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Open innovation in DC

by Eric Ries, June 28, 2011 | Comments

Using public policy to promote economic growth through entrepreneurship

Something interesting is happening in Washington, DC right now. It's not the usual partisan fights about the budget or the deficit. In fact, it doesn't fit any of our stock ideological categories very well. The Federal government is being transformed - initially, in small ways - by people I think should be recognized as entrepreneurs. They are leveraging the same ...

Why do we do this?

by Eric Ries, December 7, 2010 | Comments

	There's a chance to prevent failure and entrepreneurs are following 'best practices' that don't work On April 1, 2009, I was as nervous as I have ever been in my life. It was just minutes before I was supposed to go on stage for the very first time and present The Lean Startup to a large audience, at a big conference. To that point, I’d been talking about Lean Startup concepts only on a ...
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The lean startup bundle

by Eric Ries, October 27, 2010 | Comments (1)

	Some books and good reading material to learn more about the lean startup People often ask me if they can buy "Lean Startup in a box" from me. It's a strange thing, to be asked by a potential customer if they can give you copious amounts of money, and then to have to refuse. Startups run into this problem all the time: not every possible way of making money is equally useful. On ...
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Stop lying on stage

by Eric Ries, October 13, 2010 | Comments

Do startup speakers tell the whole truth on stage? The simple answer is no

Entrepreneurs crave information about successful startups, and they should. Most of the received wisdom about business and entrepreneurship is simply wrong. Many journalists and conference organizers attempt to fill this demand by giving successful entrepreneurs the opportunity to tell their stories: in magazines, on blogs, and on stage. And yet, most of the time, those opportunities are wasted, because the ...

Good enough never is, or is it?

by Eric Ries, September 29, 2010 | Comments

What matters is that our pursuit of learning is ongoing and our commitment is absolute

One of the sayings I hear from talented managers in product development is, “good enough never is.” It’s inspirational, always calling the team to try harder and do better. It works to undermine excuses for poor or shoddy work. And, most importantly, it helps team members develop the courage to stand up for these values in stressful situations. Especially in ...

The visionary's lament

by Eric Ries, September 20, 2010 | Comments (2)

The talent is called the reality distortion field - an essential attribute of great startup founders

“But customers don’t know what they want!” It’s an anguished cry that I have heard often from startup founders. In a way, I don’t blame them. I’ve been there myself. If we’re not attempting something truly new and innovative – what’s the point? If we’re just going to conduct the world’s biggest focus group to decide what to do, why ...

The Superbowl ad test

by Eric Ries, September 14, 2010 | Comments

	How can I tell a vanity metric when I see it? I am a firm believer in the danger of vanity metrics, numbers that give the illusion of progress but often mask the true relationship between cause and effect. Since I first started writing about vanity metrics, I’ve met more and more entrepreneurs who are struggling with a simple question: how can I tell a vanity metric when I see it? ...
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Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium

by Eric Ries, August 20, 2010 | Comments (1)

An example of a company that performed a significant pivot while still moving at full speed

(Normally, I do not write about companies that are doing a marketing launch. But I have decided to make an exception today, for two reasons. First, SlideShare is a fantastic product (that I use on a regular basis) and an impressive company example of Lean Startup practices in action. Second, their story illustrates a key Lean Startup idea: proving the ...

Some IPO speculation

by Eric Ries, July 16, 2010 | Comments

When private capital is available in sufficient quantities to satisfy liquidity, why go IPO?

Inspired by Steve Blank’s post today about the “lost decade” of IPO’s, I’d like to make some predictions. Let me be clear: Steve is the historian. His posts are born of tremendous research into the secret history of Silicon Valley, and if you haven’t read those essays, you should. By contrast, what I’m about to say is pure speculation. The ...

Founder personalities...

by Eric Ries, July 14, 2010 | Comments

and the "first-class" man theory of management

At any given time, something like four percent of the US population is engaged in some form of new-company-creation. And that narrow definition of entrepreneurship doesn’t count all of the managers inside established companies who are effectively engaged in the same process of building an internal startup (see What is a startup? for my more expansive definition). What motivates all these ...

The new startup arms race

by Eric Ries, March 22, 2010 | Comments

America's future prosperity depends on our ability to maintain this lead

The Huffington Post published an op-ed on the Startup Visa movement that I've been working on for some time. I've quoted from the article extensively below, but I hope you'll take a moment and read the whole thing. I believe we have a unique opportunity to pass the Startup Visa Act this year - if we continue to stay focused ...

Why diversity matters

by Eric Ries, March 1, 2010 | Comments

Diversity is the canary in the coal mine for meritocracy

Diversity is the canary in the coal mine for meritocracy. As entrepreneurs, more than any other industry, we’re in the meritocracy business. The companies that make decisions based on merit, rather than title, politics, or hierarchy execute faster and learn faster than their competitors. For startups (and other innovators), that’s a decisive advantage.So when a team lacks diversity, that’s a ...

Beware of vanity metrics

by Eric Ries, February 15, 2010 | Comments

Follow three A's of metrics - actionable, accessible, auditable

The next article in my series on entrepreneurship for Harvard Business Review is live today. Once again, we revisit the topic of Actionable metrics and their nemesis: Vanity metrics. Any entrepreneur with a decent reality distortion field can find metrics that make it look like they're being successful. This "success theater" is occasionally useful for PR or getting through a ...

A real customer advisory board

by Eric Ries, October 29, 2009 | Comments

The technique of having customers produce a "state of the company" progress report

A reader recently asked on a previous post about the technique of having customers periodically produce a “state of the company” progress report. I consider this an advanced technique, and it is emphatically not for everyone.Many companies seek to involve customers directly in the creation of their products. This is a lot harder than it sounds. Hearing occasional input is ...

Innovation inside the box

by Eric Ries, October 19, 2009 | Comments (1)

The sandbox is an area of the product where certain rules are strictly enforced

I was recently privy to a product prioritization meeting in a relatively large company. It was fascinating. The team spent an hour trying to decide on a new pricing strategy for their main product line. One of the divisions, responsible for the company’s large accounts, was requesting data about a recent experiment that had been conducted by another division. They ...

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