All you need to know about 'The Lean Startup' in simple videos.

The book "The Lean Startup" caused a real disruption in startup thinking after its publication in 2011. It is truly a very important book to go through… you can read it, listen to it, or read its summary—the key is to understand this philosophy. In short, the book’s idea will save years of your life!

The author, Eric Ries, tried to convey his idea through stories and experiences from his own journey… and he truly excelled in most chapters of the book.

I have gathered for you—and for myself—the most important videos that summarize the book. Each clip highlights a different dimension and completes the overall picture. Even if you have read the book, these clips will remind you of it in a great way.

1- Book summary by Akhdar

As usual, the creative Mohamed Osama summarized the essence of the book in a very engaging story rooted in our Egyptian environment, using excellent examples: The Lean Startup Company – A Cartoon Review of Eric Ries’s Book. This link contains the same summary written in formal Arabic:
https://a5dr.com/book/1606
Thanks to Akhdar.

2- El Zatoona Summary

Here, Michael Rashid summarizes the main points of the book in less than 10 minutes:

El Zatoona – Four Steps to Establish a Successful Project – Summary of The Lean Startup

Thanks to El Zatoona.

3- 123 Lean Startup Course

This is a free course consisting of very nice short videos, in addition to simply prepared articles about the book’s idea and how to implement it in real life.
To read the articles, click here, and you can watch the videos from here.

Thanks to Alif Startup – Harabee’ + Amjad Jenbaz.

4- Discussion of the Book from the “Hayah Akthar” Podcast

I really like this podcast… and I think I once heard Marco and Ahmed summarizing the book and its ideas in one of the episodes, but I can’t access it now.

However, I found this episode: How to Establish a Successful Project? – A Dialogue with Eng. Hatem El-Shamma (Coordinator of The Lean Startup Circle in Egypt), where he also talks about the book and its idea. You can listen to it on your way to work through any podcast app or on SoundCloud.

Thanks to Increase + Hatem El-Shamma.

5- If You Want to Watch More Videos

This is a YouTube playlist that will be updated from time to time. I compiled it for you and for myself so we can watch it together. It includes more than 50 videos. The first ones are in Arabic, including videos by Akhdar, El Zatoona, and the “123 Lean Startup” course, and the rest are in English. Some videos feature Eric Ries himself and Steve Blank, who is one of the pioneers of this concept and whose books and articles were referenced in the book, in addition to review and summary videos of the book.

By the way, none of these videos replaces reading the book or at least reading a detailed summary to complete the full picture.

6- Presentation

The author presented it at a conference in 2010 before the book was published. Take a look—you will like it.
www.slideshare.net/500startups/eric-ries

7- If You Want to Read More About This Idea

Official website:
http://theleanstartup.com

Official blog:
www.startuplessonslearned.com

Dr. Steve Blank’s website:
http://steveblank.com/

And this is a group for people interested in this movement in Egypt:
Lean Startup Circle – Egypt

8- By the way, the book has been translated into Arabic by Jarir under the title “Lean Strategy for Establishing Projects.” Personally, I do not prefer the word “projects” in the title because it suggests that the book is related to project management. I wish the title had been “Startups/New Companies.” Perhaps the word “projects” was chosen to better fit our local environment, as young people here say, “I want to start a project,” not “I want to start a startup.”

If you prefer e-reading, you can buy the book from the Jarir Reader website, or get a physical copy from any of their distributors.

Finally: Criticism of the Book

Although the book caused significant disruption and gained great popularity in the entrepreneurship world both globally and locally, and many people admire it greatly, there are a few others who feel completely the opposite. Some see it as an inspiring and excellent book, while others find it somewhat boring.

Some believe every word in the book should be studied deeply, while others think it contains many unnecessary details. Many reviewers even said it could have been less than 100 pages instead of 360.

As for those who felt disappointed after reading it—such as some Amazon reviewers—most of them expected the book to provide an action plan. However, the author clearly stated in both the introduction and conclusion that the book does not offer an action plan; rather, it is a conceptual book that follows a different approach to business. A very practical approach with minimal cost and the best experiments to learn from—and it truly succeeded in that.