The Real Startup Book: A Free, Community-Written Lean Guide
38 volunteers, Creative Commons, and a new release every two weeks
By Tristan Kromer · 
Last time I wrote about The Real Startup Book I was asking for lean startup interns… The response was overwhelming. 38 people expressed interest in helping and most of them weren’t interns…they were real practitioners like Sean K Murphy, an OG of lean startup, and Luke Szyrmer, who is writing a whole book on landing pages. They all wanted to either share their experience or just learn something new. So in the interests of the project, we’re opening it up under Creative Commons. This means that anyone will be able to use, remix, and rehash what we come up with under the terms of that license. If you’re not familiar with Creative Commons, it basically means the book will be like open source software: free to use for the benefit of the community. It will also be written by the community. Everyone who contributes will be listed as an author. Download
Quick Answer: The Real Startup Book is a free, community-written, Creative Commons–licensed guide that helps entrepreneurs craft the right experiment to validate business model unknowns. What makes this startup book unique is that it’s being built using the very lean methods it teaches — concierge tests, smoke tests, usability tests — with new releases every two weeks. As practitioners, we can contribute feedback, suggest corrections, or join as co-authors through the open Trello board and Lean Startup Circle Slack channel.
Lean Publishing?
To try and keep the project true to the spirit and purpose, we’ll be as lean as possible during the production of the book. e.g.
- Concierge tests - Kromatic LLC has been using it for over a year now
- Comprehension & smoke tests - Austin Eford & Josephine Wong are making sure that everyone can understand the value proposition and building a landing page to test it: The Real Startup Book
- Other Smoke tests - We’ve been testing this via blog posts leading to a download form:
- Usability tests - Casey Sakima has been doing usability tests to understand if people are good at writing hypotheses and how we can improve their abilities
- Usability / Readability tests - We have a number of reviewers like Phyo Pine from around the world who are giving feedback on the language and making sure non-native English speakers find it accessible.
New Release Every Two Weeks
We are going to attempt to release a new version of the Real Startup Book once every two weeks. It may be that it’s impossible given the time constraints of everyone involved. But that’s the goal. We just need to iron out our build & deploy system! Download
An Open Project Plan
We’re keeping the project plan publicly available in Trello: The Real Startup Book Project Plan It’s a bit messy so in true lean fashion we’re adjusting the process itself as we go. If you’d like to be invited to the board to contribute, just email me or one of the other contributors. The board is open to comments and I’ll keep it open so long as that doesn’t get distracting. I’ll also start a channel on the Lean Startup Circle Slack for conversation purposes which you can ask to join.
The Real Startup Book
Why the name? Why does it keep changing? Good questions…we’re iterating on everything, including the name of the book. It may change again but it’s getting a bit more solidified. If you want to read about the origins of the name, you can read the preface here.
Getting Feedback
What we most need right now is feedback from you. We’re asking for feedback at every stage of the process. Comments and corrections are critical to getting this project right! Our staging server is google drive and you can access The Real Startup Book draft. Just ask and we’ll give you commenting access. You can also download the pdf version here and send us feedback. You can tweet @RealStartupBook as well. Anything works. Download
What should we change?
Is there anything we should be doing that we’re not? Some test we should be running better? Probably…please let us know in the comments below.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is The Real Startup Book and why is it different from other startup books?
The Real Startup Book is a community-written, open-source resource published under Creative Commons that helps entrepreneurs craft the best experiment or research project to bring clarity to business model unknowns. Unlike traditional startup books, it’s written by practitioners, released iteratively every two weeks, and free for anyone to use, remix, and reshare.
How is The Real Startup Book being built using lean startup methods?
The team is practicing what they preach by applying lean startup methods to the book’s own production. This includes concierge tests (Kromatic has used the content for over a year), smoke tests via landing pages and blog posts, usability tests on hypothesis writing, and readability reviews from non-native English speakers around the world.
Can anyone contribute to The Real Startup Book?
Yes — the project is fully open to community contributions. The project plan is publicly available on Trello, contributors are listed as co-authors, and the content is licensed under Creative Commons. As product managers and practitioners, we can contribute feedback on drafts via Google Drive, tweet at @RealStartupBook, or join the Lean Startup Circle Slack channel.
Why does The Real Startup Book keep changing its name?
The team is iterating on everything — including the book’s name. In true lean fashion, nothing is considered final until validated. The name has evolved over time and may change again, though it’s becoming more solidified. You can read about the origins of the name in the book’s preface at realstartupbook.com.
How often is a new version of The Real Startup Book released?
The goal is to release a new version every two weeks, following a Build-Measure-Learn cadence. The team acknowledges this pace may be difficult given contributors’ time constraints, but rapid iteration and continuous feedback are central to keeping this startup book aligned with its lean principles.
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