Book · ~336 pages

Running Lean (3rd Edition)

Ash Maurya · Ash Maurya (O'Reilly) Paid Intermediate

A step by step process for taking an idea to something people want without building the wrong product first. Maurya's mantra, love the problem not your solution, keeps your first MVP focused on testing risk rather than shipping features. Practical if you want interview scripts and a repeatable order of experiments instead of theory.

  • Rank your assumptions and test the riskiest one first
  • Love the problem, not your solution
  • A one page model beats a long plan for an early idea

It answers 4 questions

  1. What is an MVP and what's the smallest one I can build?
  2. What's the difference between an MVP and just a cheap, half-finished product?
  3. Is it a mistake to fall in love with my solution before I understand the problem?
  4. How do I decide the single riskiest assumption my MVP should test instead of trying to prove the whole idea at once?

Read with it

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  4. The essay that put 'product-market fit' into the startup vocabulary. Read it for the gut-level description of what PMF feels... pmarchive.com Essay · ~15 min read The Only Thing That Matters Marc Andreessen
  5. Long-form, candid interviews with Indian founders and investors on how they actually grew, distributed and built brand, one of... The Neon Show / Neon Fund Podcast · 200+ episodes The Neon Show (100x Entrepreneur Podcast) Siddhartha Ahluwalia
  6. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham
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