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.

Steve Blank (www.steveblank.com) is an entrepreneur, consulting associate professor at Stanford and a senior fellow of innovation at Columbia, co-author of the bestselling books, Four Steps to the Epiphany and The Startup Owner’s Manual is the father of modern entrepreneurship. He co-created the Lean methodology popularized by his student Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup. He has developed and taught innovation methods that are being used widely by startups, companies and the Department of Defense. His classes are the basis of the innovation programs at The National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health, and the Department of Defense. Steve's career has taken him from repairing fighter planes in Thailand during the Vietnam War, to arriving at the beginning of the boom times of Silicon Valley in 1978 where he was part of eight technology startups in the next 21 years.

The Hero’s Journey v

Introduction ix

Chapter 1: The Path to Disaster: The Product Development Model 1

Chapter 2: The Path to Epiphany: The Customer Development Model 23

Chapter 3: Customer Discovery 40

Chapter 4: Customer Validation 104

Chapter 5: Customer Creation 156

Chapter 6: Company Building 206

Bibliography 265

Appendix A: Customer Development Team 280

Appendix B: Customer Development Checklist 288

Acknowledgments 367

About the Author 369