The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products That Win
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-05-07 11:54:08
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Steve Blank
- ISBN：1119690358
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Summary
The bestselling classic that launched 10，000 startups and new corporate ventures - The Four Steps to the Epiphany is one of the most influential and practical business books of all time。The Four Steps to the Epiphany launched the Lean Startup approach to new ventures。 It was the first book to offer that startups are not smaller versions of large companies and that new ventures are different than existing ones。 Startups search for business models while existing companies execute them。
The book offers the practical and proven four-step Customer Development process for search and offers insight into what makes some startups successful and leaves others selling off their furniture。
Rather than blindly execute a plan， The Four Steps helps uncover flaws in product and business plans and correct them before they become costly。 Rapid iteration， customer feedback， testing your assumptions are all explained in this book。
Packed with concrete examples of what to do， how to do it and when to do it， the book will leave you with new skills to organize sales， marketing and your business for success。If your organization is starting a new venture， and you're thinking how to successfully organize sales， marketing and business development you need The Four Steps to the Epiphany。Essential reading for anyone starting something new。
The Four Steps to the Epiphany was originally published by K&S Ranch Publishing Inc。 and is now available from Wiley。 The cover， design， and content are the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product。
The book offers the practical and proven four-step Customer Development process for search and offers insight into what makes some startups successful and leaves others selling off their furniture。
Rather than blindly execute a plan， The Four Steps helps uncover flaws in product and business plans and correct them before they become costly。 Rapid iteration， customer feedback， testing your assumptions are all explained in this book。
Packed with concrete examples of what to do， how to do it and when to do it， the book will leave you with new skills to organize sales， marketing and your business for success。If your organization is starting a new venture， and you're thinking how to successfully organize sales， marketing and business development you need The Four Steps to the Epiphany。Essential reading for anyone starting something new。
The Four Steps to the Epiphany was originally published by K&S Ranch Publishing Inc。 and is now available from Wiley。 The cover， design， and content are the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product。
Reviews
Sanedevil
，
Good read but gets too verbose。 A more concise version w more real life examples would have been better。
Amy Stephens
，
Great read on how lean startups should operate and what they should focus on。 Loved learning about the customer development cycle。
Zhe Ren
，
It is very comprehensive and scopeful compared with most of other PM books - it actually runs through the essential stages for most startups in different market types。 However， this book is not very readable。 It's more like a manual that you can check when you run into problems。 It is very comprehensive and scopeful compared with most of other PM books - it actually runs through the essential stages for most startups in different market types。 However， this book is not very readable。 It's more like a manual that you can check when you run into problems。 。。。more
Denis Sikorsky
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Same thing over and over again， but good ideas overall。 Verify everything before spending ton of cash。
CL
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I loved the book "crossing the chasm" and this one。Both are kind of summarized in one here。 It's one of the best books I've read about how to behave as a startup especially for its insights about how to act in which type of market and in which situations。 there are a few perspectives that seem to make sense。 I loved the book "crossing the chasm" and this one。Both are kind of summarized in one here。 It's one of the best books I've read about how to behave as a startup especially for its insights about how to act in which type of market and in which situations。 there are a few perspectives that seem to make sense。 。。。more
Martin
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Great book， but dont listen to the audiobook because this is a book where you will want to go back and reread the chapters that are currently relevant for your business。
Manoj Parida
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Best book to read while building MVP and planning go to market strategy。
Lucas Baraças Figueiredo
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Very interesting book for entrepreneurs。 Though it is a bit old already， most of what it says， is very common sense。
Pritimay
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After reading Principals by Ray Dalio， this book 📚 has the same narrative。 Building a good organisation at different stages。
Sashko Valyus
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Мені дуже повезло прочитати цю книгу працюючи продутовим дизайнером。 По дотошності， детальності і схематичності вона доходить до Спринта。 Вона гарно описує реальність з якою стикається людина що працює в стартапі， особливо коли вона працює з дослідженнями користувачів， а також дає роудмепу і чекліст розвитку стартапу від ідеї до великої компанії。
Louis Korczowski
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By the author who inspired and teached Eric Ries the Lean Start-Up movement。Read the Lean Start-Up books before this one， but it is worthy to come to the source of the inspiration and to avoid some fallacies。
Gene
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Jesus， what is that？A brochure with loud generic statements of no value？I can't believe people are giving it 5 stars！ Jesus， what is that？A brochure with loud generic statements of no value？I can't believe people are giving it 5 stars！ 。。。more
Victor Volpe
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“Startups are not smaller versions of large companies。 Large companies execute known business models and startups search for a business model”This insight from the first few pages already made me realize I was about to read a 5 stars book。 And indeed I was。 It was a delightful and very enriching experience that I surely recommend to all my friends （actually， I already recommended the book to both of my business partners even before I finished - something I am very cautious about）。4 steps to epip “Startups are not smaller versions of large companies。 Large companies execute known business models and startups search for a business model”This insight from the first few pages already made me realize I was about to read a 5 stars book。 And indeed I was。 It was a delightful and very enriching experience that I surely recommend to all my friends （actually， I already recommended the book to both of my business partners even before I finished - something I am very cautious about）。4 steps to epiphany deserves all the hype it has conquered throughout the years。 The book is a rare mix of an engaging and easy to understand text while really transforming the way one thinks about launching a business。 No wonder it started the LEAN startup revolution （maybe the biggest business paradigm shift of the 21st century）。 For me， it has the 4 components of an amazing read on entrepreneurship: * It inspired me to apply the learnings and made me fantasize in my head a lot of things while reading。 Being at the process of launching 2 businesses right now I wished I had access to this material earlier - but also I am thankful I got it at the beginning of my venture process。 Can’t wait to put Steve’s advice in practice。 * It brings real-life concepts that are applicable， not only theoretical。 The notion of market type， mission-centric organization， chasm crossing and many others presented are spot-on！ * It fostered even more my love for entrepreneurship。 Now more than ever I know this is what I want to do for a living。 And finally I read something that resonated so well with my way of thinking。 * It gave me flow。 Hours passed and I stayed reading without any worries。 If the world ended I’d probably be flipping the pages。I could keep listing good stuff about it here， but I’ll leave for you to taste it with your own brain and hopefully enjoy it as much as I did。 If we are alike I assure you’ll also start to be a huge fan of Steve Blank and spend countless hours watching his youtube lectures。 The only downsides I can point out are:1。 Sometimes Steve repeats himself too much。 I understand it is a technique to make sure the reader get the new concept but still a bit annoying。2。 The Customer Validation chapter is very dense。 That was the only part of the read I had to slow down and re-read multiple times。 （But， to be honest I think it was more of my setting and tiredness at night rather than the text）。I can proudly say that there wasn’t a better way to accomplish my 2020’s reading challenge。 Super recommended。 If you do read it please send me a text and I’ll be eager to debate the learnings with you。 。。。more
Nadia
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3。5 ⭐️See my full review on The StoryGraph。 3。5 ⭐️See my full review on The StoryGraph。 。。。more
Claudio de Giovanni
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Comprehensive overview on how to build a startup company。 It provides good frameworks to understand how to gradually move on to the next phase of building your company （Customer Discovery， Customer Validation， Company Building）。 Not a 5 star as it is often too complex and focussed too much on B2B businesses。
Alexander Mykal
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Тот случай， когда откладывал книгу 10 лет （！）， а потом прочел и понял， что все это время реализовывал описанные в ней вещи。 Заодно убедился в верности ближайших планов。 Будет полезно тем， кто начинает и строит бизнес и управленцам всех уровней。
Jarvis Roach
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If you read "The Lean Startup" and are looking for more "meat"， practical steps to take， this is for you。 If you read "The Lean Startup" and are looking for more "meat"， practical steps to take， this is for you。 。。。more
Sergey Bir
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This was tough to read。 At times i felt angry at the author because he demands so much from the entrepreneur。 At early steps of starting a company the founders must study their customer in excrutiating detail: the needs， wants， thoughts， patterns of behaviour， work environment， industry， influencers around the customer， resources， relationships， organisation structure and much more。 And the founder must learn this not by thinking about it or reading about but by going out into the world and actu This was tough to read。 At times i felt angry at the author because he demands so much from the entrepreneur。 At early steps of starting a company the founders must study their customer in excrutiating detail: the needs， wants， thoughts， patterns of behaviour， work environment， industry， influencers around the customer， resources， relationships， organisation structure and much more。 And the founder must learn this not by thinking about it or reading about but by going out into the world and actually talking to the customers。 It might seem logical that the surest way to learn about the customer is to ask him but the book made me gasp and wince at how much goes into this research。 I imagined myself seducing a CEO of a potential customer company into talking to me and telling me in every detail about the way they operate， how much money and resources are involved in every step， who influences who， what their pain points are and how they are dealing with it。 Would he really tell me all that？ What kind of credibility would i have to project so that strangers would tell me all about their company？ What would i have to give back for the information when i don't even have a product at this point？ I imagine it to be quite painful especially considering that you have to do it a lot。But then again i might be wrong and it's not that painful。 In my career i had client business owners trying to tell me all those things without me trying to manipulate them into it。 But we had a product and they were already our clients。 How would it look if i didn't have a product and they weren't our client？ Besides the enourmousness of the effort that the founders have to invest in the company there is also the ever present risk of f*cking everything up。 There are just so many ways to break the startup's momentum and put it into the ground。 A sobering outlook。I think this is the first "business" book i've read that didn't have a tinge of vague positive rosiness。 For the most part it was concrete， sobering and informative。 Refreshing。 。。。more
Kevin Kaiser
，
The four steps to the epiphany is a framework to identify product-market fit before scale。 Rather than focusing all the energy on a big launch， a startup should focus on customer development to discover the right product and marketing strategy。 This involves identifying your "earlyvangelist" customers and working closely with them to validate ideas early。 I skimmed through the end of the book that covers scaling a business because I didn't find it particularly insightful relative to the customer The four steps to the epiphany is a framework to identify product-market fit before scale。 Rather than focusing all the energy on a big launch， a startup should focus on customer development to discover the right product and marketing strategy。 This involves identifying your "earlyvangelist" customers and working closely with them to validate ideas early。 I skimmed through the end of the book that covers scaling a business because I didn't find it particularly insightful relative to the customer development lessons in the first 3 steps。 。。。more
Mario Galaviz
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El mejor libro de negocios que he leído。 Una guía clara sobre cómo poner una empresa innovadora。 Must read para entender por qué la metodología lean es económicamente necesaria para los negocios。
j f vickers
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The principles and advice are still relevant in 2020。 Well written。
Derek Pankaew
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The best book I've read on customer discovery， i。e。 how to figure out what customers want。 Or more specifically， who will buy your product。The 2nd half of the book was not very good at all。 I could have stopped halfway and gotten 100% of the value I got from the book。 The first half is about customer discovery。 The 2nd half is about values， leading a company， scaling a team， etc。This book is amazing at customer discovery， and not so amazing at the rest。 That said， I learned a ton。 Here were some The best book I've read on customer discovery， i。e。 how to figure out what customers want。 Or more specifically， who will buy your product。The 2nd half of the book was not very good at all。 I could have stopped halfway and gotten 100% of the value I got from the book。 The first half is about customer discovery。 The 2nd half is about values， leading a company， scaling a team， etc。This book is amazing at customer discovery， and not so amazing at the rest。 That said， I learned a ton。 Here were some key notes:1） The initial product idea and feature list comes from the founder（s）。 You don't interview customers to build your feature list。 The purpose of customer discovery is to find which customer， message， and market will resonate with your product as it is。 You may discover that the product needs to change， as you do your interviews。 But don't start by going out and asking what customers want; instead start by building the product you have a vision for。 Use interviews to find the market （and/or validate that it exists。）2） Don't stop product development to wait for customer development。 Customer development runs in parallel with product development， and will catch up to it。 Having a product to show customers can help the customer development process。3） Write down your hypothesis before interviewing customers。 You should have written hypothesis on:----- Product （what to build），----- Customers （who they are），----- Problem （what you're solving），----- Channel / Pricing （where they'll learn about you），----- Demand creation，----- Market type （new vs existing， niching or low cost），----- Competition4） As you're interviewing customers， try to narrow down on the MINIMUM NUMBER of features that need to work before you can launch， and/or before customers will want to use your product。5） The ideal customer has not only looked for a product like yours， but hacked together something like it to solve the problem for themselves。6） Questions to ask in an interview include:----- If you could wave a magic wand， what would you change？ （About your problem， or competitor's product）----- What's a day like for you？----- What is the minimum set of features you need， to use this？ What is the smallest scope the customer would actually use？----- If you heard ______ in an ad， would you be compelled to try it？ （Copy / tagline）----- How did you hear about Personal Capital / Acorns / etc？ （Competitor they're using）----- What blogs， books， podcasts， etc do you read or listen to about money？ 。。。more
Igor Đukić
，
In essence， the detailed book on how to establish a company from zero with an almost daily level "tasks" descriptions :）Although some chapters very exciting， some are boring。 The theory is covered with stories but in a much smaller proportion compared to book titles written nowadays。Favorite parts:“Simply put， a startup should focus on reaching a deep understanding of customers and their problems， their pains， and the jobs they need done discovering a repeatable roadmap of how they buy， and buil In essence， the detailed book on how to establish a company from zero with an almost daily level "tasks" descriptions :）Although some chapters very exciting， some are boring。 The theory is covered with stories but in a much smaller proportion compared to book titles written nowadays。Favorite parts:“Simply put， a startup should focus on reaching a deep understanding of customers and their problems， their pains， and the jobs they need done discovering a repeatable roadmap of how they buy， and building a financial model that results in profitability。”“Startups don’t fail because they lack a product; they fail because they lack customers and a proven financial model。”“Time after time， only after first customer ship， do startups discover their early customers don’t scale into a mainstream market， the product doesn’t solve a high-value problem， or the cost of distribution is too high。”“It may simply be not understanding there are four types of startups， each of them needing a very different set of requirements to succeed:- Startups that are entering an existing market- Startups that are creating an entirely new market- Startups that want to resegment an existing market”“Broadly speaking， Customer Discovery focuses on testing whether a company’s business model is correct， specifically focused on whether the product solves customer problems and needs （this match of product features and customers is called Product/Market fit。） Customer Validation develops a sales model that can be replicated， Customer Creation on creating and driving end-user demand， and Company Building on transitioning the organization from one designed for learning and discovery to a well-oiled machine engineered for execution。 As I discuss later in this chapter， integral to this model is the notion that Market Type choices affect how the company will deploy its sales， marketing and financial resources。” 。。。more
Jimmy
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This book covers a wide range of topics， it's very detailed。 The author borrows lots of ideas from others， clearly， he is a wide reader。 However， the ideas are second-handed and somehow outdated。 I am not saying it's not good， but many advices are suboptimal。1。 Type: Practical rules book。2。 Main idea: Four steps for early startups。3。 Major parts:a。 What is customer development model vs product development model。b。 The 4 steps in Customer Development Model。4。 Problems:How to solve the problems ea This book covers a wide range of topics， it's very detailed。 The author borrows lots of ideas from others， clearly， he is a wide reader。 However， the ideas are second-handed and somehow outdated。 I am not saying it's not good， but many advices are suboptimal。1。 Type: Practical rules book。2。 Main idea: Four steps for early startups。3。 Major parts:a。 What is customer development model vs product development model。b。 The 4 steps in Customer Development Model。4。 Problems:How to solve the problems early startups face？ Why customer development model works and others don't？ What is CDM？ What are the steps in CDM？ 。。。more
Andrew Kozik
，
One of the best books for entrepreneur
Kobie
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I've been re-reading and re-re-reading parts of this book throughout the year and I'm sure I'll return to it in 2020 too。 I should probably also check out Startup Owner's Manual。 Despite being written like a HOWTO， not everything is this book will be applicable to your startup and shouldn't be followed verbatim。 However it's guaranteed to highlight some areas you have not considered at all， well enough， or areas that you should revisit。 10/10 will always have a copy close at hand for referral。 I've been re-reading and re-re-reading parts of this book throughout the year and I'm sure I'll return to it in 2020 too。 I should probably also check out Startup Owner's Manual。 Despite being written like a HOWTO， not everything is this book will be applicable to your startup and shouldn't be followed verbatim。 However it's guaranteed to highlight some areas you have not considered at all， well enough， or areas that you should revisit。 10/10 will always have a copy close at hand for referral。 。。。more
Boni Aditya
，
This is definitely one of the best books about Customer Development。 The need to build customers similar to how you would build your Product。 For product development we have a very strict framework， from ideation to prototyping to Mockups to development， testing and finally to release and feedback。 We have a myriad other approaches to develop products。Unfortunately not so many approaches and frameworks are built for generating customers， and to build companies from scratch。 Most of the framework This is definitely one of the best books about Customer Development。 The need to build customers similar to how you would build your Product。 For product development we have a very strict framework， from ideation to prototyping to Mockups to development， testing and finally to release and feedback。 We have a myriad other approaches to develop products。Unfortunately not so many approaches and frameworks are built for generating customers， and to build companies from scratch。 Most of the frameworks end at release cycles of the products。 None of them talk about what happens to the product after it is released？ What happens if you build and then nobody comes？ What would you do then？ This book sort of has a clear guide about building your customers from scratch and building them from early evangelists to mainstream customers in a step by step manner。 The book is well researched but not well written。 The book is a TEXTBOOK， it is so boring that it is extremely difficult to retain concentration for more than half an hour while reading the book。 The book is written with extreme disregard for the reader。 It is written in a format that needs to be included in surveys。 What could have been a great work is reduced to an average work due to the diminishing reader experience。 Though some parts of the books are well written， most of the book is extremely rigid， filled with so many listicles。 An assumption that Listicles enhance the reading experience is a myth。 Listicles will only make the work more contrived and only consumes more time of the reader。 The Author talks at length about very simple topics and fills pages with so much jargon that I often felt that he uses very complex words to describe simple topics。 The book could have been written in a better format。 books mentioned:Hero with a thousand facesCrossing the chasmThe art of warThe innovators dilemmaThe innovators solutionThe tipping pointDealing with DarwinThe entrepreneurial mindsetNew venture creation with new business mentorNew product introduction methodologyDelivering profitable valueFour steps of oneGoal generation and teamLead user workshop and idea improvementLead user researchLead user pyramid networkingBreakthrough products with lead user research。Sources of innovationThe one to one futureMarketing high technologyTotal customer survey - the ultimate weapon。Art of warBook of five ringsThe boyds book - ooda loop - new lanchester strategy -On warSeth godon - permission marketingUnleashing the Idea virusLackoffs book - positioning the battle for your mindRelationship marketingSolution selling22 immutable laws of marketingDon't think of an elephantSpin sellingLet's get realThe new conceptual sellingThe new strategic sellingSpin selling field bookSandler selling systemMiller HymanStartup nuts and boltsHigh tech startupEngineering your start upTermsheets and valuationsHigh tech venturesBusiness plans that workThe goalLean thinkingToyato production systemThe inmates are running the asylumGood to greatBuilt to lastThe human equationStrategic human resourcesThe founder factorEboysBurn rateStartup - a silicon valley adventureHigh stakes no prisonersRegional advantageMy years with general motorsRoute 128A ghost memoirBKeywords:Managing startupsCustomer development vs product developmentWebvan billion dollar fail10 ways of flaws of product development model:1。 Where are the customers？2。 First Customer ship date？Customer discovery？3。 Emphasis on execution vs learning and discovery4。 Lack of meaningful marketing and sales milestones， unlike product release milestones5。 Using product dev methodology to measure sales 6。 Using product dev methodology to measure marketing。7。 Premature scaling - hiring8。 Death spiral - the cost of getting the product wrong9。 Not all startups are alike 4 categories， niche， low prices existing markets， new products in existing or new markets。10。 Unrealistic expectations。Product development diagram。Customer development。Pressure from investors。Technology life cycle and option curve， chasm crossingCustomer development before sales or marketing。Design within reach vs furniture。com and other dot com furnituresCust Dev inspired by us army yoodleoop。Cust Discovery， validation， cust creation and company building。 。。。more
Martin
，
Read this in 2010 while working on letsannotate。com and it introduced me to the whole idea of "customer development"。 Definitely give it a read。 Read this in 2010 while working on letsannotate。com and it introduced me to the whole idea of "customer development"。 Definitely give it a read。 。。。more
Nick
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A must read for entrepreneurs！
Ashish
，