IT IS BORING AND ACTUALLY NOT VERY HELPFUL, I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND IT UNLESS YOU HAV A LOT OF CREDITS TO SPEND.

The MVP is a great concept...very well thought out and to the point.

The 2 Second LEAN is more direct and focused in my opinion...

Great book on LEAN start ups...if you are starting from scratch this is the book to read right after you read 2 Second Lean by Paul Akers. This is my second favorite LEAN book. Good job Eric.

First, why I bought the book – the author did a great job of promoting his book by using a word which is the most popular in modern business world. Leaders of all levels everywhere around the world know this word – LEAN. But everybody got used to “Lean execution”, so my first reaction when I saw the title was – “wow, have I missed something, are there new scientific methods from Stanford I’m not aware of?” So, I bought it with high expectations of something new and then… Then there was complete disappointment. The author introduce new concept with new name selling it as a breakthrough in the science of management, but when you complete a chapter you ask yourself, so what’s new there, why old practices are called differently from what I used to. First, “Minimum Viable Product” – the concept of early introduction of a product for testing a concept is not new, it’s applicable for products with short development cycle only and very specific for few industries. So, where is breakthrough? Bigger disappointment was “Innovative Accounting” – yeah, you see another popular label – “Innovation”. But when I finished I tried to recount what was it and again – second-hand is sold as high fashion. The author keeps saying – “old accounting methods are not applicable for startups because of uncertain environment” – yes, true – but then goes narrative description of what’s been in business books for decades. And last – “Build-Measure-Learn”! What was a purpose of renaming “Plan-Do-Check-Act”?
So, in overall – it was waste of time, with only exception – now I know that I should ignore everything containing “The Lean Startup”, “Minimum Viable Product” and “Innovative Accounting”. And also – would you trust somebody whose only experience is mediocre social network startup with unclear business model? After Facebook IPO?

This will rock your paradigm for software development. Eric Ries brings to bear the scientific method in transforming how we look at lean software approaches.

Definitely. The book applies the agile methodologies from software development to starting a business.
You might already know of ideas like don't do what the client says, but listen to him, if you have listened to some of Steve Jobs hints on how to build a business, but Eric Ries gives you much more in this book. It shows you how to start a business with minimum investment and how and when to adapt. That's a skill that you'll need at any time while you run a business and even in your personal life.
Overall, definitely worth the bucks!

Yes, mostly yes. I listen when I'm running and I couldn't wait to go running again to get through the rest of it.

buy it!

If only I had read this earlier in my tech start up phase....but maybe you have to go through the pain to really appreciate everything Eric Ries talks about. Simple to understand this book was a sigh of relief and has inspired me to go back to the drawing board and do it the right way this time.

yes, definitely. Speech is well done, even for a non mother toungue like me. Contents are stunning. PLease consider I'm still around 60% of listening.

The most: the description of this new model respect to traditional strategic approaches, always well compared. And good examples to help figuring out with comparisons, without having too many examples (or only examples) that is often a huge defect in my opinion. the least .... I still don't have a definitive one, anyway the chapters links are not so clear (but this is really a minor bug)

the emphasys, his personal experience in dialogues with early adopters (giving to listener the feeling of how these early adopters were reacting the the MVP tests)

this is a business book. Probably some samples made me lough a little.Definitely, if will not be able to raise funds I will cry .... but this is another story, not addressable to Eric .)

It's my first time listening a business book instead of reading with pencils and notes everywhere .... definitely, a stunning way to accelerate the reading while closing some "dead moments" like driving, etc. I also have the paper version of this book (I use kindle for stories, not for busienss books): I planned to open it and start underlining the most important parts for my better comprehension (graphs, charts, etc) ... but I still have to begin

I actually thought that this might have some new insight based on the ratings the book had got. Frankly I was disappointed. Its the same old management theory we've been reading about for 25 years now. If you've read one, you read them all.

Yes

The contents are really interesting and practical for people interested in starting a business

The practical tips and the ideas the author gave me for my business

This book was recommended to me by a friend, and I've been doing the same.