The Right It: Why So Many Ideas Fail and How to Make Sure Yours Succeed
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- Create Date：2021-04-08 11:58:23
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Alberto Savoia
- ISBN：0062884654
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Summary
The Law of Market Failure: Most new products will fail in the market， even if competently executed。
Using his experience at Google， his remarkable success as an entrepreneur and consultant， and insights from his lectures at Stanford University and Google， Alberto Savoia’s The Right It offers an unparalleled approach to beating the beast that is market failure。
Millions of people around the world are working hard to bring to life new ideas。 Some of these ideas will turn out to be stunning successes that will have a major impact on our world and our culture: The next Google， the next Polio vaccine， the next Harry Potter， the next Red Cross， the next Ford Mustang。 Others will be smaller， more personal but no less meaningful， successes: A little restaurant that becomes a neighborhood favorite， a biography that does not make the best-seller list but tells an important story， a local nonprofit to care for abandoned pets。 At this very same moment， another group of people is working equally hard to develop new ideas that， when launched， will fail。 Some of them will fail spectacularly and publicly: like New Coke， the movie “John Carter”， or the Ford Edsel。 Others will be smaller， more private， but no less painful failures: A home-based business that never takes off， a children’s book that neither publishers nor children have any interest in， a charity for a cause that too few people care enough about。
If you are currently working to develop a new idea， whether on your own or as part of a team， which group are you in？ Most people believe that they either are， or will be， in the first group—the group whose ideas will be successful。 All they have to do is work hard and execute well。 Unfortunately， we know that this cannot be the case。 The law of market failure tells us that up to 90 percent of most new products， services， businesses， and initiatives will fail soon after they are launched—regardless of how promising they sound， how much we commit to them， or how well we execute them。 This is a hard fact to accept。 We believe that other people fail because they don’t know what they are doing。 Somehow， we believe that this does not apply to us and to our idea—especially if we’ve experienced victories in the past。
Filled with detailed case studies， a lesson on creating your own hard data， a strategy for market engagement， and an introduction to the concept of a pretotype （not a prototype）， The Right It is a groundbreaking， entertaining， and highly practical book delivers a proven formula for turning ideas， products， services， and businesses into successful endeavors。
As Alberto writes， “make sure you are building The Right It before you build It right”。
Using his experience at Google， his remarkable success as an entrepreneur and consultant， and insights from his lectures at Stanford University and Google， Alberto Savoia’s The Right It offers an unparalleled approach to beating the beast that is market failure。
Millions of people around the world are working hard to bring to life new ideas。 Some of these ideas will turn out to be stunning successes that will have a major impact on our world and our culture: The next Google， the next Polio vaccine， the next Harry Potter， the next Red Cross， the next Ford Mustang。 Others will be smaller， more personal but no less meaningful， successes: A little restaurant that becomes a neighborhood favorite， a biography that does not make the best-seller list but tells an important story， a local nonprofit to care for abandoned pets。 At this very same moment， another group of people is working equally hard to develop new ideas that， when launched， will fail。 Some of them will fail spectacularly and publicly: like New Coke， the movie “John Carter”， or the Ford Edsel。 Others will be smaller， more private， but no less painful failures: A home-based business that never takes off， a children’s book that neither publishers nor children have any interest in， a charity for a cause that too few people care enough about。
If you are currently working to develop a new idea， whether on your own or as part of a team， which group are you in？ Most people believe that they either are， or will be， in the first group—the group whose ideas will be successful。 All they have to do is work hard and execute well。 Unfortunately， we know that this cannot be the case。 The law of market failure tells us that up to 90 percent of most new products， services， businesses， and initiatives will fail soon after they are launched—regardless of how promising they sound， how much we commit to them， or how well we execute them。 This is a hard fact to accept。 We believe that other people fail because they don’t know what they are doing。 Somehow， we believe that this does not apply to us and to our idea—especially if we’ve experienced victories in the past。
Filled with detailed case studies， a lesson on creating your own hard data， a strategy for market engagement， and an introduction to the concept of a pretotype （not a prototype）， The Right It is a groundbreaking， entertaining， and highly practical book delivers a proven formula for turning ideas， products， services， and businesses into successful endeavors。
As Alberto writes， “make sure you are building The Right It before you build It right”。
Reviews
Kristoffer Øpstad
，
Excellent。 A book every CTO and project manager should consider reading。Engaging， well structured and easy to read， yet full of pro tips that can make big differences once implemented。 Those familiar with Eric Ries' book "The Lean Startup" or Jake Knapp's "Sprint" will probably find quite a bit of common ground， however Savoia takes a slightly different perspective and lays the book out in a very straightforward， practical and user-friendly way， covering different facets of the path of innovatio Excellent。 A book every CTO and project manager should consider reading。Engaging， well structured and easy to read， yet full of pro tips that can make big differences once implemented。 Those familiar with Eric Ries' book "The Lean Startup" or Jake Knapp's "Sprint" will probably find quite a bit of common ground， however Savoia takes a slightly different perspective and lays the book out in a very straightforward， practical and user-friendly way， covering different facets of the path of innovation than the other two books。As Savoia himself says about the book "It's like spending a full-day with me at one of my workshops—and it costs much， much less。" （Source: https://www。albertosavoia。com/resourc。。。） 。。。more
Danyl Fernandes
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The book isn't as good as I thought it would be。 Don't get me wrong， the premise isn't flawed per se， but the thing that got up my nose is how basic logic is explained as though it were newly-discovered。Neologisms are everywhere！ Everything has been given an acronym or a funny new name， which is amusing but childish at the same time。Should you read it？ YesHow should you read it？ Skim through most of it; read the last few paragraphs of every chapter The book isn't as good as I thought it would be。 Don't get me wrong， the premise isn't flawed per se， but the thing that got up my nose is how basic logic is explained as though it were newly-discovered。Neologisms are everywhere！ Everything has been given an acronym or a funny new name， which is amusing but childish at the same time。Should you read it？ YesHow should you read it？ Skim through most of it; read the last few paragraphs of every chapter 。。。more
Mo
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Out of all the startup/ product validation books I read （Lean Startup， the Mom Test， Experimentation Works， etc） this is the book I came back to after 6 long months failing at building a startup。 Savoia is incredibly clear about his definitions and what exactly you must do to find out if your idea is the wrong one。 This book is for those people who care more about achieving success in general than achieving success with a specific idea。 The one big lesson this book nails into you is that excelle Out of all the startup/ product validation books I read （Lean Startup， the Mom Test， Experimentation Works， etc） this is the book I came back to after 6 long months failing at building a startup。 Savoia is incredibly clear about his definitions and what exactly you must do to find out if your idea is the wrong one。 This book is for those people who care more about achieving success in general than achieving success with a specific idea。 The one big lesson this book nails into you is that excellent engineering and execution cannot save you from failure if you're building something that no one wants or needs。 For people who love this book and want to take their search for 'the Right It' a step further， I highly recommend his 'The Math of Success' video series on Youtube。 。。。more
Christoph
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The book covers mainly a strategy on how to test product ideas before investing time and money into an idea。 The described methods core is pretotyping （the author coins this term and distinguishes it from prototyping）。The method is thought through and presented with more or less everything to get you started。 A lot of examples illustrate the method and give the reader an idea on how to actually test an idea in the market。I liked the concept and the description。 What I didn't like was the absolut The book covers mainly a strategy on how to test product ideas before investing time and money into an idea。 The described methods core is pretotyping （the author coins this term and distinguishes it from prototyping）。The method is thought through and presented with more or less everything to get you started。 A lot of examples illustrate the method and give the reader an idea on how to actually test an idea in the market。I liked the concept and the description。 What I didn't like was the absoluteness about this method。 It sounds like it works for all cases and there is no discussion on where the method falls short。 There is also no real discussion on experiment creation and interpretation， which is in reality often a problem， especially with inexperienced people。 It seems that the author loves abbreviations and the invention of words。 Some better editing here would have been great。Summarized: A good method for people who are in the field of product creation and a great addition to your product discovery methods collection。 。。。more
Stacey Raymond
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I was surprised that I found this book fun and full of practical ideas to test ideas。
Mengyi
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The book lays out detailed step-by-step guide on how to get an idea from start to finish， listing out useful techniques from hypothesising to testing to analysing your own data。 It advocates for collecting skins-in-the-game instead of using other people's data such as market research as the means to determine if a product will be the right it。 I really enjoyed how clearly each step is elaborated and how together all steps form a complete system。 I also really enjoy the last chapter where the aut The book lays out detailed step-by-step guide on how to get an idea from start to finish， listing out useful techniques from hypothesising to testing to analysing your own data。 It advocates for collecting skins-in-the-game instead of using other people's data such as market research as the means to determine if a product will be the right it。 I really enjoyed how clearly each step is elaborated and how together all steps form a complete system。 I also really enjoy the last chapter where the author advocates for building the right product for you and the world。 It's the perfect book with concrete techniques and inspiration at the end。 。。。more
Tai Tai
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um， yeah。。。test and prototype in tiny incremental stages。 I thought so
Christian
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You might think of the Right it as another well written book about how it was evident that the current successes were so predictable （and the usual Apple， Facebook， etc。。） because they ticked all the right checkboxes （product-market fit etc。。。）。 But hell no : the book underlines a hard truth about entrepreneurship : graveyards are populated with brilliant ideas that failed。 This is how at the end the market prevails and that the most promising ventures fail : almost every business ideas fail， le You might think of the Right it as another well written book about how it was evident that the current successes were so predictable （and the usual Apple， Facebook， etc。。） because they ticked all the right checkboxes （product-market fit etc。。。）。 But hell no : the book underlines a hard truth about entrepreneurship : graveyards are populated with brilliant ideas that failed。 This is how at the end the market prevails and that the most promising ventures fail : almost every business ideas fail， let's say 90% of them end up in the mouth of the "Beast of Failure" but there are some things to do to prevent savage and costly failures and move on。 From there， in the spirit of the Lean Startup （get out of the building） the author describes step by step a methodology he has built over the years （at Google and that he teaches at Stanford） with some very sound principles grounded in reality : - data are stronger than opinions， - say it with numbers， - test the ideas at a low budget - have the testees put some skin in the game （opinions are worth nothing， email signup is a start， committing time is better， reach their wallets is definitely best）， build up your own data （YODA） not with OPD （other people data）。 At the end : all the ideas exposed in the book are either very good or very dull。 I found them to be sane to move forward on a project of a business。 Alberto Savoia stretches it to the extent of detailing how all his method would apply and unroll around a single idea of BusU。 I particularly liked the detail of his Fake It Until You Make approach， when he tries to maximize the approach of building MEH （market engagement hypothesis） ， XYZ assumptions （At least X% of Y will do Z）， hyperzooming into xyz experiments （maximising Distance to Data， Hours to Data and $ to data） through the pretotyping toolbox （pretend+prototyping） --> The Mechanical Turk， the Pinocchio， the Fake Door， the Facade， the Youtube， The OneNight Stand， the Infiltrator， the Relabel。 He uses a very illustrative approach with colorful names for each step of his method。 I would say a must read for aspiring entrepreneurs who think they have good ideas but fear to go out there test them。 。。。more
нєνєℓ ¢ανα
，
For Entrepreneurs。。。
Ravinith Prasad
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I was hooked on Pretotyping since hearing about it in a workshop about innovation。 I dug around YouTube and came across Alberto's insightful and entertaining videos。 From there I knew I had to get the book！ The Right It did not disappoint。 Alberto takes you through the concepts explaining everything very clearly and always with a touch of humour。 I can't look at ideas the same way again。 Highly recommend！ I was hooked on Pretotyping since hearing about it in a workshop about innovation。 I dug around YouTube and came across Alberto's insightful and entertaining videos。 From there I knew I had to get the book！ The Right It did not disappoint。 Alberto takes you through the concepts explaining everything very clearly and always with a touch of humour。 I can't look at ideas the same way again。 Highly recommend！ 。。。more
noman husain
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Tks Alberto for bringing the idea of pretotype - a prototype before prototype。 When i looked at my experiences and several product failures through pretotype lens， I recognized the pitfalls and lessons for the future。 This is a great hands on book on innovation and developing new products。 I truly enjoyed the book and am applying the tools In my new projects。 Tks for your kindness
Giuseppe Nicola
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I have read tons of material on entrepreneurship and innovation， especially on business testing。 This book is on a completely different level。 Alberto Savoia magisterially mixes academic theory and business experience， with a writing style that makes the entire book pleasant to read。 Learning has never been so much immersive！
Alex Gostev
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The first part of the book subjectively felt as whisky watered down so much that it's hard to tell it from a limonade。 Then amount of terms （that I felt was artificially created and may be avoided） were drumming along the way making one marching instead of enjoying a walk。 So I didn't like a book at all by the middle。When the storytelling finished and book started to feel systematic it's power unleashed。 The list of suggested experiments was great。 Case studies felt made up and too optimistic bu The first part of the book subjectively felt as whisky watered down so much that it's hard to tell it from a limonade。 Then amount of terms （that I felt was artificially created and may be avoided） were drumming along the way making one marching instead of enjoying a walk。 So I didn't like a book at all by the middle。When the storytelling finished and book started to feel systematic it's power unleashed。 The list of suggested experiments was great。 Case studies felt made up and too optimistic but still worked to add a perspective to the main point - getting an action from your potential customer to back up his interest and prove that it's genuine。I'd say it's an essential read on the entrepreneurship。 If one has read 4 steps to the epiphany or lean startup， it makes sense to go straight to the techniques and recommendations。 。。。more
Jochem
，
There are many books that give actionable advice to people who want to set up a business and do it right。 From the Lean Startup by Eric Ries （and its build-measure-learn loop） to the Build Trap by Melissa Perri， and many more。In a way， these books look alike because just like The Right It， they all come down to one idea。 The idea that you need to focus on a problem first （not a solution） — and that you need to stop theorizing and start actually testing your hypotheses and assumptions。But despite There are many books that give actionable advice to people who want to set up a business and do it right。 From the Lean Startup by Eric Ries （and its build-measure-learn loop） to the Build Trap by Melissa Perri， and many more。In a way， these books look alike because just like The Right It， they all come down to one idea。 The idea that you need to focus on a problem first （not a solution） — and that you need to stop theorizing and start actually testing your hypotheses and assumptions。But despite the similarities between these books， the Right It is still very valuable。 I particularly found the hypothesizing and hypozooming exercise intriguing。 While I usually do write down certain hypotheses I’m working with， I hadn’t yet learned to make these so specific or so quickly applicable。 If you follow the steps in the book well， you can test a product idea really quickly， something that is not possible after reading The Lean Startup for the first time。Note that this review is part of a larger review and summary of The Right It， on my personal blog。 If you'd like to read the full review， take a look！ 。。。more
Dieu-Hoa Nguyen
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Why many ideas fail？ It is because ideas is designed to fail。 Just kidding， according to the author is because people stuck in thoughtland - fictionary environment。 So how to overcome thoughtland？ He address some tools。 The most important tool is pretotype （pre-prototype phase）-experiment to verify your idea in real world with cheap cost and fast implementation （my word）。 Also the most valuable of book is about pretotype and suggested pretotype methods。 Other part is mediocre。 For me， reading hi Why many ideas fail？ It is because ideas is designed to fail。 Just kidding， according to the author is because people stuck in thoughtland - fictionary environment。 So how to overcome thoughtland？ He address some tools。 The most important tool is pretotype （pre-prototype phase）-experiment to verify your idea in real world with cheap cost and fast implementation （my word）。 Also the most valuable of book is about pretotype and suggested pretotype methods。 Other part is mediocre。 For me， reading his experience personal project BusU is the most interesting part。 。。。more
Nathan Holm
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While my rating I’m sure is biased by where my mind is at this moment in my life， this truly is a well thought out and written book on how one should go about discovering if their idea is truly a market winner。The author does a great job of articulating how to validate ideas and market potential of an idea in as little time and cash investment as possible。 He provides practical ways to avoid false positives and negatives that play to our bias of seeking confirmation of our original hypotheses。I While my rating I’m sure is biased by where my mind is at this moment in my life， this truly is a well thought out and written book on how one should go about discovering if their idea is truly a market winner。The author does a great job of articulating how to validate ideas and market potential of an idea in as little time and cash investment as possible。 He provides practical ways to avoid false positives and negatives that play to our bias of seeking confirmation of our original hypotheses。I encourage anyone who is exploring ideas for improving something to take some time to read this book。 I am currently actively working on improving my skills in applying ‘pretotype’ techniques in my work。 。。。more
Aman Jain
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This is an excellent book about quickly validating product ideas using creative techniques without actually building。Would highly recommend this book to anybody doing super early stage product development。It does drag on a bit and could be shorter。 But very useful despite that fact。
Hai Jung
，
Some useful， easily digestible approaches。 A bit conservative in outlook vs failure being part of the process。 The primary example was a thought experiment which went against its core tenets。
Yasir
，
Excellent book。 A lot of practical tips on ensuring that you are building the Right it ， before you build it right。 Integrating these techniques with Design Sprints has the potential to deliver excellent outcomes ！
Lamya Al Shammary
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I love it！ I loved the pretotype method ！
Tu Le Nguyen Anh
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Clear approach for planning to start new business。 Say everything by the numbers！
Luis
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Recommended to me by my new boss， a very seasoned marketer， this is how modern market research looks like: quick， cheap and hands on， not relying at all in other people's data or opinions， but jumping right off the bat into market testing。 You don't even have to have a product to check interest: build a mock up or a video and try to get people to goce you their email， or even pay in advance （vs just "saying" they like it）。 The concept of "pretotype" changed my life。 Recommended to me by my new boss， a very seasoned marketer， this is how modern market research looks like: quick， cheap and hands on， not relying at all in other people's data or opinions， but jumping right off the bat into market testing。 You don't even have to have a product to check interest: build a mock up or a video and try to get people to goce you their email， or even pay in advance （vs just "saying" they like it）。 The concept of "pretotype" changed my life。 。。。more
Nguyen Ha
，
1。 Is it useful？2。 How many techniques that can be applied to my business？
Junaid MJ
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What a great book。 A friend of mine recommended it and I can't say I'm disappointed。 This book deserves a cult following like the lean startup in my view。 By reading this many users could avoid a hard failure that so often occurs when people think they have a brilliant idea。Alberto shares a variety of techniques to 'pretendotype' your product， and gets your creative juices flowing， so you can understand if your idea has a chance of making it in days rather than months or years。 For me the most i What a great book。 A friend of mine recommended it and I can't say I'm disappointed。 This book deserves a cult following like the lean startup in my view。 By reading this many users could avoid a hard failure that so often occurs when people think they have a brilliant idea。Alberto shares a variety of techniques to 'pretendotype' your product， and gets your creative juices flowing， so you can understand if your idea has a chance of making it in days rather than months or years。 For me the most important part of the book that helped me was that asking users questions is pretty useless。 Their actions will differ when you start asking them to sign up， pay for the idea or actually invest in it， even though they may say it's a great idea。 It reminds me of the fact that as a founder you need to listen to the problems of users， not listen to their ideas of how to fix it - it's up to you to find that solution。 Alberto is an advocate of 'YODA' or collecting your own data， which has stuck with me。 He explains how other peoples' data/research may have been for another experiment， and you don't know how they conducted their research， if it's biased/exaggerated， or how they will translate into your idea。 He therefore says collect your own data and you'll realise much more quickly whether your idea has a chance of succeeding， and of course you get access to a customer base。There's a lot to learn from this book， but those were just a few key ideas that resonated with me :） 。。。more
Myron Davis
，
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 The book offered an interesting and， more importantly， useful methodology to iteratively test market assumptions that makes a lot of intuitive sense。 For the impatient reader， I'd recommend reading chapter 5 （pretotyping tools）， chapter 8 （complete example: BusU）， and chapter 9 （final words）， and then looking at a YouTube video of him presenting his ideas in his own humorous way。 The book would have been 5 stars for me had it trimmed the page count down by 50 pages and if chapter 8 had showcased The book offered an interesting and， more importantly， useful methodology to iteratively test market assumptions that makes a lot of intuitive sense。 For the impatient reader， I'd recommend reading chapter 5 （pretotyping tools）， chapter 8 （complete example: BusU）， and chapter 9 （final words）， and then looking at a YouTube video of him presenting his ideas in his own humorous way。 The book would have been 5 stars for me had it trimmed the page count down by 50 pages and if chapter 8 had showcased an example that was less tied to the author's earned connections。 However， application of the advice in its pages would have saved me tremendous multiples of the time it took to read。 。。。more
Brendan
，
The Right It is required reading for anyone considering starting a business。 It has two principles that are obviously true: one is that you need real data demonstrating interest in an idea， not just favorable opinions from a survey or canvassing friends and family。 The second is that you can get this data without going all the way to start a business or even build a prototype if you “pretotype，” meaning you set up a demonstration of what the product will be without actually committing major reso The Right It is required reading for anyone considering starting a business。 It has two principles that are obviously true: one is that you need real data demonstrating interest in an idea， not just favorable opinions from a survey or canvassing friends and family。 The second is that you can get this data without going all the way to start a business or even build a prototype if you “pretotype，” meaning you set up a demonstration of what the product will be without actually committing major resources to build it。This is a very accessible book， the concepts are intuitive and straightforward， and it presents an iterative process to developing a new idea that can actually be utilized。 。。。more
Ashish Shekhar
，
This book is an absolute must for anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit and wanting to try new ideas。 I've been involved in building multiple startups and this book completely changed my approach to taking new ideas to market。 This book is an absolute must for anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit and wanting to try new ideas。 I've been involved in building multiple startups and this book completely changed my approach to taking new ideas to market。 。。。more
Wei Chiang
，
A must read if you are planning to launch a new product， service or business （an it）。 You don’t want to spend time and money to build without ensuring that there is a market for whatever that “it” is， and “The Right It” shows you how to collect data to validate that market fit。
Jens Kjærulff
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Best part: pretotyping tools。 Worth 4 stars。 Entrepreneur must-read book。
Juan
，