“The Lean Startup” is a book that describes the eponymous strategy of building startups with a very “lean” and flexible philosophy in mind. This means that the startups should adopt shorter development cycles, test-driven development, and a greater willingness to innovate and ditch their strategic visions and products in favor of the more market-driven strategies. The concept, championed and partly invented by this book’s author Eric Ries, originated in the high-pressure environment of high-tech software startups, but it’s meant to be broadly applicable even in the context of well-established non-tech companies with fairly large workforce and much more hierarchical corporate structures.

There is often a lot of hype in the books of this type, with very little actionable substance. Fortunately “The Lean Startup” succeeds on both of those accounts. The whole approach was invented and tested by the author, as well as applied to numerous other startups, many of which were profiled in this book. It was based on numerous insights that often run counter to the prevailing wisdom about what is the most effective way to run a new business. One of my favorite such insights concerns the development of a social network “from scratch” for a new product/service. It would seem intuitive that piggy backing on the existing social network (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) would make much more sense as one would just concentrate on the particular strengths of the products and leave the social aspects to those who are much more proficient with those. However, in many cases users actually prefer to use a different social network that is task/use specific. This might be one of the reasons why in recent months the proliferation of new social networks has shaken the seemingly monolithic dominance of the previously established giants. Another valuable insight is the importance of methodically and patiently observing the actual users, often in the field, in order to notice the usage patterns that otherwise would escape even the best-informed developers.

Whether you are an entrepreneur, an aspiring entrepreneur, a manager who wants to get more productivity out of an existing line of business, or are just curious about these topics, this is definitely one of the books that should find a place in your library. Highly recommended.