Includes index

Originally published 2012

"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."--

6. Confusing Traditional Job Titles with What a Startup Needs to Accomplish -- 7. Sales and Marketing Execute to a Plan -- 8. Presumption of Success Leads to Premature Scaling -- 9. Management by Crisis Leads to a Death Spiral -- Chapter 2: The Path to the Epiphany: The Customer Development Model -- An Introduction to Customer Development -- "The Search for a Business Model:"Steps, Iteration and Pivots -- Step 1: Customer Discovery -- Step 2: Customer Validation -- Step 3: Customer Creation -- Step 4: Company-Building -- The Customer Development Manifesto

Chapter 1: The Path to Disaster: A Startup Is Not a Small Version of a Big Company -- The Traditional New-Product Introduction Model -- Concept and Seed Stage -- Product Development -- Alpha/Beta Test -- Product Launch and First Customer Ship -- The 9 Deadly Sins of the New Product Introduction Model -- 1. Assuming "I Know What the Customer Wants" -- 2. The "I Know What Features to Build" Flaw -- 3. Focus on Launch Date -- 4. Emphasis on Execution Instead of Hypotheses, Testing, Learning, and Iteration -- 5. Traditional Business Plans Presume No Trial and No Errors

Intro -- "Get Out of the Building!" -- The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-by-Step Guide for Building a Great Company -- Table of Contents -- How to Read This Book -- Organization -- Web/Mobile vs. Physical Channels -- Paths Through This Book -- A Few Helpful Tips -- Preface -- Who Is This Book For? -- Who Is This Book Not For? -- Introduction -- A Repeatable Path -- Why a Second Decade? -- Bits: The Second Industrial Revolution -- Speed, Time and Iterations: the "Second Industrial Revolution" -- The Four Steps: A New Path -- I Getting Started

Rule No. 9: Fast Decision-Making, Cycle Time, Speed and Tempo -- Rule No. 10: It's All About Passion -- Rule No. 11: Startup Job Titles Are Very Different from a Large Company's -- Rule No. 12: Preserve All Cash Until Needed. Then Spend. -- Rule No. 13: Communicate and Share Learning -- Rule No. 14: Customer Development Success Begins With Buy-In -- Summary: The Customer Development Process -- II Step One: Customer Discovery -- Chapter 3: An Introduction to Customer Discovery -- The Customer Discovery Philosophy -- Get Out of the Building -- Search for the Problem/Solution Fit

Rule No. 1: There Are No Facts Inside Your Building, So Get Outside. -- Rule No. 2: Pair Customer Development with Agile Development -- Rule No. 3: Failure is an Integral Part of the Search -- Rule No. 4: Make Continuous Iterations and Pivots -- Rule No. 5: No Business Plan Survives First Contact with Customers So Use a Business Model Canvas -- Rule No. 6: Design Experiments and Test to Validate Your Hypotheses -- Rule No. 7: Agree on Market Type. It Changes Everything -- Rule No. 8: Startup Metrics Differ from Those in Existing Companies