How The Lean Startup Became A Best Seller (And Movement) - with Eric Ries

http://mixergy.com/eric-ries-lean-startup-best-seller/

by trevor99 • 15 years ago

55 11 15 years ago

mixergy.com

mark_l_watson• 15 years ago

Eric Ries wrote a great book, he deserves the success he is having with it.

I have bought 3 copies: one for myself, and 2 for customers as gifts.

casca• 15 years ago

If anyone else prefers to download videos and watch later at their leisure, this one can be found here: http://mixergy-cdn.wistia.com/deliveries/595300a2494d37e6386...

Just rename to .flv and you're good to go.

j45• 15 years ago

Sweet interview, nice to see how he published a book in a different way.

AndrewWarner2• 15 years ago

I've had other authors refuse to do interviews till the first week that their books go on sale. They want people to get a chance to buy their books after watching their interview.

Eric discovered that he could sell his book for months before it launched and that the NY Times Best Seller list would count those sales AS IF they were made in the book's first week.

That allowed him to spend months selling his book and refining his sales process.

What I've found in my interviews is that successful founders often discover these little nuggets of understanding that give them a leg up over others.

The other thing that's interesting about my conversation with Eric is that he didn't have to come to that discovery on his own. He learned it by studying another Best Selling author, Tim Ferriss.

If you want to understand the reason for Mixergy, that's it right there.

AndrewGCook• 15 years ago

It's great that Eric Ries used his own lean startup methodology to figure out what influenced people to buy the book.

Eric built a website to take pre-orders so he could A/B test the book's cover, title, and marketing to figure out how to get as many preorders as possible, Since preorders count as orders when your book launches, he managed to become a best seller.

AndrewWarner2• 15 years ago

Yup. Also, he had Lean Startup groups throughout the country that helped promote and sell the book (and Lean Startup vision).

Also, he gave up his speaking fees and asked event organizers to sell books instead.

Also, he found a way to bundle book sales with ticket sales.

Also, he had a proven idea.

teyc• 15 years ago

Yes, very meta.

sanj• 15 years ago

Neat! I looked and I've been using the term "Lean" to describe development for 14 years now:

http://web.archive.org/web/19970602013356/http://www.scrawls...

rpark31• 15 years ago

This Web page defines "lean" as "small, tight code that won't waste your time or resources".

But lean as defined by Ries is not about code as much as it is about using validated learning to test market assumptions and only build what customers have verified that they want.

I'm not saying that lean startup methodology is a panacea for guaranteeing startup success; but it isn't about a style of coding, or minimizing how much you spend on your startup.

bomatson• 15 years ago

Very intelligent, calculated marketing (especially Lean city-wide events, $30 bucks per event and you get the book). Congrats, Eric!

gujk• 15 years ago

The world's first movement based on exhaustive study to figure out exactly what people wanted to hear before telling it to them. Exactly the opposite of what wee celebrated Steve Jobs for, isn't it? Are marketing gimmicks really the soul of the new internet generation? Not real products that male people's lives better?

I met a marketing analyst who used incredibly sophisticated Machine Learning techniques to figure out which banking customer segments are more likely to respond to a mail campaign that was addressed to "Our Neighbor". It's disheartening that marketing tricks are what so many are putting their best thinking to, and these successes are what we celebrate..

How The Lean Startup Became A Best Seller (And Movement) - with Eric Ries

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