Better to have bad news that's true than good news we made up

Leadership requires creating conditions that enable employees to do the kinds of experimentation that entrepreneurship requires.

There is no greater country on Earth for entrepreneurship than America. In every category, from the high-tech world of Silicon Valley, where I live, to University R&D labs, to countless Main Street small business owners, Americans are taking risks, embracing new ideas and - most importantly - creating jobs.

Progress in manufacturing is measured by the production of high quality goods. The unit of progress for Lean Startups is validated learning-a rigorous method for demonstrating progress when one is embedded in the soil of extreme uncertainty.

Zero invites imagination, but small numbers invite questions about whether large numbers will ever materialize.

Start-up success is not a consequence of good genes or being in the right place at the right time. Success can be engineered by following the right process, which means it can be learned, which means it can be taught.

The goal of every startup experiment is to discover how to build a sustainable business around that vision.