The Lean Startup – Build confidence in your venture May 21, 2009

We have heard that recessions are the best time to start your own startup. For entrepreneurs who have been on the path, it may be straight forward to get started. What about the rest of us? There are so many engineers with bright ideas, but don't know how to start.

The current macroeconomic climate presents unparalleled opportunities for those that can thrive with constrained resources. Many startups are now following the Lean Startup process. The Lean process was created by Toyota in the 50s. The Lean Startup embodies similar principles as applied to the startup process. The Lean Startup is a practical approach for creating and managing a new breed of company that excels in low-cost experimentation, rapid iteration, and true customer insight.

Eric Ries, a co-founder of IMVU, is a strong proponent of this process and very successfully used it at IMVU. He will share the key principles of making sure you get your startup idea off the ground and stay on course.

If you are an engineer with bright ideas, consider Lean Startup to build confidence while building your startup.
1. Identify a profitable business model faster and cheaper than your competitors.
2. Continuously discover what customers want to buy before building or making follow-on investments in new features.
3. Ship new software at a dizzying pace: multiple times a day while improving quality and lowering costs.
4. Build a company-wide culture of decision-making based on real facts, not opinions.

About Eric
Eric Ries became a Venture Advisor at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, after co-founding and serving as Chief Technology Officer of IMVU. He is the co-author of several books including The Black Art of Java Game Programming (Waite Group Press, 1996). While an undergraduate at Yale University, he co-founded Catalyst Recruiting. Although Catalyst folded with the dot-com crash, Ries continued his entrepreneurial career as a Senior Software Engineer at There.com, leading efforts in agile software development and user-generated content. In 2007, BusinessWeek named Ries one of the Best Young Entrepreneurs of Tech. He serves on the advisory board of a number of technology startups including pbWiki, Bunchball, FooMojo, Causes and KaChing.

Agenda
6pm – 6.45pm Registration and Card Exchange Networking
6.45pm – 7pm Introductory Comments
7pm - 8.30pm Main Event including Q&A
8.30pm – Wrap Up and Networking

About SIPA – Launch pad for personal and professional growth
SIPA is a platform for technology professionals in the bay area to connect with each other and with industry visionaries. Our mission is to help technology professionals in managing their professional and personal growth as they weave through the journey of their careers. We do that by bring technology visionaries to share upcoming