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The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development: A cheat sheet to The Four Steps to the Epiphany Kindle Edition

by Brant Cooper (Author), Patrick Vlaskovits (Author), Steven Blank (Foreword) Format: Kindle Edition

280 ratings

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This book is bundled with the authors' upcoming book, The Lean Entrepreneur.

“This is a must read for all startups and stakeholders.”

— Steve Blank, author of The 4 Steps to the Epiphany, creator of Customer Development methodology

“The Entrepreneur’s Guide is an easy read. It is written in a conversational tone, doesn’t take itself too seriously, and avoids extraneous fluff.”

— Eric Ries, Author & Creator of the Lean Startup methodology

“Get the CustDev book to dive deep into customer interviews and understand how your product can be developed to meet your customers' needs.”

— Dan Martell, Founder of Flowtown, angel investor

Customer Development is a four-step framework for helping startups discover and validate their customers, product, and go-to-market strategy, developed by Steve Blank and an integral part of Eric Ries' Lean Startup methodology. Focused on the Customer Discovery step, The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development is an easy to follow guide for finding early adopters, building a Minimum Viable Product, finding Product-Market fit, and establishing a sales and marketing roadmap.

Deemed a "must-read" by Steve Blank and Eric Ries, inside you will find detailed customer development and lean startup concept definitions, a step-by-step approach to best practices, a business model analysis guide, case studies, rich graphics, as well as worksheets and exercises. No matter the stage of your business, you will return often to this guide to learn how to build a product people want ;"get out of the building;" foster strong customer relationships; test business model risk; reach out to early adopters; conduct startup marketing; create a customer funnel based on buyers' process; and prepare your startup to scale up.

This book is both an introduction for those unfamiliar with lean concepts and highly actionable for lean practitioners. It is a user friendly guide, written to be accessible to marketing professionals, Engineers startup founders and entrepreneurs, VCs, angels, and anyone else involved in building scalable startups.

Existing companies will benefit to from applying Customer Development principles described in detail herein: for example, startups struggling to achieve market traction, or well established companies seeking to spark new innovation.

This is a business book for startups like no other. No fluff, but rather sound principles and concrete steps to take to build your business. For more information on Customer Development, please see Brant Cooper's and Patrick Vlaskovits' respective blogs.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Brant Cooper helps startups get started. As a Lean Startup thought leader, he travels the world speaking to entrepreneurs at conferences, hackathons and workshops. Recent speaking events include the Kuala Lumpur Venture Capital Symposium, Lean Startup conferences in Vancouver and Michigan, the Forward Technology Conference in Wisconsin, the Lean Startup Challenge in Boston, and Lean Startup Machines in London, New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. Brant also consults for and advises startups on Lean Startups and Customer Development, with clients in Silicon Valley, New York, San Diego, France, Australia and Singapore.

Clients include Qualcomm, MOGL, HubKick, MotherKnows, i.TV, Lean Startup Machine, Discovr and many others.

Prior to becoming involved in the Lean Startup community, Brant was involved with startups in a more traditional way. He has over 20 years experience in IT and a long track record of bringing high tech products to market. As a leader in Professional Services, Product Management and Marketing, he has directed strategy, design, marketing and implementation of numerous products for a variety of startups including Tumbleweed, Timestamp, WildPackets, Incode and InfoBright.

He has published articles for Venture Beat and Business Insider, blogs at Market By Numbers and tweets @brantcooper.

Patrick Vlaskovits is an entrepreneur, mentor and author. He has founded two startups (now on his third).

Patrick has spoken at tech conferences nationally and internationally, including SXSW. He blogs at http: //vlaskovits.com and can be followed on Twitter @Pv. Patrick enjoys advising and mentoring and serves as a mentor for the 500 Startups seed fund/accelerator as well as for The Lean Startup Machine.

Patrick organizes Twiistup, a well-attended tech/startup conference that celebrates the entrepreneurial and investment talent of the Los Angeles startup ecosystem. He also organizes the Los Angeles Lean Startup Meetup.

Patrick holds a Master's in Economics (emphases in finance and econometrics) from University of California, Santa Barbara. When he has spare time, he can be found with his family usually on the beach or in the ocean either fishing or surfing.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0047GMERK
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Moves the Needle
Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 15, 2010
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 589 KB
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 107 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780982743621
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0982743621
Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #706,424 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #258 in Marketing for Small Businesses
- #311 in Business Technology Innovation
- #528 in Startups

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280 ratings

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Patrick Vlaskovits
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Patrick Vlaskovits is a NYT bestselling author and entrepreneur. His writing has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, the Wall Street Journal, and The Browser. Patrick routinely speaks at technology conferences nationally and internationally. He serves as a mentor for 500 Startups seed fund and startup accelerator and is founder and CEO of Superpowered.
Tweet at him @Pv.
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Brant Cooper
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BRANT COOPER is The New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Entrepreneur and CEO and founder of Moves the Needle. He is a trusted adviser to startups and large enterprises around the world. With more than 25 years of expertise in changing industrial age mindset into digital age opportunity, he blends agile, human-centered design, and lean methodologies to ignite entrepreneurial action from the front lines to the C-suite.
As a sought-after keynote speaker, startup mentor, and executive advisor, he travels the globe sharing his vision for reimagining 21st century organizations. Bringing agility, digital transformation, and a focus on creating value for customers, he helps leaders navigate the uncertainty brought on by increased complexity and endless disruption.
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Customers find this guide to be a practical and easy-to-read introduction to customer development, particularly valuable for new entrepreneurs. The book receives positive feedback for its actionable content, with one customer highlighting its specific actionable items. However, the content receives mixed reviews, with one customer noting it's rather light on material. Additionally, the book's shortness and graphics quality receive criticism, with customers finding it brief and noting issues with readability.

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Advice Value for money Readability Actionable Content Graphics quality Shortness

28 customers mention "Advice"25 positive3 negative

Customers find this book to be a practical guide that serves as a great introduction to customer development concepts, making it particularly valuable for new entrepreneurs.

"...Trouble is CD is not easy to grasp, and this one book helps tremendously...." Read more

"...I read through it in a morning, and now it sits, heavily annotated, on my desk for quick reference. It's a great book if you: *..." Read more

"This book is very straightforward (and short) when it comes to explaining Steve's book so it does exactly what it sets out to do...." Read more

"...what Customer Development was, and now feel I have a pretty firm grasp on the concepts and the terminology...." Read more

23 customers mention "Value for money"17 positive6 negative

Customers find the book valuable for lean startup entrepreneurship, with one mentioning it was recommended by a Stanford professor.

"...It's a great book if you: * Are starting a business right now * Are running a P&L in a larger company *..." Read more

"...Okay, now for the real question - Is this book worth getting, or should you just get Blank's original? Get them both...." Read more

"...basis knowledge of customer development it is just too simple and of little use..." Read more

"Loved how condensed and to the point it was. I am generally too busy to sit down and read so I normally just listen to audiobooks..." Read more

17 customers mention "Readability"14 positive3 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and clearly written, describing it as a fast read.

"...of the analytical models that are available on line, but it's clearly written, thoughtfully organized and definitely worth your time." Read more

"I liked the style of writing and the authors explain concepts well, but for anyone with basis knowledge of customer development it is just too..." Read more

"...It is well written. and is easily read on the bus, between meetings or otherwise. -..." Read more

"This book was a quick read and extremely useful...." Read more

4 customers mention "Actionable"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's actionable content, with one mentioning specific exercises and another highlighting its focus on execution.

"...The book provides a great roadmap, as well as some actionable exercises to make your efforts that much more effective. Buy it. Read it...." Read more

"...It is not about theory. It is about execution, "getting out of the building," and creating something awesome that people need." Read more

"...This is a great intro with very specific actionable items. If you're looking for fluff or tales of VC derring do then look elsewhere...." Read more

"Useful mix between theory and examples, easy to read, clear and concrete, very handful before, during and after a Lean Startup workshop...." Read more

5 customers mention "Content"0 positive5 negative

Customers find the content of the book lacking, with one customer noting it is only 96 pages long.

"...it just covers 1/4 of the original Steve Blank book, and is rather light on content...." Read more

"...very small amount of content stretched out through use of many blank pages, huge spacing, lots of drawings that add very little, tiny page size,..." Read more

"Not well worth the money for this book, not enough content, too brief, layout of book not professionally done, could have done better in the overall..." Read more

"...It is not worth it. Moreover, it is very light in content and lacks any originality. I returned mine!..." Read more

3 customers mention "Graphics quality"0 positive3 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the graphics in the book, with one noting they are hard to read and another mentioning that the drawings add little value.

"...The graphics are hard to read on a kindle but when I approached the writer (Patrick Vlaskovits) I got a pdf of the book on the same day which was..." Read more

"...out through use of many blank pages, huge spacing, lots of drawings that add very little, tiny page size, and other tricks...." Read more

"...money for this book, not enough content, too brief, layout of book not professionally done, could have done better in the overall presentation." Read more

3 customers mention "Shortness"0 positive3 negative

Customers find the book very short.

"...This applies both within sections and between them. It is also surprisingly short (Reading just 15 minutes we get to 41% of the book)...." Read more

"Not well worth the money for this book, not enough content, too brief, layout of book not professionally done, could have done better in the overall..." Read more

"Good book. But very short and brief." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

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Clint Day
A Valuable Book for Lean Startup Entrepreneurship.
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2016
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Other reviewers don't understand evidenced-based entrepreneurship. It is the new way to build a business that doubles a person's chance for success. At its core is the customer development (CD) method developed by Steve Blank out of Silicon Valley. Trouble is CD is not easy to grasp, and this one book helps tremendously. All depends on finding the right prospect and interviewing them correctly. Cooper's book does that well. His Chapter 8, "8 Steps to Customer Discovery", is gold. How to find prospects, how to reach out (interview) prospects, and the problem solving fit. Don't be critical o such a valuable book to lean startup followers. Clinton E. Day, MBA, entrepreneurship professor/author.

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6 people found this helpful

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Matthew Bellows
Good Snapshot of Current Thinking on Customer Development
Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2010
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I'm using this book as a Guide for my startup Yesware [...]
and it's been a great touchstone. I read through it in a morning, and now it sits, heavily annotated, on my desk for quick reference.

It's a great book if you:

* Are starting a business right now
* Are running a P&L in a larger company
* Are studying current trends in entrepreneurial thinking

This Guide effectively gathers and summarizes the concepts of the leading actors in the Customer Development/Lean Startup school of running a business. Before this, there was one self-published book on the topic and hundreds of excellent but hard to find blog posts scattered around the web. So it's fantastic to have the main themes of CD gathered authoritatively in one short book.

The Guide doesn't advance the discussion significantly, and it lacks some of the analytical models that are available on line, but it's clearly written, thoughtfully organized and definitely worth your time.

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4 people found this helpful

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LD
Good and easy read if you don't have time for the original 4 steps to epiphany
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2012
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
This book is very straightforward (and short) when it comes to explaining Steve's book so it does exactly what it sets out to do.

I read that some people are annoyed with the 'tweets' throughout the book - To me it helped emphasis what was important.

The graphics are hard to read on a kindle but when I approached the writer (Patrick Vlaskovits) I got a pdf of the book on the same day which was very nice of him.

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3 people found this helpful

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Denitsa Kibarska
Overly simplified
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2013
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
I liked the style of writing and the authors explain concepts well, but for anyone with basis knowledge of customer development it is just too simple and of little use...

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cjwake
You don't know what you don't know
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2011
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
I highly recommend this book to anyone starting a business or interested in knowing more about what it takes. It is well written. and is easily read on the bus, between meetings or otherwise.

- Will this book guarantee your success or lead to untold riches? -
Seriously?! This is not a self-help infomercial. There are no guarantees in starting a business. If you wanted a guarantee, you'd be working a normal job. If you are serious about launching your own startup and you recognize the importance of finding and developing customers at the outset, this book will put you in the right frame of mind, and will give you some actionable tools to build a product that people (read: people you don't already know) want.

- Isn't the Internet littered with free resources for this stuff? -
It's true, there is no shortage of free articles or blog posts on the web with quips on customer discovery & development, but A) it takes time to find them, and I have yet to see any startup with "excess" time, and B) customers are the most important asset of any business, so learning how to find and develop your biggest asset should merit more than reading anecdotes online. The book provides a great roadmap, as well as some actionable exercises to make your efforts that much more effective. Buy it. Read it. You'll be thankful later.

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3 people found this helpful

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R. Mutt
good, but not what it says
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2010
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
First of all, this is NOT, as the title claims, a cheat sheet to The Four Steps of the Epiphany.

Right in the book, on page 21, the authors state that this book focuses on the first step only (Customer Discovery). And I quote: "Future books will attempt to tackle other portions of the Customer Development process - believe us when we say that Customer Discovery is more than enough to 'bite off' at one time."

I am docking the book one star for this. The authors should know better.

Okay, now for the real question - Is this book worth getting, or should you just get Blank's original?

Get them both. Read Blank's first, then read this one and use it to update the notes you took from Blank's book. They work well together but I would not just get this one, as you only get a small piece of the whole picture (per the authors' own admission).

It's worth $30 if you actually use it, but don't assume it's a shortcut to Blank's book. It's only 1/4 of a shortcut.

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107 people found this helpful

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Fujiubear
Great intro to Customer Development
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2011
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Went into reading this book with a vague idea what Customer Development was, and now feel I have a pretty firm grasp on the concepts and the terminology. One of the most important takeaways for me, as a product manager, is to test all of my assumptions. This doesnt just apply to the major tenants of a business model for a startup. It could be a new feature you are launching. You think you know what value it will provide and that users will adopt for reasons x, y and z, but you dont know until to test. Challenge your assumptions! Love it.

Would definitely recommend to other product professionals, or entrepreneurs looking to validate their ideas.

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2 people found this helpful

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Aaron Eden
Great Introduction
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2010
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
This book was a quick read and extremely useful. I'm in the process of trying to learn Lean-Startup techniques so I can stop wasting so much time building companies just to find out I had something wrong in my assumptions.

Don't expect to read this book and be ready to go as it's more of an exercise book (which is what I wanted). You should definitely take a look!

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3 people found this helpful

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Patricia
Book summary pdf style
Reviewed in India on September 5, 2020
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Was not at all happy with this book. Read like a graduates students book summary. Poorly formatted and no fresh ideas worth talking about. I heard a webinar by Julie Stoian and May check put some of her materials.

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HORACIO MARTINEZ MENDEZ
Recomendable
Reviewed in Mexico on July 10, 2020
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Excelente libro y compra

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Spiff
an excellente summary
Reviewed in Italy on October 19, 2017
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
A very good crib of the concepts expressed in Steve Blank seminal book, with very interesting examples. Worth reading if you approached the original book and never been able to reed all the way through...

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SK
ein tolles Buch
Reviewed in Germany on March 15, 2020
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Ein tolles Buch

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Magdalena
good book
Reviewed in Poland on February 26, 2023
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
good book

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