I have mixed feelings about The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries. On one hand, I believe the information and ideas are valid and helpful. The author is targeting a lot of wasteful practices and providing management techniques for overcoming inefficiencies. It’s good stuff.

On the other hand, the book is filled with stories and anecdotes from the technology world. Frankly, I’m getting a bit sick of that. Which may surprise you. I’ve lived in or near Silicon Valley all of my life and you’d think I would be a major advocate for the tech industry. But Silicon Valley doesn’t need management help nearly as much as the thousands of other industries out there. It would be great to see Ries write a version of this book for the small companies and entrepreneurs: the plumbers, florists, independent restaurants, and all the rest.

The other thing that puts me off about this book is the implication that the entrepreneurs goal is to get venture capital funding, go public on the stock exchange, or be bought out by a larger company. Again, that may be the goal for all those start ups in Silicon Valley. But it’s not for the other 90% who just want to build and own a great small company.

Now I’m sure that Ries would argue that the books principles apply to all of the companies. Many of them do. And he’d no doubt argue that the mom & pop companies could benefit from the practices he advocates. And then he’d argue that there are plenty of non-technology companies that have taken his ideas and been successful.

Yup, I’d agree with him. But this is a book review, and in his book those points are far outweighed by the sense that Ries is writing to the Silicon Valley entrepreneur who wants his product or service to go viral so they can attract VC money and eventually go public. My point is that even though this is a big part of our economy, it is still an exception, not the norm.

So if you run a small businesses and want to learn about the principles of a lean startup, this is a good book for you to read. But be forewarned that it uses case studies mostly about the tech industry, and that it is couched in terms that at least subtly (if not downright forcibly) imply your goal is to make Zuckerberg type money.

Should you buy the book? Probably, yes, if you are in a start up endeavor. Just be prepared to toss out the stories and examples that most likely do not apply to you.

And if you do buy the book, buy it at Amazon through Junkyard Wisdom, and I’ll get a small commission. Which I will then promptly donate to PathLight!