I had been part of a couple of technology startups before I was lucky enough to have taken Steve Blank's class and read his book, and his Customer Development process is right on point. The process is THE way to reduce the biggest risk outside of your startup's control: customer/market risk.It's a methodical, testable, measurable approach to what has historically been more of an art than a science: guessing what your customers want. More than that, it's accessible - the process is broken down into achievable chunks and can be adopted for almost any idea.This book is required reading for the founding team of our new startup, and every time we "lose our way" we go back to the hypotheses pegged to the wall. I can't recommend it highly enough.