Quotes from Eric Ries

The true measure of runway is how many pivots a startup has left: the number of opportunities it has to make a fundamental change to its business strategy.

The solution to this dilemma is a commitment to iteration. You have to commit to a locked-in agreement—ahead of time—that no matter what comes of testing the MVP, you will not give up hope. Successful entrepreneurs do not give up at the first sign of trouble, nor do they persevere the plane right into the ground. Instead, they possess a unique combination of perseverance and flexibility. The MVP is just the first step on a journey of learning. Down

identify the elements of the plan that are assumptions rather than facts, and figure out ways to test them.

What products do customers really want? How will our business grow? Who is our customer? Which customers should we listen to and which should we ignore? These are the questions that need answering as quickly as possible to maximize a startup's chances of success. That is what creates value for a startup.

thing to build—the thing customers want and will pay for—as quickly as possible.

work-in-progress (WIP) inventory]

There were three differences in year three: • Teams were involved in creating new technologies, processes, and systems. • Cross-functional teams were formed around new great ideas. • Customers were involved from the inception of each feature concept.

But everything changed when they made one small tweak to the product. They added to the bottom of every single e-mail the message "P.S. Get your free e-mail at Hotmail" along with a clickable link.

audacity of zero

For example, in one early experiment, we changed our entire website, home page, and product registration flow to replace "avatar chat" with "3D instant messaging." New customers were split automatically between these two versions of the site; half saw one, and half saw the other. We were able to measure the difference in behavior between the two groups.

Cuando vaya a crear su propio producto mínimo viable, siga esta simple regla: elimine cualquier elemento, proceso o esfuerzo que no contribuya directamente al aprendizaje que está buscando.

Entrepreneurs are different in many ways, whether starting their own small company or inventing new products and businesses within a company like GE. But they also share certain traits. They are fast. They embrace new thinking. They are geared for disruption and innovation through uncertainty. One

It was time for a pivot or persevere meeting.

Although the primary changes that are required in an adaptive organization are in the mind-set of its employees, changing the culture is not sufficient. As we saw in Chapter 9, lean management requires treating work as a system and then dealing with the batch size and cycle time of the whole process. Thus, to achieve lasting change, the QuickBooks team had to invest in tools and platform changes that would enable the new, faster way of working.

These discussions of quality presuppose that the company already knows what attributes of the product the customer will perceive as worthwhile. In a startup, this is a risky assumption to make. Often we are not even sure who the customer is. Thus, for startups, I believe in the following quality principle: If we do not know who the customer is, we do not know what quality is.

Yes, MVPs sometimes are perceived as low-quality by customers. If so, we should use this as an opportunity to learn what attributes customers care about. This is infinitely better than mere speculation or whiteboard strategizing, because it provides a solid empirical foundation on which to build future products.

The Principles of Scientific Management,

They are fast. They embrace new thinking. They are geared for disruption and innovation through uncertainty. One

Startups also have a true north, a destination in mind: creating a thriving and world-changing business. I call that a startup's vision. To achieve that vision, startups employ a strategy, which includes a business model, a product road map, a point of view about partners and competitors, and ideas about who the customer will be. The product is the end result of this strategy (see the chart on this page).

The Five Whys ties the rate of progress to learning, not just execution. Startup teams should go through the Five Whys whenever they encounter any kind of failure, including technical faults, failures to achieve business results, or unexpected changes in customer behavior.

The Four Steps to the Epiphany

Innovation accounting. To improve entrepreneurial outcomes and hold innovators accountable, we need to focus on the boring stuff: how to measure progress, how to set up milestones, and how to prioritize work. This requires a new kind of accounting designed for startups—and the people who hold them accountable.

Si no solucionas problemas, nunca vas a adquirir la capacidad necesaria para hacer realidad esa gran visión». Y la manera de resolver problemas es descubrirlos sobre la marcha y luego pivotar para afrontarlos.

The goal of every startup experiment is to discover how to build a sustainable business around that vision.