The Startup Owner's Manual

More than 100,000 entrepreneurs rely on this book for detailed, step-by-step instructions on building successful, scalable, profitable startups. The National Science Foundation pays hundreds of startup teams each year to follow the process outlined in the book, and it's taught at Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia and more than 100 other leading universities worldwide. Why?

The Startup Owner's Manual guides you, step-by-step, as you put the Customer Development process to work. This method was created by renowned Silicon Valley startup expert Steve Blank, co-creator with Eric Ries of the "Lean Startup" movement and tested and refined by him for more than a decade. This 608-page how-to guide includes over 100 charts, graphs, and diagrams, plus 77 valuable checklists that guide you as you drive your company toward profitability. It will help you:
? Avoid the 9 deadly sins that destroy startups' chances for success
? Use the Customer Development method to bring your business idea to life
? Incorporate the Business Model Canvas as the organizing principle for startup hypotheses
? Identify your customers and determine how to "get, keep and grow" customers profitably
? Compute how you'll drive your startup to repeatable, scalable profits.


The Startup Owners Manual was originally published by K&S Ranch Publishing Inc. and is now available from Wiley. The cover, design, and content are the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product.

Steve Blank is an entrepreneur, consulting associate professor at Stanford and a senior fellow of innovation at Columbia, co-author of the bestselling books, Four Steps to the Epiphany and The Startup Owner's Manual is the father of modern entrepreneurship. He co-created the Lean methodology popularized by his student Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup. He has developed and taught innovation methods that are being used widely by startups, companies and the Department of Defense. His classes are the basis of the innovation programs at The National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health, and the Department of Defense. Steve's career has taken him from repairing fighter planes in Thailand during the Vietnam War, to arriving at the beginning of the boom times of Silicon Valley in 1978 where he was part of eight technology startups in the next 21 years.

Bob Dorf is likely the second most knowledgeable Lean and Customer Development expert on the planet, second only to Steve Blank. Bob Dorf travels the world helping startups, foreign governments, and major corporations learn how to effectively deploy Customer Development process through intensive 8-10 week training sessions, as well as one- and two-day workshops and hands-on consulting that he conducts repeatedly in Russia, Latin America, and throughout the US. He teaches the Lean LaunchPad program at Columbia Business School, where he is an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship, and has led training sessions at Tech de Monterrey, Mexico, Skolkovo Business School in Moscow, and repeatedly for the government of Colombia and Moscow's GVA Launch Gurus "Startup Academy." He has personally founded seven companies.

How to Read This Book vii

Preface xiii

Who is This Book For? xvii

Introduction xxi

A Repeatable Path xxii

Why a Second Decade? xxiv

The Four Steps: A New Path xxix

Getting Started

Chapter 1: The Path to Disaster: A Startup is Not a Small Version of a Big Company 1

Chapter 2: The Path to the Epiphany: The Customer Development Model 19

The Customer Development Manifesto 31

Step One: Customer Discovery

Chapter 3: An Introduction to Customer Discovery 53

Chapter 4: Customer Discovery, Phase One: State Your Business Model Hypotheses 69

Chapter 5: Customer Discovery, Phase Two: “Get Out of the Building” to Test the Problem: “Do People Care?” 189

Chapter 6: Customer Discovery, Phase Three: “Get Out of the Building” and Test the Product Solution 227

Chapter 7: Customer Discovery, Phase Four: Verify the Business Model and Pivot or Proceed 257

Step Two: Customer Validation

Chapter 8: Introduction to Customer Validation 277

Chapter 9: Customer Validation, Phase One: “Get Ready to Sell” 291

Chapter 10: Customer Validation, Phase Two: “Get Out of the Building and Sell!” 357

Chapter 11: Customer Validation, Phase Three: Develop Product and Company Positioning 413

Chapter 12: Customer Validation, Phase Four: The Toughest Question of All: Pivot or Proceed? 429

The Startup Owner’s Manual “Site” Map 465

Appendix A: Customer Development Checklists 469

Appendix B: Glossary 531

Appendix C: How to Build a Web Startup: A Simple Overview 541

Acknowledgements 549

About the Authors 553

Index 557