Lean Startup

We recently hosted a conversation between Brianne Kimmel, Founder & Managing Partner at Work Life Ventures, and Chris Guest, Lean Startup Co. Advisor, about entering this new era of work and business. Brianne Kimmel shares her experiences on how our current accelerating speed is impacting startups and what it means for enterprise organizations and government. Email us: education@leanstartup.co Follow Lean Startup Co. @leanstartup https://leanstartup.co/education

We recently hosted a conversation between Jesse Thomas, Co-founder & CEO of Picky Bars, and Chris Guest, Lean Startup Co. Advisor, about the impact of passion, patience and a focus on growth that led to consistent, year-over-year growth for the energy bar company. In the conversation, they discuss: - How Jesse struggled to find balance in his life while working for a VC-funded startup. - How a personal need from Jesse’s athletic training led to the creation of Picky Bars. - The benefits of self-funding and keeping expenses low. And much, much more… Jesse Thomas is the co-founder & CEO of Picky Bars, not to mention a professional triathlete and two-time ironman champion. Born and raised in Bend, Oregon, Thomas excelled in track and field while at Stanford University and later narrowly missed earning a spot on the U.S. Olympic team, largely due to an injury he suffered during steeplechase trials. After he shifted to cycling, Thomas ultimately put a stop to his athletic career when a fall while biking left

We recently hosted a conversation between Christina Greenberg, Co-Founder of Edgility Consulting, and Chris Guest, Lean Startup Co. Advisor, about how Christina recruited to build a diverse and inclusive organization and how you can do the same. In the conversation, they discuss: - The founding story of Edgility Consulting and why they decided to focus on helping youth-serving nonprofits and education organizations find, hire, and keep talent. - How they examined their own recruiting methods and what they could do to create an environment where all different kinds of people would want to work for them. - Specific plans and strategies you can implement to recruit for a diverse and inclusive staff. And much, much more… Christina Greenberg is an expert in pivoting outside her comfort zone. The co-founder of Edgility Consulting has branched out, business-wise, multiple times in service of a larger vision. In her case, that vision involves supporting a diverse and inclusive industry standard. Her Oakland-based

We recently hosted a conversation between Christopher Lochhead, bestselling author and #1 charting podcaster, and Chris Guest, Lean Startup Co. Advisor, about why category design is so powerful, how to best wield it, and why entrepreneurs should naturally embody it. In the conversation, they discuss: - What is category design and who are some companies that have successfully implemented it. - How category design gets you out of the comparison trap. - What it takes as an entrepreneur and intrapreneur to implement category design. And much, much more… Christopher Lochhead values standing out over fitting in. He wants entrepreneurs to create markedly different products, not just better versions of old standbys. His #1 charting podcasts, "Follow Your Different" and "Lochhead on Marketing," and bestselling books Niche Down: How To Become Legendary By Being Different and Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets instruct entrepreneurs on developing and dominating new categor

We recently hosted a conversation between Ralph Morales III, Head of Innovation Practice at SmartOrg, and David Binetti, Innovation Consultant, about solutions for some of the trickier innovation puzzles facing intrapreneurs. This conversation was recorded during the 2019 Lean Startup Conference in San Francisco and we’re excited to make it available to you as a podcast. In the conversation, they discuss: - Testing a range of assumptions and knowing when to move from one to the next. - The importance of taking a lot of smaller bets to help you find and be ready for the big opportunity. - Scoring each risk with ignorance and value ratings to show executives the uncertain value. And much, much more… Ralph Morales III is a unicorn intrapreneur. He began his career in finance and ended up in innovation, a rare trajectory. More specifically, he worked at HP during what he calls the “sunshine moment for new business innovation,” moving from his role as financial marketing analyst to eventually becoming the Dire

We recently hosted a conversation between Michael Barlow, Co-Founder & CEO at Fernish, Lucas Dickey, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at Fernish, DeMarcus Williams, Director of Silicon Valley Bank Early Stage Practice, and Hisham Ibrahim, Lean Startup Co. Faculty Member, about six rookie mistakes that block growth in early stage startups. In the conversation, they discuss: - How to implement good hiring and retention practices to ensure you’re surrounding yourself with the right team. - The importance of maintaining a consistent company narrative. - Tips to avoid getting stuck in analysis paralysis. And much, much more… Fernish’s founders Lucas Dickey and Michael Barlow have prime backgrounds in product management, engineering, design, sales, and finance. Their collective resumes include time in the trenches at Amazon and J.P. Morgan. When it came to launching their subscription service for home furnishings, though, they often traded expertise for proof of concept. Dickey and Barlow are methodical about

This conversation between Alton McDowell, Co-head of Technology and Disruptive Commerce at J.P. Morgan, and Eric Ries took place at the Lean Startup Conference in San Francisco. Eric and his team are known for creating a movement within the startup community and have helped companies make lasting impacts and experience sustainable growth. In this conversation, he talks with Alton about startup trends, lessons he’s learned along the way, and best practices entrepreneurs can follow. Email us: education@leanstartup.co Follow Lean Startup Co. @leanstartup https://leanstartup.co/education

We recently hosted a conversation between fiifi Founder & CEO, Theron McCollough, and Lean Startup Co. Advisor, Chris Guest, focused on Theron’s experiences working in the world of startups and his recent return to the role of an entrepreneur as he launches his new venture.  In Chris and Theron’s conversation, they discuss: - Given Theron’s background advising and investing in hundreds of startups, what insights has he taken with him as he re-enters the world of entrepreneurship? - And now that he is a player again, does he follow the advice he would have given when he was a coach? And much, much more… For more than a decade, Theron McCollough has been working in the world of startups. Fairly early on in his career — when he was working with Pivotal Software — he began to notice how Lean Startup techniques could help a business scale. And while he took note of the usefulness of testing, iterating, and failing, one of the biggest things he learned was the importance of asking customers what they think.

We recently hosted a conversation between Ryan Caldbeck, Founder & CEO at CircleUp, and Chris Guest, Lean Startup Co. Advisor, focused on what it’s like as a CEO to take your company through a major pivot. This episode is part two of their conversation. In Chris and Ryan’s conversation they discuss: - How to create a culture that gives support to people that want to be vulnerable and authentic for the benefit of the company and for themselves. - The unique challenges CEO’s face and how they can build a support system for themselves. - How Ryan has utilized Lean Startup methodologies as an entrepreneur. And much, much more… Email us: education@leanstartup.co Follow Lean Startup Co. @leanstartup https://leanstartup.co/education

We recently hosted a conversation between Ryan Caldbeck, Founder & CEO at CircleUp, and Chris Guest, Lean Startup Co. Advisor, about how to navigate through a major pivot. This episode is part one of the conversation with Ryan and part two is coming up next week. Even more exciting, Ryan is also speaking at the Lean Startup Conference this week in San Francisco. Tickets to the conference are still available at LeanStartup.co. Email us: education@leanstartup.co Follow Lean Startup Co. @leanstartup https://leanstartup.co/education

We recently hosted a conversation between Sarah Paiji Yoo, Co-Founder & CEO at Blueland, and Chris Guest, Lean Startup Co. Advisor, about how becoming a mom led Sarah to create a company that is reimagining how we consume household products to eliminate the need for wasteful plastic packaging. In Chris and Sarah’s conversation, they discuss: - How Sarah got the idea for Blueland and why she felt so compelled to solve the problem of wasteful plastic packaging. - How the team developed and tested their first product idea: toothpaste - How they took these initial learnings and pivoted to cleaning spray products. And much, much more… When serial entrepreneur Sarah Paiji Yoo became a new mom, she wasn’t looking to find her next business idea. She had made the conscious decision to step back from work to find a balance between being a new parent and being a businesswoman. But it was the very act of being a mom that gave her the idea for what would eventually become her company, Blueland. Sarah was horrified

We recently hosted a conversation between Chris Cochella, Executive Business Coach at Sequoia Group, and Adam Berk, Lean Startup Co. Faculty Member, about the value and application of mental models for extremely uncertain Lean Startup situations. In Chris and Adam’s conversation, they discuss: - What is a mental model and how can they help you? - What is first conclusion bias and how can it help and/or hurt you? - Three critical mental models that can help the Lean Startup entrepreneur subvert the first conclusion bias. And much, much more… Lean Startup methods are intended to reduce uncertainty in a highly uncertain environment. Warren Buffett likes to say, “I don’t look to jump over 7-foot bars, I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.” As entrepreneurs, we are looking to lower the height of the uncertainty hurdle while making decisions and moving forward. Another way to look at this approach is to create a situation where: heads, I win; tails, I don’t lose much. The Lean Startup approach is

We recently hosted a conversation between Brock Blake, Founder & CEO of Lendio, and Marilyn Gorman, Lean Startup Co. Faculty Lead, focused on the decision to pivot one successful company into another that served a completely different niche of the market while embracing the importance of accountability. In Brock and Marilyn’s conversation, they discuss: - How Brock got started in the world of entrepreneurship and decided which problem to focus on. - How a pivot from his first idea eventually led to Lendio. - The “be the CEO of your job” mentality and how this builds accountability for Lendio employees. And much, much more… Brock Blake stumbled into the world of entrepreneurship when he was still attending college at BYU. He was studying finance and won an entrepreneurship competition that awarded him $50,000 to start a business. The only problem was that he didn’t exactly know what he wanted to do, much less how to go about launching into the business world. Instead of diving in headfirst into the firs

We recently hosted a conversation between Maryana Iskander, CEO at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, and Ann Mei Chang, Executive Director of Lean Impact at Lean Startup Co., focused on the pioneering work of Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator in South Africa and their efforts to tackle the global youth unemployment crisis. In Maryana and Ann Mei’s conversation, they discuss: - How Harambee focused their efforts on solving problems for two customers - young people looking for a job and businesses needing to hire. - How they used data to guide their problem solving efforts and what some of the key learnings were. - Their efforts to scale their work to Rwanda and what the key challenges have been. And much, much more… South Africa has a big problem on its hands. Even though they make up less than 1% of the world’s population, they have one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. It’s a problem that’s compounded over time. Every year, nearly two-thirds of young people who enter the job

We recently hosted a conversation between Claire Lee, Head of Early Stage at Silicon Valley Bank, Liz Curtis, CEO & Founder at Table + Teaspoon, and CJ Legare, Lean Startup Co. Chief of Staff, about the realities facing female entrepreneurs today. In Claire, Liz, and CJ’s conversation, they discuss: - Why Liz decided to start Table + Teaspoon, a “Rent the Runway, but for table settings.” - What Claire calls the “Single Digit Club” and what we can do to change it. - The importance that mentors have played in both Liz and Claire’s career. And much, much more… Liz Curtis didn’t always intend to be an entrepreneur, least of all in the world of entertaining. In fact, she was studying to become a lawyer when she started Table + Teaspoon — a blog that featured decorating ideas, entertaining tips and recipes. The blog was initially just a creative outlet for Liz as she pursued her career as a corporate litigator, but eventually, it became a much bigger idea that she launched into a business. In 2013, while she

We recently hosted a conversation between Bec Evans, Co-founder of Prolifiko and author of "How to Have a Happy Hustle", and Elliot Susel, Lean Startup Co. Faculty Member, focused on the similarities between the world of writing and publishing and the world of startups. In Bec and Elliot’s conversation, they discuss: - The traditional, old-school practices of the publishing industry and why change is needed. - How Bec utilized a Lean Startup approach to writing her new book. - Current innovations happening in the publishing world and what the future of publishing looks like. And much, much more… There are few industries as steeped in traditional, old-school practices as publishing. Many of the major publishing houses have been around for tens (if not hundreds) of years and still haven’t really changed their business structures or publishing methods. But for Bec Evans, that just means there’s a lot of potential for things to become a bit more interesting. Bec has spent her entire career working in and a

We recently hosted a conversation between Julie Legault and Justin Pahara, Co-Founders of Amino Labs, and Hisham Ibrahim, Lean Startup Co. Faculty Member, focused on building a product designed to bring biotechnology — an area of science typically only accessible to experts in the field — to non-experts and beginners. In Julie, Justin, and Hisham’s conversation, they discuss: - How they discovered the problem with bringing biotechnology to beginners and how that led to the creation of Amino Labs. - The iterative process they used to build a product that served their customer’s need, not their want. - How they wrote a book about genetic engineering for beginners using an iterative process. And much, much more… When Julie Legault was a masters student at the MIT Media Lab, she was encouraged to try new things and to do things she wouldn’t normally do. So when Justin Pahara’s first startup, Synbiota, put on a workshop about a new technology called synthetic biology, Julie gave it a try. For her, it was a g

We recently hosted a conversation between Chris Cochella, Founder & Co-Owner at Brackitz, and Marilyn Gorman, Lean Startup Co. Faculty Lead, focused on how the desire to find better engineering toys for his son turned into an idea to create a toy to help promote STEAM learning in young children. In Chris and Marilyn’s conversation, they discuss: - What problem drove Chris to start Brackitz. - The process Chris went through to test his early assumptions with his customers (teachers and students). - The importance of letting your curiosity fuel you. And much, much more… Like many new product beginnings, the idea behind Brackitz came out of a personal need. After he started a science program at his kids’ elementary school, Chris Cochella, founder and co-owner of Brackitz toys, realized that there wasn’t a lot of hands-on science or engineering tools available for young children. To Chris, this was a problem. Right now, the National Science Foundation says that the declining interest in STEAM (Science, Tech

We recently hosted a webcast conversation between Dante Vitagliano, Political Consultant at Pinnacle Campaign Strategies, and Marilyn Gorman, Lean Startup Co. Faculty Lead, focused on how Lean Startup can be used to run political campaigns. In Dante and Marilyn’s conversation, they discuss: - The similarities between startups and running political campaigns. - The 3 major phases in the political process where using a Lean Startup approach can help campaigners. - How to do experimentation and learning inside a political campaign. And much, much more… When it comes to political campaigns, Dante Vitagliano wants to build a better business model. When he and his partners started Pinnacle Campaign Strategies, they set out to solve some of the problems they consistently saw happening in political campaigns. To Dante, applying the Lean Startup methodology to their campaign efforts made sense. “There are so many similarities between the startup landscape and what we as [...] campaign professionals face on the day

We recently hosted a webcast conversation between Pete Oliver-Krueger, Agile, Lean, and Teal Managing Consultant; Jim Damato, Agile Specialist; and Heather McGough, Lean Startup Co. CEO & Co-Founder focused on how Lean Startup is applied in politics. In Pete, Jim, and Heather’s conversation, they discuss: - Why it’s so important to apply Lean Startup in the political arena and how it can be done. - The key lessons learned from Jim’s former startup, TruthinessCheck, which used crowdsourcing to do fact checking. - The future of innovation in politics. And much, much more… Email us: education@leanstartup.co Follow Lean Startup Co. @leanstartup https://leanstartup.co/education