The Lean Startup has presented an approach so accessible that it has spawned thousands of companies and hundreds of millions of dollars in both investment and revenue. The simple practices and guidelines encapsulated in the book are now, quite simply, the way to build startup businesses.

But in going mainstream, as is necessary in making any concept accessible to the mass audience, complexity had to be cut out. Which means the process known as the Lean Startup is incomplete.

This short, free ebook is designed to address what was not covered in-depth. I’m going to make explicit the reason why the lean startup methodology is so powerful.

Specifically, there’s a tool embedded at the heart of the lean startup. A tool so powerful that it has reshaped physics, warfare, and now, technology. A tool that you can utilize to achieve success in any domain.

I’m smart, but not incredibly so. But I’ve been able to use this tool to help fight wars (at a think tank and as a private consultant), build companies (in enterprise and consumer software), and write books (that correctly predicted the future).

As will become clear, the Lean Startup is just one application of this concept. There’s thousands more. It can yield personal growth, success for your organization, and actionable intelligence about the future.

So what is it?

It forms the basis for the customer development loop outlined by Steve Blank. And the Build, Measure, Learn loop described by Eric Ries.

Surprisingly, it was pieced together by a renegade Air Force Colonel who never lost a dogfight, wrote the training manuals used by fighter pilots every day, fathered energy-maneuverability theory, led the building of the F-15, and architected victory in Desert Storm.

It’s called the OODA loop.

It worked for that Colonel. It worked for Blank. And Ries. It went on to work for Toyota. And, implicitly, the hundreds of thousands of startups following their model.

If you understand it, embrace it, the OODA loop can work for you.