Eric Ries

Eric Ries (born September 22, 1978) is an American entrepreneur, blogger, and author of The Lean Startup, a book on the lean startup movement. He is also the author of The Startup Way, a book on modern entrepreneurial management. Early life While at Yale, he was co-founder of Catalyst Recruiting, an online forum for university students to network with potential employers. He took a leave of absence to pursue Catalyst Recruiting, but the company soon folded. Career IMVU After graduating, Ries moved to Silicon Valley in 2001 as a software engineer with There, Inc. He worked with the firm until the 2003 launch of its web-based 3D Virtual World product, There.com. The company soon failed.