
Steve Blank hands a new owner's manual to startup founders - waderoush
http://www.xconomy.com/national/2012/03/30/steve-blank-hands-a-new-owners-manual-to-startup-founders/
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sudonim
Watch out for the dark UX pattern on the page. There are 2 ways to buy the
book from Amazon.

The first button is $39.99 + $5 shipping.

The second button is $26.40 + free shipping.

Here's an image to show you which link does what:
[https://img.skitch.com/20120330-bumpat24ar3dg3um252k59ndfd.p...](https://img.skitch.com/20120330-bumpat24ar3dg3um252k59ndfd.png)

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davidw
I'm curious to have a look - I ordered mine a few weeks ago. I was a bit
disappointed by Eric Ries' book - after reading "Start Small, Stay Small",
I've grown even less interested in hand wavy, "big picture" business books,
and want more practical advice of stuff I can do. I'm not a huge company that
wants to hire Eric to help me 'get lean'. I'm one guy working alone with
limited time, and really appreciate it when authors give me specific stuff I
can do. The fact that he's labeling it a 'manual' gives me hope that it'll
contain a lot of good stuff.

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badclient
For practical advice, I'd strongly recommend _Nail it, Then Scale It_. They go
as far as including exactly call scripts / emails to send, for example.

Eric's book seemed more like marketing material for lean targeted at big cos
who have no idea what it is.

~~~
rwillystyle
This looks like a rip off of Ash's Maurya's Running Lean:
<http://www.runningleanhq.com/>

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mindcrime
I seriously doubt Ash would have ever written "Running Lean" if it weren't for
Steve. The whole notion of the "lean startup" emerged partly as a result of
the influence of Steve Blank's work, on Eric Ries and others. Of course it
would make sense that there would be overlap between the work of Ash and Steve
(and Eric and others as far as that goes) but I very much doubt that Steve's
book is in any way a "ripoff" of the book Ash wrote.

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rwillystyle
Thanks for the downvotes because you kids can't read. I'm talking about the
"Nail It Then Scale It" book being a copy, not "4 steps.."

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mindcrime
> Thanks for the downvotes because you kids can't read. I'm talking about the
> "Nail It Then Scale It" book being a copy, not "4 steps.."

A perfect example of why it's good to quote what you're replying to. Your
message was so far over to the left, and was pushed down far enough below the
actual post you were replying to, that the context got lost. Scrolling down
the HN page, your reply appeared to be a reply to the parent post, implying
you were calling Steve's book a ripoff.

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robomartin
For a book about startup smarts they sure are missing something very important
on their site: A button to get on a list to be notified when the electronic
version is out.

I have zero interest in the printed version. Lately there have been only
certain books that I might consider buying in printed form. I want to buy this
book but will not do so until it is available on iBooks, Kindle or ePub
format. They should have had a "Want the upcoming electronic version?" button
for others who share my sentiment.

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dchuk
He's repeatedly said he won't come out with an ebook version of any of his
books. He wants people to use them like textbooks and write in notes and
highlight things for future reference. He never created an ebook version of 4
Steps To The Epiphany either.

The button you want will literally never show up on that site.

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ianpurton
Hey Mr Blank, kindle version please.

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ovi256
I saw somewhere that a kindle edition is incoming.

For the older book, he refused to publish one, because he thought that it was
more like a workbook, you're supposed to dogear it, take notes on the margins,
color code, put postits on the pages, carry it around with you.

~~~
lnanek
Hmm, well, re the last thing he wants, carrying it around; if there were a
Kindle version of this it would be in the Kindle app on my phone which is with
me almost constantly. A physical book, I don't think I'd bother carrying
anywhere, which would probably prevent me from doing anything else to it or
with it except one quick read and giving it away or having it rot on the
shelf.

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ovi256
FWIW, I ordered mine from a link I got in the last thread discussing this,
from the Book Repository, which sells it for 20 Euros with free worldwide
shipping. For me, it was a better deal than the local Amazon.

[http://www.bookdepository.com/Startup-Owners-Manual-Steve-
Bl...](http://www.bookdepository.com/Startup-Owners-Manual-Steve-
Blank/9780984999309)

~~~
Ecio78
In my case it's not available in the local Amazon so I think i'll do the same

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l1ghtm4n
Steve Blank is speaking next week at Startup Grind for those in SV.
<http://www.meetup.com/Startup-Grind/events/38750922/>

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lnanek
Would have bought it if there was a Kindle version...heck even a PDF
version...

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nirvana
Steve Blank is shooting himself in the foot, I think.

He's said (repeatedly?) that he won't make ebooks versions of his books
because he wants people to be able to write in them, and to highlight things.

I have around 800[1] books in iBooks. I own, literally, zero, physical books.
(I live nomadically and all my possessions fit in a single bag.) I don't care
how great the book is-- and frankly, this book is at the top of my "want to
buy list", and prior to it, the 4 steps to the epiphany was at the top of that
list for FOUR YEARS.

But his reasoning is mistaken-- these features aren't unique to physical
books, in fact, they exist and even work much better in e-readers.

iBooks allows you to write notes about what you're reading, and highlight
things for future reference. In iBooks your notes and highlighted text along
with bookmarks also sync across devices, allowing you to read it on the iPad
at night and then pick up on the iPhone at work. ( I don't know if the kindle
reader has similar features. )

Here's the thing, this is the customer development guy who says "Get out of
the building." Yet he's not listening to his own customers! His customers are
_demanding_ ebook versions, very emphatically, and they do so on every single
blog post he makes mentioning either book, he gets dozens and dozens of
comments from people asking when there will be an iBooks or kindle version.

For me, his refusal to listen to his own customers kinda goes against his
entire business agenda. (I think this issue is just hitting a personal blind
spot of his, and I'd have to guess that he's afraid the books will be pirated
if he releases them electronically. I'm not saying he's a hypocrite, but he,
of all people, should be listening to his customers.)

[1] Couldn't believe this myself, so I just checked. iTunes reports 794 items.
I think about %10 are ephemera (like maps in PDF format, etc). Maybe %20 are
newsletters I've subscribed to over the years that are in PDF format. But its
shocking how quickly ePub is being adopted as a standard. I've probably
actually bought less than 100 items from the iBookstore.

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davidw
I even offered to do this book for free via LiberWriter on some blog post of
his, in order to have an eBook version.

Perhaps the "problem" is that in business terms, it doesn't really matter:
he's already set for life in terms of money, so he's simply not concerned
about customers in terms of hustling for money. So he thinks the paper version
is superior and is going to stick by his guns.

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lclaude01
In any type of "gold rush", this is the one selling "shovels" who's making
money.

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rwillystyle
I believe there's even a startup that sells startup "plays", which are just
excel spreadsheets with todo lists, and they're killing it.

