Most startups fail. But those failures, says entrepreneur Eric Ries, are preventable. New ventures, from the garage to those within Fortune 500 companies, are designed to create innovative products or services that have never existed before. When these startups fail, it is usually not because they didn’t execute well enough-on the contrary, they “achieved failure” by building the wrong things very efficiently . Startups cannot use traditional planning and management tools, because their product and customers are unknown. The primary mission of entrepreneurs is to penetrate the uncertainty about what customers will ultimately embrace, and discover a path to a successful business. The Lean Startup methodology offers a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups. It relies on what Ries calls “validated learning” to build a sustainable business. It is a way of getting continuous feedback so that a company can decide whether or not to persevere in their vision, or pivot and shift directions. It allows entrepreneurs a way to adapt their plans incrementally, inch by inch, minute by minute. In other words, rather than creating an elaborate business plan, The Lean Startup offers a way to test your vision continuously, so that you can innovate and adjust while you still have time to do so. From the Hardcover edition.