Recommended Reading

When it comes to providing a comprehensive overview of the entrepreneurial mindset and the process that an entrepreneur goes through in moving from idea to startup to real company, I highly recommend the classic startup manual by Guy Kawasaki: The Art of the Start 2.0. Guy did a major rewrite and updating of this excellent guide in 2015; and just in time, as he first published this book more than 10 years ago. There have been major changes over the past decade in the way we think about, launch and grow startup ventures, and those changes and updates are well reflected in this new edition. This is a practical, easy to read guide with topics that include launching, bootstrapping, fundraising, pitching, and even “being a mensch.” Be sure to check out the several “bonus sections” at the back of the book, which are easy to miss. They are a bit like those outtake clips that you find at the end of some movies after the credits roll.

Full disclosure: Guy is a longtime friend and was an investor and board member in one of my early startups (that venture is now a part of Google). I had the pleasure of reviewing some of the early drafts, and you’ll also find insights from me in Chapter 1 of the new edition.

This book, along with the work and writings of my UC Berkeley colleague Steve Blank (The Startup Owner’s Manual, 2012), helped codify and define the concept and process of customer discovery, transforming the way the new products are built and launched. The book is particularly useful as a resource to understand early prototyping and the development of a minimum viable product, attaining product/market fit, and developing effective business models. This is the book that really popularized the lean startup movement.  Eric’s presentation and examples are straightforward.

The back story is interesting. As told by Steve Blank, Steve was in investor in one of Eric’s companies and insisted that Eric attend one of Steve’s entrepreneurship courses at Berkeley-Haas. In this course, Steve required his student teams to work through an early version of the customer discovery process. That process turned out to be quite successful, both for the venture that Eric was working on (and many others) as well as providing inspiration for The Lean Startup. There are many examples from that entire process throughout the book, which is divided into three sections of Vision, Steer, and Accelerate.

As any angel or VC investor will tell you, far more startups fail than succeed. And even for those that do succeed, almost all of them have many small setbacks and typically also a few large/near-existential failures along the way. So how do successful entrepreneurs engage productively with failure? That is the premise of our book, which I co-authored with my UC Berkeley colleague John Danner.

As entrepreneurs and executives ourselves, and also as long time innovation and entrepreneurship teachers at UC Berkeley, we understand the importance of dealing effectively and productively with failure. In fact, we coined a term for that ability: “failure-savvy” leadership.

This book investigates how effective entrepreneurs and leaders turn failure from a regret into a strategic resource. It looks at failure through the lens of startups, midsize businesses, and global enterprises alike. In researching this book we interviewed hundreds of executives and leaders of all types, and looked at hundreds of organizations, which contribute to the many original examples and case studies contained in the book. One of the key outcomes of our work was the development of a seven stage Failure Value Cycle which breaks failure down into discrete stages, and also provides insights and suggestions for each of these stages. Want to be more successful? The take our advice and put failure to work!