Thinking about starting a business? Read these books!

I was talking to a friend of mine about some ideas he had, as he has been involved with entrepreneurship and startups for a long time, I wanted to know his opinion.

We talked about various things until I started talking about my "idea", and he pointed out several things I was doing wrong and gave me some tips. Of these tips, 2 books were responsible for a very big change in my whole plan and helped me to see what I was doing wrong. I strongly recommend:

• The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
• The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick

About the books

The Lean Startup helps you structure a path to follow when creating a startup. By Eric's definition

“ Startup is a human institution
designed to create new products and services
under extreme conditions uncertainty. ”

The 5 Lean Startup Principles:

1. The principles can be applied to any startup.
2. Entrepreneurship is management, a startup is not a product but an institution.
3. Validated learning. Learn to develop a sustainable business. “This learning can be scientifically validated through frequent experiments that allow entrepreneurs to test every element of their vision.”
4. Build-Measure-Learn: turn ideas into products, measure how customers react, and then learn whether to pivot or persevere. “All processes should be geared towards accelerating this feedback loop.”
5. Accounting for innovation. Measure progress set milestones and prioritize work.

The Mom Test helps you talk about your idea in a way that even your mother couldn't lie to make you happy :-)

Main principles:

1. Talk about your life instead of your idea;
2. Ask about specs in the past instead of generics or opinions about the future;
3. Talk less and listen more.

I hope it helps you in the same way it has helped me.