The Startup Owner's Manual

The Startup Owner's Manual

by Steve Blank, Bob Dorf
Released March 2020
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781119690689

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Book description

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 Owner's 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.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. How to Read This Book
  3. Preface
  4. Who Is This Book For?
  5. Introduction
    1. A Repeatable Path
    2. Why a Second Decade?
    3. The Four Steps: A New Path
  6. I Getting Started
    1. Chapter 1: The Path to Disaster: A Startup Is Not a Small Version of a Big Company
      1. The Traditional New-Product Introduction Model
      2. The 9 Deadly Sins of the New Product Introduction Model
    2. Chapter 2: The Path to the Epiphany: The Customer Development Model
      1. An Introduction to Customer Development
      2. “The Search for a Business Model:” Steps, Iteration and Pivots
      3. A Customer Development Bonus: Minimum Waste of Cash and Time
      4. The Customer Development Manifesto
      5. Summary: The Customer Development Process
    3. Chapter 3: An Introduction to Customer Discovery
      1. The Customer Discovery Philosophy
    4. Chapter 4: Customer Discovery, Phase One: State Your Business Model Hypotheses
      1. Market Size Hypothesis (Physical and Web/Mobile)
      2. Value Proposition 1: “Low Fidelity” MVP Hypothesis (Web/Mobile)
      3. Customer Segments: Who/Problem Hypothesis (Physical)
      4. Customer Segments: Source/Wiring Hypothesis (Web/Mobile)
      5. Channels Hypothesis (Physical)
      6. Channels Hypothesis (Web/Mobile)
      7. Value Proposition 2: Market-Type and Competitive Hypothesis
      8. Customer Relationships Hypothesis (Web/Mobile)
      9. Key Resources Hypothesis (Physical and Web/Mobile)
      10. Partners Hypothesis (Physical)
      11. Traffic Partners Hypothesis (Web/Mobile)
      12. Revenue and Pricing Hypothesis
    5. Chapter 5: Customer Discovery, Phase Two: “Get Out of the Building” to Test the Problem: “Do People Care?”
      1. Design Tests and Pass/Fail Experiments
      2. Prepare for Customer Contacts (Physical)
      3. Build Your Low Fidelity MVP (Web/Mobile)
      4. Test Understanding of the Problem and Assess Its Importance (Physical)
      5. Avoid the Big-Company Meeting Trap
      6. Low Fidelity MVP Problem Test (Web/Mobile)
      7. Missteps to Avoid when Testing the Low Fidelity MVP:
      8. Gain Customer Understanding
      9. Capture Market Knowledge (Physical)
      10. Traffic/Competitive Analysis (Web/Mobile)
    6. Chapter 6: Customer Discovery, Phase Three: “Get Out of the Building” and Test the Product Solution
      1. Update the Business Model and Team (a Pivot-or-Proceed Point)
      2. Create the Product “Solution” Presentation (Physical)
      3. High Fidelity MVP Test (Web/Mobile)
      4. Test the Product Solution with the Customer (Physical)
      5. Measure Customer Behavior (Web/Mobile)
      6. Update the Business Model Again
      7. Identify First Advisory Board Members
    7. Chapter 7: Customer Discovery, Phase Four: Verify the Business Model and Pivot or Proceed
      1. Have We Found a Product/Market Fit?
      2. Do We Know Who Our Customers Are and How to Reach Them?
      3. Can We Make Money and Grow the Company?
      4. Pivot or Proceed?
    8. Chapter 8: Introduction to Customer Validation
      1. An Epiphany at E.piphany
      2. The Customer Validation Philosophy
      3. Overview of the Customer Validation Process
    9. Chapter 9: Customer Validation, Phase One: "Get Ready to Sell"
      1. Get Ready to Sell: Craft Positioning Statement
      2. Get Ready to Sell: Sales and Marketing Materials (Physical)
      3. Physical Sales Collateral and Materials
      4. Collateral Needs to Be Tuned to the Audience
      5. Online Tools for Physical Channel Marketers
      6. Get Ready to Sell: Acquire/Activate Customers Plan (Web/Mobile)
      7. The “Acquire” Plan and Tools
      8. Acquire Plan Tools
      9. The Activation Plan and Tools
      10. Non-home page acquisition tools
      11. Managing the Activate Plan
      12. Get Ready to Sell: Hire a Sales Closer (Physical)
      13. Get Ready to Sell: Build a High Fidelity MVP (Web/Mobile)
      14. Get Ready to Sell: Sales Channel Roadmap (Physical)
      15. Get Ready to Sell: Build a Metrics Toolset (Web/Mobile)
      16. Get Ready to Sell: Develop the Sales Roadmap (Physical)
      17. Get Ready to Sell: Hire a Data Analytics Chief (Web/Mobile)
      18. Get Ready to Sell: Formalize the Advisory Board (All Channels)
    10. Chapter 10: Customer Validation, Phase Two: Get Out of the Building and Sell!
      1. Get Out of the Building: Find Earlyvangelists (Physical)
      2. Get Out of the Building: Prepare Optimization Plans/Tools (Web/Mobile)
      3. Get Out of the Building and Test Sell (Physical)
      4. Get Out of the Building: Optimize Getting More Customers (Web/Mobile)
      5. Get Out of the Building: Refine the Sales Roadmap (Physical)
      6. Get Out of the Building: Optimize “Keep” and “Grow” (Web/Mobile)
      7. Get Out of the Building: Test Sell Channel Partners (Physical)
      8. Get Out of the Building: Test Sell Traffic Partners (Web/Mobile)
    11. Chapter 11: Customer Validation, Phase Three: Product Developing and Company Positioning
      1. No PR Agency
      2. The Positioning Audit
      3. Develop Positioning: Product Positioning
      4. The Product Positioning Brief
      5. Develop Positioning: Match Positioning to Market Type
      6. For an Existing Market
      7. For a New Market
      8. For a Clone Market
      9. For Re-Segmenting a Market
      10. Develop Positioning: Company Positioning
      11. Develop Positioning: Validate Positioning
    12. Chapter 12: Customer Validation, Phase Four: The Toughest Question of All: Pivot or Proceed?
      1. Pivot or Proceed: Assemble Data Findings
      2. Pivot or Proceed: Validate Your Business Model
      3. Pivot or Proceed: Validate the Financial Model
      4. Metrics that Matter
      5. Metrics that Matter: Example 2
      6. If These Were Your Numbers, What’s a Founder to Do?
      7. Metrics that Matter: Example 3
      8. Pivot or Proceed: Re-Validate the Business Model
      9. The Toughest Startup Question: Pivot or Proceed?
  7. The Startup Owner’s Manual “Site” Map
  8. Appendix A: Checklists
  9. Appendix B: Glossary
  10. Appendix C: How to Build a Web Startup: A Simple Overview
  11. Acknowledgements
  12. About the Authors
  13. Index
  14. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: The Startup Owner's Manual
  • Author(s): Steve Blank, Bob Dorf
  • Release date: March 2020
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119690689