Validate your business idea: THE LEAN STARTUP by Eric Ries

Eric Ries’s “Lean Startup” presents a methodology for developing products and businesses. Ries’ own experiences with his Silicon Valley startup, IMVU, underscored the importance of understanding customer desires. After spending six months integrating various instant messaging services into their product, they discovered, through direct feedback, that customers didn’t value these integrations. This led Ries to champion the use of Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) – simple versions of a product used to validate the assumptions about customers’ needs. Zappos and Exploding Kittens are cited as successful examples of businesses that leveraged MVPs, ultimately saving time and reducing wasted effort.