As you have probably gathered by now, the principles laid out in The Lean Startup will form the foundation for my business and I plan on implementing the principles very rigidly.
There has been a lot said about action being more important and theory in The Lean Startup conversation and while this is undeniably true it is important in my opinion to have a firm theoretical foundation to build that action on. As such I have highlighted the following books for my initial theoretical learning.
- THE LEAN STARTUP by Eric Reis
- THE FOUR STEPS TO THE EPIPHANY by Steve Blank
- THE STARTUP OWNERS MANUAL by Steve Blank
- BUSINESS MODEL GENERATION by Alexander Osterwalder
- CROSSING THE CHASM by Geoffrey Moore
- THE INNOVATOR’S DILEMMA by Clayton M. Christensen
- THE INNOVATOR’S SOLUTION by Clayton M. Christensen
- RUNNING LEAN by Ash Maruya
- THE ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDE TO CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT by Brant Cooper & Patrick Vlaskovits
- FACILITATING OPPORTUNITY DEVELOPMENT: INCREASING UNDERSTANDING OF THE LEAN STARTUP APPROACH IN EARLY STAGE ENTREPRENEURSHIP- Master’s Thesis by Christian Kahlig
I just have to be careful as anyone who knows me or who has worked with me will know that I can be a little guilty of focusing on the theory for longer than necessary, simple because I find it interesting.As such I have set myself a deadline of having all the books on the list read by the 13th May and then I will pull it all together into a process to execute against.
If anyone is interested I could also provide a short summary of the main points of each book as and when I read them. Let me know if this is something you are interested in.
While these books are essential for the base foundation knowledge in such a dynamic area as the world of startups and the rather young Lean Startup area I find a lot of value in blogs. While similar lists have been created elsewhere I thought it would be useful to re-iterate that here:
- Eric Reis- www.startuplessonslearned.com
- Steve Blank- www.steveblank.com
- Ash Maraya- www.runningleanhq.com
- Sean Ellis- www.startup-marketing.com
- Dave McClure- 500hats.typepad.com
- Patrick Vlaskovits- www.vlaskovits.com
- Brant Cooper- www.market-by-numbers.com
Also, you can find a Lean Startup Meetup near you to engage with like minded people here.
If you have any recommendations I would love to hear from you.
Hi Scott
first of all well done for taking the plunge. And secondly big kudos for diving straight into lean headfirst. I’ll be following your progress with interest.
I’d recommend reading Running Lean before anything else as it’s a practical guide to applying lean (with less of the theory). Also if you get a chance try and get along to one of Ash Maurya’s workshops if he’s back in the UK at any point soon.
Other books you may find useful include:
- Blue Ocean Strategy by W.Chan Kim
- Free Prize Inside or Purple Cow by Seth Godin (ie. create something truly remarkable and they will come)
Also, here’s a list of tools that you may or not have already come across:
http://spookstud.io/zG3lOV
Oh yeah I’d recommend going to one of the Lean Startup Machine weekends if you get a chance. You’ll learn more in 3 days than you will in 3 months (particularly if your idea gets selected). Also keep an eye out for the next leanca.mp
Best of luck.
Laurence
Thanks very much Laurence really appreciate your input.
I am actually in the middle of reading Running Lean at the moment. I particularly like his breakdown of pre and post Product/Market Fit objectives-it really helped put a lot of things into perspective.
In the pic the book on the bottom is Blue Ocean Strategy and I have read most of Seth Godin’s books (or should I say I have listened to them).
I will definitely try my hardest to get along to whatever Lean Startup events are in the UK and start driving a little more activity up in Scotland.
Thanks for your support
Scott
Hi Scott,
Congrats for your efforts
I have read or read most of the books which are in your reading list
for writing summaries of the books, it is a great idea and I recommend having a separate section for it, say ‘Book summaries for startups’.
Also I can contribute/review for the book summaries
Regards
Rammohan
Thanks very much Rammohan, really appreciate you taking the time to comment.
Which book is your favourite? Do you have any recommendations for books I am missing?
Well I am reading and mind mapping the books in a way that should make it easy enough to summarise but we will have to see if I have the time
I may well take you up on your offer to contribute to the blog.