Unlock Your Startup's Potential with Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Business Faster

Julia Machado: The book is really rich. It reviews all the literature about lean startups and make them actionable through suggested measurements. It is detailed enough to discuss different moments of each startup and as well different business models. Finally, it gives readers benchmarks.

Highly highly recommend it!

Brazil on Aug 06, 2023

Ian H: An excellent summary of the data that every business owner needs to be thinking about in the modern era. Although the authors aim this books squarely at companies in the IT space, the methodologies and data points that EVERY young (ie not yet-quoted) company needs to focus on. We are all operating in the digital age and understanding the metrics which matter in a digital world is essential to keeping one business moving forward. I found this an excellent book, even though I described it to my business partner as akin to a "horror story" you keep on turning every page knowing that the next discovery is yet another "body" to be uncovered, ie some metric/measure that you know you really should have data for, but for some reason has eluded you! A very useful practical guide to thinking about what metrics really matter in modern business.

United Kingdom on Apr 04, 2015

John Whitlock: This book has several gems. Highly recommended.

Focusing on the One Metric That Matters forces you to run targeted experiments, to find the hard truths about your product, and to push things forward.

The model of startup phases was very useful. It argues that successful startups move from from empathy to stickiness to virality to revenue to scale. It gives useful criteria for determining which phase you are in, how to decide to move to the next stage, and why you should stick around in your current phase for as long as it takes.

I loved the practical advice for important metrics for each phase, what your "line in the sand" should be for the metrics, and a strategy for maintaining the metric after you've moved to the next phase.

The discussion on types of business and the applicable metrics and case studies is gold. I found the advice for internal entrepreneurs to be spot on, and a good complement to The Innovators Dilemma.

I was hoping for some practical advice on analytics packages, aggregating analytics, and presentation. There is a little bit there, on recognizing vanity metrics, and using the first- and second-order derivatives to get...

United States on Jan 10, 2014

Donnchadhh: The Clash have a brilliant song called `Should I stay or should I go'. I don't know what the lyrics exactly refer to but it is a question most startup entrepreneurs probably ask themselves at some point. I regularly meet startups who are torn between `banging your head against a brick wall' and `doing everything you can to run through a brick wall' to use two popular analogies. Lean Startup and now Lean Analytics can provide an answer to manage the balancing act of giving everything you can without chasing a lost cause.

Running Lean by Ash Maurya is the first in the O'Reilly Lean Startup Series. It is brilliant. Lean Analytics by Alistair Croll and Benjamin Yoskovitz is the second in the series. It is equally brilliant. It is comprehensive and it should change how you do business in your startup. Eric Ries writes a wonderful Foreword to Lean Analytics which he describes as moving beyond the Lean Startup bumper stickers and diving deep into the details of innovation accounting thereby avoiding the perils of vanity metrics. He concludes that the book is a `guide for all practitioners who seek new sources of growth'. I believe that `measuring what you do is critical to...

United Kingdom on Dec 13, 2013

Anon: LEAN ANALYTICS does a very good job of explaining and exampling LEAN metrics. But you'd be cheating yourself if you thought it only did that.

As the Founder & CEO of an 8-year old startup (iLiv.com), I have read, and re-read, all of the best startup and technology business books. This is the best book that I have right now, and the most applicable to my business.

The things that set this book apart are:

* It sends a message of calm. Too much startup writing spreads a nervous tension that I find bad for the brain. This book spreads considered thinking and confidence.

* The ideas in the book are easily mapped to a realizable process. Which is quite a trick, because there are many different situations that different readers will be in. Does this sound familiar?: Over the last 8 years, I have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to remap others' processes to iLiv's particular challenges; usually with just enough success to keep me going down the wrong path for far too long.

* Although not directly procedural, the writing is pragmatic. It is about how to think followed by what to do, and what to do next after that, and so on, with flexibility...

Canada on Sep 16, 2013

OpenToNewIdeas: This is quite a long book. I think it's excellent, and a natural follow-on to The Lean Start Up, which I'd also rate 5/5. I've just finished it. Here is what I can remember:

It lists the different types of (mainly software) companies: e-commerce; Software as a Service, free mobile app, media site, user-generated content, 2-sided marketplace.

A start-up company goes through 5 stages of growth: Empathy - listening to the customer to learn whether you've got a business or not; Stickiness - making sure you have a product that users will come back to, one that is "sticky", by iterating; Virality - once you've got a sticky product, and not before, think about getting more users. Virality can be inherent, artificial and/or word of mouth. Next, is Revenue, when you start to really concentrate on making money (before, you were getting the product and market fit right); Scale - growing the business.

What is also very useful, and most apt for the title of the book, is knowing what is a good metric. There are lines in the sand for all the business types, and the different growth stages. These can help you know when to move to the next stage, or even whether to pivot, and...

United Kingdom on Aug 12, 2013

I. Souweine: The lean startup movement is entering an exciting new phase, with big picture theory + evocative anecdotes giving way to careful case studies and more refined analysis of how to apply lean as a management discipline. The O'Reilly Lean Series is of course central to this transformation, and this Lean Analytics book in particular is a fantastic contribution.

I especially appreciated the clear exposition on key startup types (SaaS, E-Commerce, Media etc.) and the thorough analysis of what a customer funnel looks like for each model. If some of this material covers old ground, it does so in a fresh and easy-to-consume way that is valuable for novices and experienced practitioners alike. The case studies are also excellent and clearly reflect a significant amount of careful and passionate research.

My one gripe for the book is that there is too much time spent on lean startup refresh. I understand the urge to get readers on the same page, but it seems unlikely that many readers of a "lean 2.0" book such as this would not have the basics down, and so some of the material feels a little basic and repetitive. I would have rather seen less intro theory and more deeper dives...

United States on Mar 28, 2013

Margue L. Hunt: Perfect Menu for the New to Entrepreneurial-ship ...

I have encountered many GREAT new ideas throughout my career in Technology & Retail that never transitioned to reality, not because of lack of passion, but due to stunted entrepreneurial capability in the captain of the ship. LEAN ANALYTICS Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster will enable the New to Entrepreneurial-ship, formally educated or not. If you are embarking or are already deep into a Start-Up adVenture, Alistair Croll & Benjamin Yoskovitz share with you what you to incorporate to be successful at reaching that end objective and do it faster, better and in the longer-term cheaper.

Relevant evidence will help build confidence into the Start-Up enterprise; it will assist in validating what you already know, set direction and re-direction when it is needed - it will also help build the confidence of others in you & your Start-up to succeed. Understanding the value of establishing perception in others that will prove to be gateways to your Start-Up's success is a key element within the concepts shared and done in such a way that makes sense to the lay-person; you will not find a similar...

United States on Mar 23, 2013