovation, and what do they need? 2. Customer Validation: Will our product satisfy that need better than all others? What assumptions am I making about my business model? Let’s get out of the building and test them! 3. Customer Creation: Who is buying the innovation and how do we create a scalable model to attract paying customers? 4. Company Building: How do we grow our company as we continue to innovate with new product ideas and iterate with our customers? The book is comprehensive (over 500 pages), but every page is worth reading.
March 1, 2015
Мощнейшая книга!!!
Недавно прочёл более раннюю работу автора "Четыре шага к озарению". Теперь же дошла очередь и до "Стартап. Настольная книга основателя". В принципе должен сказать, что последняя книга усовершенствованная старая. Да и в новой версии спустя годы сделано множество поправок и автор сделал акцент на цифровой бизнес.
Чтобы снова не повторятся читайте о книге здесь - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Если не читали "Четыре шага к озарению" можете смело начать с этой книги. Если же читали, то всё равно очень рекомендую прочесть данную.
Лучшее книги о построении и развитии стартапа я ещё не видал! И даже если вы уже тот предприниматель или менеджер, который думает, что его сложно чем удивить - значит книга точно для вас!!!
Недавно прочёл более раннюю работу автора "Четыре шага к озарению". Теперь же дошла очередь и до "Стартап. Настольная книга основателя". В принципе должен сказать, что последняя книга усовершенствованная старая. Да и в новой версии спустя годы сделано множество поправок и автор сделал акцент на цифровой бизнес.
Чтобы снова не повторятся читайте о книге здесь - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Если не читали "Четыре шага к озарению" можете смело начать с этой книги. Если же читали, то всё равно очень рекомендую прочесть данную.
Лучшее книги о построении и развитии стартапа я ещё не видал! И даже если вы уже тот предприниматель или менеджер, который думает, что его сложно чем удивить - значит книга точно для вас!!!
May 20, 2018
This was a waste of time. Lean startup is a mindset, this approach is just to create a fad creator for the authors to generate more interest in the courses they offer. The premise that somehow within a few days you will have a great business model is an insult to every startup out there who have spent countless hours getting things right. A real business takes time to think through and most pivots happen organically not within a few days.
September 12, 2020
Probably a really good place to start for people looking to start their first (tech) company, but nothing new for people who have worked across functions in a startup already. Still valuable as it raises a number of very valuable lessons that does bear repeating even if you've read them elsewhere (given the age of the book, they may even originate from it).
December 2, 2022
It’s a must read if you are aiming to start a startup.. the book is dense and I wish they have made its two different editions.. one for physical products, and other for web/mobile ones..
If you are not super serious about startup then don’t read this. You may need to get excited by reading something like "Zero to One" first.
If you are not super serious about startup then don’t read this. You may need to get excited by reading something like "Zero to One" first.
November 10, 2014
الكتاب الأهم في التخطيط للمشاريع الريادية
يحوي خطوات توجهك لتبدأ فكرتك الصغيرة، ثم تكبرها تدريجيا وبشكل مدروس إلى أن يتحول أعلى مشروع قاءم
ومؤلف الكتاب بروفيسور مشهور في ستانفورد، وله الكثير من الدورات المجانية أن لاين حول بدء المشروعات الصغيرة
يحوي خطوات توجهك لتبدأ فكرتك الصغيرة، ثم تكبرها تدريجيا وبشكل مدروس إلى أن يتحول أعلى مشروع قاءم
ومؤلف الكتاب بروفيسور مشهور في ستانفورد، وله الكثير من الدورات المجانية أن لاين حول بدء المشروعات الصغيرة
February 25, 2024
I don't own a Startup nor am I in a position of management of one, but I still found immense value in this book. Each chapter either validated or clarified my vague ideas around how companies should be led and operated. I recommend it to anyone who wants a framework to think about the companies they are working in, products they are using, or businesses they are curious about. This shouldn't only be seen as a way to make a company successful, but also as a way to understand if an existing company might be on a road to failure. I listened to it with the aim of taking the most important lessons in, and I am now hoping that I get to study, implement and wear out a physical copy when the right time comes.
August 31, 2014
Great companion to The Lean Startup and Business Model Generation. I found it to be more useful in B2B application than in B2C. The edition of the book I have, First Ed/5th printing, has both B2B and B2C content and the way to two are presented in succession within a single chapter does not make for the best read. But the author states early in the book that it is not meant to be read straight through, rather used as a reference - thus the name.
In any event, it's a great book on the subject - presented in a much more detailed, hands-on manner than The Lean Startup. This makes it less useful as a read-through intro/overview to the subject, but perhaps more useful as a guide once you are starting to practice Lean techniques.
In any event, it's a great book on the subject - presented in a much more detailed, hands-on manner than The Lean Startup. This makes it less useful as a read-through intro/overview to the subject, but perhaps more useful as a guide once you are starting to practice Lean techniques.
June 17, 2014
Simply THE best book on product strategy and market entry for startups.
I follow the customer development method closely in bringing new products to market.
My only criticism is that the book could have used a good editor. Steve writes more like a blogger than a book author and he frequently repeats concepts. But, that's a minor annoyance considering the value this book provides.
If you're a product manager or a leader of an early stage company, buy copies for your whole team and use it.
I follow the customer development method closely in bringing new products to market.
My only criticism is that the book could have used a good editor. Steve writes more like a blogger than a book author and he frequently repeats concepts. But, that's a minor annoyance considering the value this book provides.
If you're a product manager or a leader of an early stage company, buy copies for your whole team and use it.
December 30, 2021
If there's only one book you read for building your startup, this is it. This book is the successor to the Four Steps to the Epiphany and walks you through with painstaking details everything you need to do at each step to be a successful startup. This book is also very complete, its prescriptive and full of great examples, checklists and other items to help you think through where you are. Several years ago, Dr. Blank's book changed my life in how I approach building startups and if you want to get a head start, get this book
March 10, 2021
Starting a business is no joke. To build a team, a business model and processes that will survive ourselves and any economic tide is very hard.
This book has a lot of good insights but it is too dry and procedural. It is never a one fits all formula. Also the book aesthetics tired me because of its excess of diagrams.
Could be summed up into half and then it would be much more useful...
This book has a lot of good insights but it is too dry and procedural. It is never a one fits all formula. Also the book aesthetics tired me because of its excess of diagrams.
Could be summed up into half and then it would be much more useful...
January 31, 2014
Essential reading for startups. Gotta thank my friend Tiang Cheng for recommending it to me. Wish I read it a long time ago ;-)
March 7, 2021
Long. Boring. Must-read for founders.
January 3, 2021
Me he leído solo el 25% del libro pero ya sé perfectamente de lo que va. Este libro pretende guiar a emprendedores para que no comentan los errores tradicionales de lanzamiento basados en la redacción y cumplimiento de un plan de empresa. Basándose en los principios del "Lean Stratup", los autores promulgan conocer previamente al cliente y su aceptación del producto que ofrecemos. Para ello hay que "salir a la calle" y preguntarle en repetidas ocasiones sobre sus necesidades y cómo acepta nuestro producto. Para ello es de gran utilidad el uso del Lienzo del Modelo de negocio "Canvas". En base a ello se van elaborando diferentes "canvas" cada vez más perfeccionados y más cercanos a la realidad de lo que necesita el cliente.
Hay que producir un PVM (Producto Viable Mínimo) lo antes posible e ir mejorándolo paulatinamente hasta llegar a la versión definitiva. Entonces es cuando haremos el desembolso en Marketing y puesta en marcha de la empresa. Con esta metodología se huye del tradicional plan de empresa ya que los autores piensan que sus hipótesis raramente se cumplen y por lo tanto se ejecuta un plan erróneo. Así también se evita quemar todo el dinero disponible sin saber si se está usando de la manera justa.
Un gran ejemplo de aplicación de esta metodología es el Caso "Eventdeals" (de haber conocido esta metodología a los promotores de Eventdeals igual les habría ido algo mejor).
El libro es bastante práctico y da instrucciones claras y prácticas de cómo ejecutar la metodología propuesta.
Hay que producir un PVM (Producto Viable Mínimo) lo antes posible e ir mejorándolo paulatinamente hasta llegar a la versión definitiva. Entonces es cuando haremos el desembolso en Marketing y puesta en marcha de la empresa. Con esta metodología se huye del tradicional plan de empresa ya que los autores piensan que sus hipótesis raramente se cumplen y por lo tanto se ejecuta un plan erróneo. Así también se evita quemar todo el dinero disponible sin saber si se está usando de la manera justa.
Un gran ejemplo de aplicación de esta metodología es el Caso "Eventdeals" (de haber conocido esta metodología a los promotores de Eventdeals igual les habría ido algo mejor).
El libro es bastante práctico y da instrucciones claras y prácticas de cómo ejecutar la metodología propuesta.
November 13, 2020
This is one of the few occasions when I rate a book with resounding 5 stars.
Back few years ago when I got interested in product management I always wondered how Product Discovery would work in a B2B setting. I came across the Lean Startup book, read it, enjoyed it... but didn't get much practical stuff out of it.
Oh dear, I wish I had known that Eric Ries's master of ceremonies was a gentleman called Steve Blank.
The title of the book is quite simple yet ambitious in scope. Could I learn what it takes to develop a business from zero in just one book. After just reading the first couple of chapters and finding myself I was scribbling and dog-earing many pages I realized how good this book is.
It is literally what it says in the tin, with this book alone you will be able to set up a roadmap to attempt establishing a new business (be it physical or online). While it doesn't get into the nitty gritty technical details about how to do specifics such as instrumenting your app, prototyping tools or techniques; it will give a broad enough yet clear view of what steps you have to take.
Absolutely loved this book and I wish I had come across it earlier in my career. Totally recommend it.
Back few years ago when I got interested in product management I always wondered how Product Discovery would work in a B2B setting. I came across the Lean Startup book, read it, enjoyed it... but didn't get much practical stuff out of it.
Oh dear, I wish I had known that Eric Ries's master of ceremonies was a gentleman called Steve Blank.
The title of the book is quite simple yet ambitious in scope. Could I learn what it takes to develop a business from zero in just one book. After just reading the first couple of chapters and finding myself I was scribbling and dog-earing many pages I realized how good this book is.
It is literally what it says in the tin, with this book alone you will be able to set up a roadmap to attempt establishing a new business (be it physical or online). While it doesn't get into the nitty gritty technical details about how to do specifics such as instrumenting your app, prototyping tools or techniques; it will give a broad enough yet clear view of what steps you have to take.
Absolutely loved this book and I wish I had come across it earlier in my career. Totally recommend it.
October 10, 2019
I read it entirely and will read it again, starting with the portions I need most. I think you have to read it several times and to apply.
January 26, 2022
Maybe I've read too many startup books but, while this book contains useful reminders, I didn't feel like I learned anything new/different.
February 24, 2022
A more modern take on The Four Steps to the Epiphany.
Very thorough - it's more of a reference handbook than a book to read front to back. I'll definitely refer to it constantly as I progress my startup through the process described.
Very thorough - it's more of a reference handbook than a book to read front to back. I'll definitely refer to it constantly as I progress my startup through the process described.
July 15, 2019
Treat this as a reference book or a guide.
Otherwise it may seem boring
Otherwise it may seem boring
February 5, 2026
3.5 stars
This book was the recommended textbook for two of my business classes. I got around to reading it after the semester ended. I wanted to read it for the pure learning benefit, not 'for school'.
The best pro of this book was that there was some detailed, good and helpful information. The worst con of this book was that it was very dry, repetitive and too long (it's about 600 pages from start to finish).
After the first 100 pages, I got stuck and didn't go back to the book for a while. I wasn't motivated. I forced myself to sit down and read about 100 page chunks at a time so I could make sure I finished the book in a more reasonable time frame. This was successful and over about two weeks, it allowed me to finish the book.
This book is definitely designed for those who have a team of at least 5-10 people when starting up a business. It's not designed if you're the sole founder/employee, if you don't have a lot of resources/money and are, at first, doing everything yourself. Of course there are sections still relevant to sole proprietorships (e.g., make sure potential customers actually want your product and your hypotheses are correct), but this book is more set up for if you have salespeople, a data analyst, other founders/team members, etc.
There are two intro chapters, a big section on Customer Discovery, a big section on Customer Validation, and then almost 50 checklists at the back of the book (that summarize the main content into very short sentences/tasks). You can kind of get an idea of the core of the book from the fact that there are almost 50 CHECKLISTS!!
Unfortunately there was a LOT of repetition (including within the same section/chapter). An editor could have helped to trim down the book so that it was more engaging, purely from removing unnecessary repetition/length.
I do appreciate how the author is detail-oriented, and provided a very thorough process to take you from start to finish of building your startup.
I would recommend this book (especially if you can get it from a library) if you're interested in starting a business, especially a corporate business with multiple employees that you want to scale. Even just flipping through or focusing on the sections you are less knowledgeable/confident in can be useful.
my notes
25: "In a startup, the founders define the product vision and then use customer discovery to find customers and a market for that vision."
26: 'A pivot is not a failure.
Another key element of customer discovery is that a founder is free to ignore all of it. At times, a founder's vision can be clearer than the vision of potential customers.'"
74: "Any easy way to gauge the 'size' of a web market involves... brainstorm all the keywords that prospective customers might use to find your product or site--'multiplayer monster games', 'computer games with monsters, 'online games', so on and so on. The Google keyword tool summarizes how many people are searching for each keyword. This is another way to develop an estimate of market size."
78: Product Features/Benefits- Value Proposition
"Product features list is a one page document consisting of 1-2 sentence summaries of the top 10 (or fewer) features of the complete product vision."
85: Use a problem-recognition scale. Customers will express:
"A latent problem: they have a problem but don't know it.
A passive problem: they know of the problem but aren't motivated or aware of the opportunity to change.
An active or urgent problem: they recognize a problem or passion and are searching for a solution but haven't done any serious work to solve the problem.
A vision: they have an idea for solving the problem and have cobbled together a home-grown solution, but are prepared to pay for a better one."
124: "What's strongest about each competitor's product? What do current customers like most about those current products? What would customers change about them?
What is a customer's 'reason to buy' or use the product or site? And which competitors will they abandon to do so, and why?"
'Winners understand why customers buy'"
151: Get Customers advice
-Participate in communities your customers are part of. Answer questions, provide feedback, offer tips, and gently invite people to explore your product
-Create content people want to link to. Whether it's helpful tips, cartoons or fun videos, make your content the kind of content your customers want to share with friends. The result extends your invitation to those friends more often"
151-152: Customer Acquisition
Earned/free tactics:
-Public relations: generate small amounts of news/coverage about the problem (not product itself) on websites. Don't publicize the product yet.
-Pay-per-click advertising
-Affiliate marketing
161: retention test
'We haven't seen you visit in 2 weeks, is everything okay?
I've noticed you've had a few problems. How can we help?
Have you seen some of the new features on our site?
Here are five 'power user' ideas for getting more out of XYZ.com'"
203: Problem Presentation
'Problem presentation is designed to elicit information from customers. The presentation summarizes your hypotheses about customers' problems & how they're solving the problem today. It also offers some potential solutions.'"
262: Bad solution fit
'Customer feedback is vital. See what the customers feel about product/site, what they liked and didn't like. Did the product not deliver on message (e.g. 'lose 20 pounds tomorrow') that got them to the site in the first place? Was it their lack of confidence in the product, or lack of evidence (claims, testimonials, demos), or poor messaging?
Get to the bottom of these questions, both from activators and non-activators. What led the activators to sign up?'"
269: Key questions
-Have you translated market and market share findings into potential unit sales & revenue?
-Have you validated your pricing model with customers?
-Are volume, demand and purchase-frequency hypotheses validated?"
270: Pivot or Proceed? Summary questions
-Have we identified a problem lots of customers will eagerly pay to have solved?
-Does our product solve these needs distinctively, cost-effectively and profitably?
-If so, do we have a sizable market and a viable, scalable and profitable business model?
-Can we draw a day in the life of our customers before and after purchase of our product?"
294: Product positioning statement
1. For [target end user]
2. Who wants/needs [compelling reason to buy]
3. The [product name] is a [product category]
4. That provides [key benefit]
5. Unlike [main competitor]
6. The [product name] [key differentiation]"
"'Mobiledough is for busy executives who travel a lot
who want/need to do expense reports accurately as fast as possible
Mobiledough is an easy to use tool for receipt tracking and expense tabulation
that provides a detailed weekly expense report in under 10 minutes
unlike expense report packages, Mobiledough scans, sorts and totals receipts and presents a near-final report draft'"
317: Wherever the customer arrives, they know little about where they've landed. Example of what goes through the visitor's mind:
WHY am I here? (They want me to buy X)
HOW do I know it's any good? (Here's a demo, list of endorsements, etc.)
WHERE do I get more info? (I see buttons pointing to free trials, more info, etc.)
NEXT? (What does the company want me to do? oh, click here to try/buy/sign up)"
318: Most activation occurs on the home/landing page, where you're trying to engage them--get them to click, sign up, post a comment, or buy.
'The home page is 'where the action is' for activation'"
321: Homepage/Landing Content
-Tell me how I got here! Don't assume they know where they've landed. Welcome them & explain the site to avoid fast abandonment (e.g. 'Welcome to the no. 1 online gaming portal')
-Reinforce the 'scent of the email, ad or tool that drove the customer to the page'. Use similar verbiage to increase confidence the viewer has come to the right place
-Issue a clear call-to-action..."
321: Landing page should always:
-Explain what problem the product solves and why it's important to users & worthy of their attention
-Communicate ease of use and installation for the product
-Clearly explain how the product works
-Provide fast proof it works (user quotes, demos, competitive analysis, etc.)"
343: A dashboard where the business goals are increase page views, referrals and email delivery
(example of a simple dashboard)
everyone should have one"
374: Users are known to spend as little as a few seconds scanning a page to find something of interest. Visitors focus on headlines, highlighted words and bulleted lists but scan the text. Few visitors read all or even many of the words."
375: 'Anyone can give away or deeply discount a product to get an order, but that doesn't test true buying intentions...
Customer enthusiasm is best-tested when the product is sold for as close to full price as you can get. In fact, you want to label access to the product as the 'early access program' and have customers fight to be a part of it.'"
376: 'If enough customers ask for the same set of 'custom' features, they're not custom at all, since customers are suggesting the 'real' product requirements.'"
378: 'Understanding why your customers said no is more important than understanding why they said yes. Understand where in the process turndowns happen to help refine the sales roadmap.'"
382: Which 'get' program:
3. gives you the best customers? If, for example, an email campaign gets you customers who buy faster, spend more, or visit more often and stay longer, you obviously want more of those folks. So prioritize the plan to optimize that program."
386: People visit the site but don't click (no activation)
Implement optimization tactics:
1. Find the page where most users abandon ship. Start testing stronger calls to action & improved navigation on this page fast
6. Conduct usability testing where you watch actual customers review your homepage"
397: Optimizing keep programs - optimize results
1. User outreach programs: what do customers say when you email, tweet, or call them about their use of/satisfaction with the product?
2. If customers are responding in small numbers, add an incentive to stimulate response, such as 'tell your opinion and get a free month's service just for speaking up'."
"...When you get negative feedback, first respond, then tell all your customers that you've listened and made the improvements your customers suggested.
3. Loyalty program: does the program create an incentive for the behaviour you want, whether more active site use or more frequent purchasing?"
473: CHECKLIST: PRODUCT VISION
474: CHECKLIST: PRODUCT FEATURES & BENEFITS
509: CHECKLIST: SALES ACTION CHANNEL PLAN
This book was the recommended textbook for two of my business classes. I got around to reading it after the semester ended. I wanted to read it for the pure learning benefit, not 'for school'.
The best pro of this book was that there was some detailed, good and helpful information. The worst con of this book was that it was very dry, repetitive and too long (it's about 600 pages from start to finish).
After the first 100 pages, I got stuck and didn't go back to the book for a while. I wasn't motivated. I forced myself to sit down and read about 100 page chunks at a time so I could make sure I finished the book in a more reasonable time frame. This was successful and over about two weeks, it allowed me to finish the book.
This book is definitely designed for those who have a team of at least 5-10 people when starting up a business. It's not designed if you're the sole founder/employee, if you don't have a lot of resources/money and are, at first, doing everything yourself. Of course there are sections still relevant to sole proprietorships (e.g., make sure potential customers actually want your product and your hypotheses are correct), but this book is more set up for if you have salespeople, a data analyst, other founders/team members, etc.
There are two intro chapters, a big section on Customer Discovery, a big section on Customer Validation, and then almost 50 checklists at the back of the book (that summarize the main content into very short sentences/tasks). You can kind of get an idea of the core of the book from the fact that there are almost 50 CHECKLISTS!!
Unfortunately there was a LOT of repetition (including within the same section/chapter). An editor could have helped to trim down the book so that it was more engaging, purely from removing unnecessary repetition/length.
I do appreciate how the author is detail-oriented, and provided a very thorough process to take you from start to finish of building your startup.
I would recommend this book (especially if you can get it from a library) if you're interested in starting a business, especially a corporate business with multiple employees that you want to scale. Even just flipping through or focusing on the sections you are less knowledgeable/confident in can be useful.
my notes
25: "In a startup, the founders define the product vision and then use customer discovery to find customers and a market for that vision."
26: 'A pivot is not a failure.
Another key element of customer discovery is that a founder is free to ignore all of it. At times, a founder's vision can be clearer than the vision of potential customers.'"
74: "Any easy way to gauge the 'size' of a web market involves... brainstorm all the keywords that prospective customers might use to find your product or site--'multiplayer monster games', 'computer games with monsters, 'online games', so on and so on. The Google keyword tool summarizes how many people are searching for each keyword. This is another way to develop an estimate of market size."
78: Product Features/Benefits- Value Proposition
"Product features list is a one page document consisting of 1-2 sentence summaries of the top 10 (or fewer) features of the complete product vision."
85: Use a problem-recognition scale. Customers will express:
"A latent problem: they have a problem but don't know it.
A passive problem: they know of the problem but aren't motivated or aware of the opportunity to change.
An active or urgent problem: they recognize a problem or passion and are searching for a solution but haven't done any serious work to solve the problem.
A vision: they have an idea for solving the problem and have cobbled together a home-grown solution, but are prepared to pay for a better one."
124: "What's strongest about each competitor's product? What do current customers like most about those current products? What would customers change about them?
What is a customer's 'reason to buy' or use the product or site? And which competitors will they abandon to do so, and why?"
'Winners understand why customers buy'"
151: Get Customers advice
-Participate in communities your customers are part of. Answer questions, provide feedback, offer tips, and gently invite people to explore your product
-Create content people want to link to. Whether it's helpful tips, cartoons or fun videos, make your content the kind of content your customers want to share with friends. The result extends your invitation to those friends more often"
151-152: Customer Acquisition
Earned/free tactics:
-Public relations: generate small amounts of news/coverage about the problem (not product itself) on websites. Don't publicize the product yet.
-Pay-per-click advertising
-Affiliate marketing
161: retention test
'We haven't seen you visit in 2 weeks, is everything okay?
I've noticed you've had a few problems. How can we help?
Have you seen some of the new features on our site?
Here are five 'power user' ideas for getting more out of XYZ.com'"
203: Problem Presentation
'Problem presentation is designed to elicit information from customers. The presentation summarizes your hypotheses about customers' problems & how they're solving the problem today. It also offers some potential solutions.'"
262: Bad solution fit
'Customer feedback is vital. See what the customers feel about product/site, what they liked and didn't like. Did the product not deliver on message (e.g. 'lose 20 pounds tomorrow') that got them to the site in the first place? Was it their lack of confidence in the product, or lack of evidence (claims, testimonials, demos), or poor messaging?
Get to the bottom of these questions, both from activators and non-activators. What led the activators to sign up?'"
269: Key questions
-Have you translated market and market share findings into potential unit sales & revenue?
-Have you validated your pricing model with customers?
-Are volume, demand and purchase-frequency hypotheses validated?"
270: Pivot or Proceed? Summary questions
-Have we identified a problem lots of customers will eagerly pay to have solved?
-Does our product solve these needs distinctively, cost-effectively and profitably?
-If so, do we have a sizable market and a viable, scalable and profitable business model?
-Can we draw a day in the life of our customers before and after purchase of our product?"
294: Product positioning statement
1. For [target end user]
2. Who wants/needs [compelling reason to buy]
3. The [product name] is a [product category]
4. That provides [key benefit]
5. Unlike [main competitor]
6. The [product name] [key differentiation]"
"'Mobiledough is for busy executives who travel a lot
who want/need to do expense reports accurately as fast as possible
Mobiledough is an easy to use tool for receipt tracking and expense tabulation
that provides a detailed weekly expense report in under 10 minutes
unlike expense report packages, Mobiledough scans, sorts and totals receipts and presents a near-final report draft'"
317: Wherever the customer arrives, they know little about where they've landed. Example of what goes through the visitor's mind:
WHY am I here? (They want me to buy X)
HOW do I know it's any good? (Here's a demo, list of endorsements, etc.)
WHERE do I get more info? (I see buttons pointing to free trials, more info, etc.)
NEXT? (What does the company want me to do? oh, click here to try/buy/sign up)"
318: Most activation occurs on the home/landing page, where you're trying to engage them--get them to click, sign up, post a comment, or buy.
'The home page is 'where the action is' for activation'"
321: Homepage/Landing Content
-Tell me how I got here! Don't assume they know where they've landed. Welcome them & explain the site to avoid fast abandonment (e.g. 'Welcome to the no. 1 online gaming portal')
-Reinforce the 'scent of the email, ad or tool that drove the customer to the page'. Use similar verbiage to increase confidence the viewer has come to the right place
-Issue a clear call-to-action..."
321: Landing page should always:
-Explain what problem the product solves and why it's important to users & worthy of their attention
-Communicate ease of use and installation for the product
-Clearly explain how the product works
-Provide fast proof it works (user quotes, demos, competitive analysis, etc.)"
343: A dashboard where the business goals are increase page views, referrals and email delivery
(example of a simple dashboard)
everyone should have one"
374: Users are known to spend as little as a few seconds scanning a page to find something of interest. Visitors focus on headlines, highlighted words and bulleted lists but scan the text. Few visitors read all or even many of the words."
375: 'Anyone can give away or deeply discount a product to get an order, but that doesn't test true buying intentions...
Customer enthusiasm is best-tested when the product is sold for as close to full price as you can get. In fact, you want to label access to the product as the 'early access program' and have customers fight to be a part of it.'"
376: 'If enough customers ask for the same set of 'custom' features, they're not custom at all, since customers are suggesting the 'real' product requirements.'"
378: 'Understanding why your customers said no is more important than understanding why they said yes. Understand where in the process turndowns happen to help refine the sales roadmap.'"
382: Which 'get' program:
3. gives you the best customers? If, for example, an email campaign gets you customers who buy faster, spend more, or visit more often and stay longer, you obviously want more of those folks. So prioritize the plan to optimize that program."
386: People visit the site but don't click (no activation)
Implement optimization tactics:
1. Find the page where most users abandon ship. Start testing stronger calls to action & improved navigation on this page fast
6. Conduct usability testing where you watch actual customers review your homepage"
397: Optimizing keep programs - optimize results
1. User outreach programs: what do customers say when you email, tweet, or call them about their use of/satisfaction with the product?
2. If customers are responding in small numbers, add an incentive to stimulate response, such as 'tell your opinion and get a free month's service just for speaking up'."
"...When you get negative feedback, first respond, then tell all your customers that you've listened and made the improvements your customers suggested.
3. Loyalty program: does the program create an incentive for the behaviour you want, whether more active site use or more frequent purchasing?"
473: CHECKLIST: PRODUCT VISION
474: CHECKLIST: PRODUCT FEATURES & BENEFITS
509: CHECKLIST: SALES ACTION CHANNEL PLAN
March 1, 2023
This book is nothing short of extraordinary.
Steve Blank provides a scientific, methodical, and clearheaded guide through not only the hazards and pitfalls that face every entrepreneur, but also makes good use of the countless failures that have come before, who have all collectively paved the way for this book in the form of object lessons and cautionary tales.
Using research, data-centric assertions, and a systemic view of what a startup is and isn't, Blank provides directions on the most optimal path that greatly increases the chances of an entrepreneur arriving safely and successfully at one's desired destination.
One of the very best business books I've ever read. If you plan on starting a business, this book should be considered absolutely mandatory reading.
Steve Blank provides a scientific, methodical, and clearheaded guide through not only the hazards and pitfalls that face every entrepreneur, but also makes good use of the countless failures that have come before, who have all collectively paved the way for this book in the form of object lessons and cautionary tales.
Using research, data-centric assertions, and a systemic view of what a startup is and isn't, Blank provides directions on the most optimal path that greatly increases the chances of an entrepreneur arriving safely and successfully at one's desired destination.
One of the very best business books I've ever read. If you plan on starting a business, this book should be considered absolutely mandatory reading.
February 19, 2023
great book
this is not an "easy read" it's pretty dry, but it does what it promises. It's indeed a manual, and no manual can flow as a fiction book afterall. this book is jam packed with wisdom that you can use to go from idea to a scale up. A term that that often people misuse thinking that just growing means being a scale up. Must read for anyone working in a startup or considering being a founder. Worth buying the physical version and fill it with notes, highlights and bookmarks. Recommended
this is not an "easy read" it's pretty dry, but it does what it promises. It's indeed a manual, and no manual can flow as a fiction book afterall. this book is jam packed with wisdom that you can use to go from idea to a scale up. A term that that often people misuse thinking that just growing means being a scale up. Must read for anyone working in a startup or considering being a founder. Worth buying the physical version and fill it with notes, highlights and bookmarks. Recommended
January 23, 2014
This book provides an amazing level of detail on running a successful startup. Perhaps more important than the 400+ pages of reading though, the checklists in the back can be pulled out as needed for specific startup tasks.
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