Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster 1st Edition

This book has several gems. Highly recommended.Focusing on the One Metric That Matters forces you to run targeted experiments, to find the hard truths about your product, and to push things forward.The model of startup phases was very useful. It argues that successful startups move from from empathy to stickiness to virality to revenue to scale. It gives useful criteria for determining which phase you are in, how to decide to move to the next stage, and why you should stick around in your current phase for as long as it takes.I loved the practical advice for important metrics for each phase, what your "line in the sand" should be for the metrics, and a strategy for maintaining the metric after you've moved to the next phase.The discussion on types of business and the applicable metrics and case studies is gold. I found the advice for internal entrepreneurs to be spot on, and a good complement to The Innovators Dilemma.I was hoping for some practical advice on analytics packages, aggregating analytics, and presentation. There is a little bit there, on recognizing vanity metrics, and using the first- and second-order derivatives to get actionable analytics. I found it lacking on actual recommendations of software I could buy or license. However, when I went to investigate online offerings, I was able to quickly determine if a package fit my startup's phase and business type. The framework made it easier to make my own choices, and to recognize that I'm going to have to do some of the work to create analytics that apply to my projects. I imagine the different vendors will focus their pitches toward Lean Analytics readers in the future.I expect this book will earn a place on most founder's shelves, next to the Lean Startup and others, but with a lot more bookmarks and notes in the margins.

Lean Analytics is a great fit within the “Lean Startup” movement. The book provides a very comprehensive overview of the different metrics worth tracking and – most importantly – offers a clear rationale as to why certain metrics should be tracked for a specific business model at a given stage.Before going on to explore how metrics can be applied to different business models, the book does a great job in explaining what makes a good metric:Comparative – Being able to compare a metric to other time periods, groups of users, or competitors, helps you understand which way things are moving.Understandable – If people can’t remember it and discuss it, it’s much harder to turn a change in the data into a change in the culture.A ratio or a rate – Ratios or rates tend to be easier to act on, they are inherently comparative (see the first characteristic above) and they are good for comparing opposing factors.Changes the way you behave – What will you differently based on changes in the metric?The thing I liked most about Lean Analytics is that all of it makes perfect sense. The book provides a well thought through approach to making sense of something that can be complex and challenging at times: data.

Perfect Menu for the New to Entrepreneurial-ship ...I have encountered many GREAT new ideas throughout my career in Technology & Retail that never transitioned to reality, not because of lack of passion, but due to stunted entrepreneurial capability in the captain of the ship. LEAN ANALYTICS Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster will enable the New to Entrepreneurial-ship, formally educated or not. If you are embarking or are already deep into a Start-Up adVenture, Alistair Croll & Benjamin Yoskovitz share with you what you to incorporate to be successful at reaching that end objective and do it faster, better and in the longer-term cheaper.Relevant evidence will help build confidence into the Start-Up enterprise; it will assist in validating what you already know, set direction and re-direction when it is needed - it will also help build the confidence of others in you & your Start-up to succeed. Understanding the value of establishing perception in others that will prove to be gateways to your Start-Up's success is a key element within the concepts shared and done in such a way that makes sense to the lay-person; you will not find a similar approach to this message in any of your typical analytics, statistics, performance management or six sigma book.There appears to be a magical-season for Start-Ups between bootstrapping and initial investment that will make or break the potential for that GREAT new idea to move through infancy; many all-out ignore data to assist in decision making and other become petrified by a drive for data perfection before setting direction. There are real risks to over/under complication; following the step laid out in this book will set you up to have a practical evolution in your relationship with measurable evidence.The only suggestion that I have (& the reason for 4 versus 5 stars) and that I will be doing for the Start-Ups that I work with is to have a summary map of the book that allows the reader to check-mark what they have already accomplished and move forward to that that section of the book that aligns to where they are in their evolution of their business. This recommendation speaks to the diversity of Start-Up businesses & their entrepreneurial capability that I believe this book was written for; the book is comprehensive in content for the audience, but usability for a population that wants to move fast may not get anchored in Chapter 1 and it would be a tragedy to lose the opportunity to enable the GREAT new ideas and the captains of the ships.