The Startup Way

About the book

Entrepreneur and founder of the Lean Startup movement, Eric Ries reveals how startup principles can be used by organizations ranging from established stalwarts to early-stage upstarts to drive innovation and growth to become truly modern companies, poised to take advantage of the enormous opportunities of the 21st century.

In his book The Lean Startup, Eric Ries laid out the practices of successful startups – building a minimum viable product, extensive customer-focused and scientific testing based on the "build, measure, learn" method of continuous innovation, and deciding whether to pivot or persevere.

In this groundbreaking new book, Ries lays out a framework for entrepreneurial management, a comprehensive approach today's leaders can use to drive sustained growth in a highly uncertain environment. Filled with in-the-field stories, insights, and tools, The Startup Way is an essential read for managers, executives, and entrepreneurs trying to meet the demands of modern organizational work.

What defines a
modern company?

AN OLD-FASHIONED COMPANY

• is founded on steady growth through disciplined management and controls, and subject to tremendous short-term pressure.
• tends to operate huge programs.
• is full of multitasking.
• comprises managers and their subordinates.
• is protected from competition via barriers to entry.

A MODERN COMPANY

• is founded on sustained impact via continuous innovation, and focused on long-term results.
• operates rapid experiments.
• has a new tool in its arsenal: the internal startup, filled with a small number of passionate believers dedicated to one project at a time.
• comprises leaders and the entrepreneurs they empower.
• leaves competitors in the dust through continuous innovation.

More Coverage

See what the media has to say about entrepreneurial management.

• Teaching GE to Think Like a Startup
• Eric Ries: Why Companies Need To Create An Entrepreneurial Culture
• In Eric Ries' New Book, He Tells Companies to Turn Every Unit into a Cash-Strapped 'Startup'
• Why Big Companies Need to Innovate like Entrepreneurs
• EDITOR'S CHOICE: The Startup Way
• Top Ten Books to Read This Fall
• Weekend Essay and Video: Don’t Let Your Hot Startup Grow into a Sluggish, Old-Fashioned Company
• Digital Magic: How Eric Ries Brought The Startup Way to GE
• The Startup Guru Who Wants Everyone to Think like a Founder
• The Lean Startup’s Eric Ries on the Missing Function of Entrepreneurship in Most Companies, Creating a New Accountability Paradigm & How to Structure Promotions and Compensation in the New Structure
• How to Turn Your Lumbering Dinosaur of a Business into a Nimble Butterfly
• How Creating An Entrepreneurship Function Can Help Sustain Corporate Innovation
• Eric Ries on Applying Startup Thinking to Big Companies
• Lean Startup Evangelist Eric Ries on How Big Companies Can Stay Competitive

About the author

Eric Ries is an entrepreneur and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup, which has sold over one million copies and has been translated into over thirty languages. He is the creator of the Lean Startup methodology, which has become a global movement in business, practiced by individuals and companies around the world.

He has founded a number of startups including IMVU, where he served as CTO, and he has advised on business and product strategy for startups, venture capital firms, and large companies, including GE, where he partnered to create the FastWorks program. Eric has served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Harvard Business School, IDEO, and Pivotal and he is the founder and CEO of the Long-Term Stock Exchange.

The Startup Way is available around the globe.