The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses (2011) is a popular book about startups. The main idea behind the book is to focus on testing new ideas and customers as early as possible to learn what customers want.
The book suggests creating a minimum viable product (MVP) and releasing it as soon as possible to real customers to gather feedback and test the product's value proposition. The author suggests going further and using "validate learning" to continue learning even after the initial MVP proposition. This process minimizes risk and increases the chances of success.
Very Personal Recommendation
I have spent years wasting on startups that could not work as I imagined. The Lean Startup book would help me in those days. I'm still trying to figure out if I would succeed even with the book, more likely, I would still fail, but in different ways.
There are still significant bits of advice for those not in startups and working in corporations. Even with most inflexible environments, we as developers can change a lot, even if it often feels futile. The author gives compelling examples of how we can change things in corporations, non-profits, etc.
Author
Eric Ries is an American entrepreneur, author, and speaker. He is most known for his work on Lean Startup methodology. He has worked on various startups, including IMVU and Long-Term Stock Exchange.