We’re excited to chat with Totiana White about The Lean Startup. Check out our conversation below.
Totiana, thanks for joining us again, we really appreciate you sharing your thoughts and insights about The Lean Startup. Let’s start with a quick summary to bring everyone up to speed.
Without giving too much information away, I would have to sum up the book as an overall experiment of being an Entrepreneur. Celebrating failures as lessons learned and pivoting before your business runs out of resources. It’s very interesting that even though his startups were in software and technology any person could take this knowledge and use it in any industry. I’m in the entertainment business and still walked away with valuable information due to key concepts used that all entrepreneurs face somewhere in their startup journey. Definitely worth the read to enhance decision-making and if Entrepreneurship is for you.
Wonderful, so can you talk to us in more detail about why this book resonates with you?
What caught my attention was that I am an Entrepreneur. I really wanted to get some advice or tips from someone who has knowledge of running startups. Sometimes the mentors entrepreneurs have is from authors in books. So I gave it a read. Nobody teaches us how to be an Entrepreneur and if we do take classes it doesn’t give us the real life experiences that one may go through when operating a startup.
I liked that he dealt with the uncertainty of taking risks and not knowing completely if his business would be successful. I feel like every Entrepreneur faces that reality. The big takeaway for me from the book was that, “a startup is an experiment”. Also “Entrepreneurship is management”. After reading the book I asked myself if I would have known this, would I still have become an Entrepreneur lol. It’s tough and you really have to start a business for customers, not yourself.
Did the story remind you of any personal experiences or relationships in your own life?
The story reminded me of some decisions and choices I’ve made along my Entrepreneurial journey. Even right now, I’m in the midst of pivoting on some services I provide because a lot of people are trying to imitate what services I provide as a business, also take some of my clientele. I had to remind myself that there will always be competitors but what sets me apart? Investment, Time and Budget was mentioned in the book and the speed of how you can provide the services or products. Some businesses can forecast what to do next while others can’t if you’re a startup.
My personal core values are to Impact, Inspire, and Engage. So as long as I provide services around this model it doesn’t matter who’s my competitor or who I serve. There’s a lot of research that has to be done on an ongoing basis. Staying on top of your business trends and holding everyone accountable to do their part, so expectations can be met. These are all personal experiences I can relate to from the book. Topics that you really have to dive into and fully understand.
How did you discover this book?
I like to do a lot of research. Especially when I’m a part of something I can use more understanding and insightful tips. I actually was doing a google search on Entrepreneur books. Although so many surfaced this one stood out. It not only had high ratings but he traveled doing conferences teaching others to probably understand the meaning behind it. He didn’t just write the book but was hands-on at times. The reviews were pretty good as well. A lot of positive feedback about other Entrepreneurs being fascinated on his approach.
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