It’s been a while since Eric Reis published The Lean Startup and you’d think that like most business books, by now it would be lost in the depths of airport bookstore remainder tables. Not this one. Its insight and wisdom have made it a new classic. For any enterprise, of any size, doing anything new, Eric’s advice to build out ideas on the strength of customer insight is timeless. The nub of the idea – that startups are not businesses, they are learning machines – I have fou

John Hanna and I have recently launched Upstarts Venture Coaching to serve the needs of entrepreneurs working through the many stages of growth. The way we see it there is no shortage of advice to start-up founders and entrepreneurs coming from their VCs, accountants, incubators, lawyers and bankers (and brothers-in-law, neighbours and spouses). But many also need the counsel of someone who takes a more dispassionate, holistic and human perspective. More like a smart friend