Lean Startup

The mobile app environment presents a lot of challenges for people who want to test ideas quickly. Mariya knows the tricks and will explain how to make rapid progress in the strategic design and prototyping phase of mobile app development. This session is specially created for non-technical designers, product managers and entrepreneurs.

We hear often that Lean Startup principles can’t be applied in a regulated industry like healthcare. Mureen will challenge that idea with specific examples of the solutions and workarounds she’s found at Optum.

When you have an experienced team in place, one that hasn’t used Lean Startup principles, the ideas can sound like a lot of buzzwords at best and unnecessary change at worst. Nicole and Neelan–who were on opposite sides of the table initially–will discuss the conflicts they faced and the concrete steps that helped their company coalesce.

Established companies often have innovation teams dedicated to developing new products and new markets. But even those can be attacked by what Preston calls the antibodies of big companies. He has some great tips he’ll share on building a healthy innovation practice in that environment.

Stephanie knocked our socks off last year with a short talk on applying Lean Startup thinking to content strategy. We’ve brought her back this year to do a deeper dive and show some real-world examples of how text, deployed cleverly, can be a leading indicator of customer interest, before you’ve built anything else at all.

As companies grow, senior staffers often lose contact with customers–a potentially dangerous gap. Usha’s company has taken unusual and clever steps to keep its customers close to its executives, and she’ll break down what they’ve done that’s worked.

Sharethrough has been using Lean Startup methods since it was founded five years ago. Valerie will talk about the growing pains the company has faced as it has matured and how they’ve aimed to keep a Lean Startup approach very much in play.

Akash will look at key challenges faced by non-profit organizations, including unclear or overabundant metrics, long feedback loops and limited resources. Then he’ll show how Kiva has tackled those problems in ways that other organizations can apply, too.

Few companies have been as bold as Meetup in integrating Lean Startup practices throughout their product development cycle. Andres has been a leader in that process, bringing customer contact and experimentation to all levels of the organization, and he’ll examine how the company balances big-picture vision with everyday validation.

Beth has incredible experience working with customers in the developing world. She’ll offer very practical advice for connecting with customers who aren’t anywhere near you and/or with whom you have little in common.

Des will cover key areas for product strategy in a startup: defining your mission; defining your product, scoping your product, analyzing usage, and iterating. Useful for startups at almost any stage, this talk will offer advice you can put to use immediately.

People with a deep understanding of profitable engineering workflows often cite Don among the writers who have influenced them most profoundly. He’ll share insights not only for engineers, but for civilians, too, to help you better see the structure of Lean and apply it most effectively.

Cultivating Lean Startup Teams When People Don't Know What It Is (or Are Hostile to It) Often, a Lean Startup implementation has to start as a stealth initiative. Emily has snuck in the techniques in a number of ways, and she’ll describe several that have high success rates, which works best with which kind of internal audience, and where to learn more.

Nicole and Khalid run Lessoncast, which builds software for educators. They’ve taken creative steps with their concierge MVP and will talk about concrete things small startups can do to learn from the concierge process and reach product-market fit with B2B customers.

Kiva by Lean Startup

Risk and uncertainty define startups–they’re the very qualities that make new initiatives different from established projects. But few of us have productive ways of discussing risk, and in fact, bringing it up can cause fear and undermine morale. How can we make coworkers comfortable addressing risk? Adam Josephs, Principal Consultant of Celerity Consulting, shares advice for discussing it early, often and constructively.

When established companies experiment, you have to figure out how to test ideas without harming your existing brand. Andrew Homeyer, Engineer and Intrapreneur at Rally Software, explains how his team launched a new product under a fresh brand and reached an entirely new customer segment.

Higher education has legendarily long decision-making cycles, which create a real tension for teachers and administrators who want to test curriculum ideas in new digital markets. Allison Dulin, Special Projects for the President at Davidson College, explains how the 177-year-old college has shifted its decision-making processes and used experimentation to face down the uncertainty that’s rocking education markets.

As a well-known startup veteran, investor and author, Ben Horowitz brings unusually deep insight to the hard questions that entrepreneurs face. Eric Ries interviews him and gives you a chance to ask questions, too.

Fostering an active local community is easier said than done. It’s hard to gain momentum, and people often say that they want something but then do the exact opposite. Anthony Fraiser, founder of The Phat Startup, teaches the experimentation process and metrics he used to build a vibrant entrepreneurship community in Newark, NJ, from scratch.