Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

When Ive asked mentors of mine who have worked in big companies about the role of the CTO, they usually talk about the importance of being the external face of the companys technology platform; an evangelist to developers, customers, and employees. But along the way, something strange happened. Expo SF (May.

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Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

This is why companies often get out-competed by former employees (Palm vs Handspring to name just one), even though the upstart lacks all of the familiar resources, tools, processes, and support they used to have. Go on an agile diet quickly. Labels: agile , customer development 15comments: Scott Shapiro said.

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 20, 2008

As I evolved my thinking, I started to frame the problem this way: How can we devise a product development process that allows the business leaders to take responsibility for the outcome by making conscious trade-offs? When I first encountered agile software techniques, in the form of extreme programming , I thought I had found the answer.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 28, 2010

With 21 employees today, kaChing is devoted to recruiting professional managers and finding product/market fit , first for money managers, then for consumers. With 21 employees today, kaChing is devoted to recruiting professional managers and finding product/market fit , first for money managers, then for consumers. Expo SF (May.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment SEC 158

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 28, 2008

We pitch to potential partners, vendors, publishers, conferences, employees, and even lawyers. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Usually we think of pitches in the context of raising money, but that is only one of many pitch situations. Expo SF (May.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 128

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 26, 2009

Every two months, the company would have a big end-of-milestone meeting, with our Board of Directors, Business Advisory Board, and all employees present. And at each meeting, we’d also include an unedited, uncensored report direct from the Customer Advisory Board. No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

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Advisory Board Customer San Francisco Lean 151

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 3, 2009

The same has been true of an unfortunate number of startups, they manage to generate a lot of hype, raise a lot of money, and sometimes make some of their investors, employees, or founders rich. bigs : @ericries says Stealth dev is a (undesirable, failure-presaging) customer-free zone. Use some customer development to find out.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 23, 2009

Part one is up on their site today , in text, audio and slide format. To hear full audio and a complete transcript, click through to Venture Hacks. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Combining agile development with customer developm.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Audio 167

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 17, 2010

Not to be outdone, the technologists on the team had also brought their big guns, and the meeting was packed with employees of every level – from VP’s all the way down to me. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ▼ June (3) What is a startup? Expo SF (May.

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Technical Review San Francisco Lean Software Review 164

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 4, 2009

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Kent Beck keynote, "To Agility, and Beyond" Six streaming locations Interviews ► March (7) New conference website, speakers, agenda Two new scholarship programs for lean startups Speed up or slow down? Expo SF (May.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 26, 2009

Its an amazing thing when you can hire an employee who knows more about your code base than you do, and this turned out to be a big source of advantage. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Product development leverage Validated learning about customers Built to learn Web 2.0

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 30, 2008

Over-communicate with employees, investors, customers. Ive also used the voluntary salary reduction tool - its particularly useful as a way to get passionate employees who dont have a lot of personal expenses to buy into the mission of the company at a deep level. Pay attention to where your cash is. Dont sugar coat.

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Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 121

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 3, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, March 3, 2009 Employees should be masters of their own time Every startup should have a culture of learning. The rule is simple: every employee is 100% responsible for how they spend their time. The suggestion is that you implement one single company-wide rule. I asked why.

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Employee San Francisco Lean Software Review 146

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 19, 2009

It isnt until a customer actually clicks or calls to place an order that TPGTEXs developers will build the software. "We We do not develop a product until we get a paying customer," says Orit Pennington , who co-founded the six-employee company with her husband in 2002.

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San Francisco Product Lean Continuous Deployment 137

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 31, 2009

If youve been following my efforts in figuring out the best way to evangelize the lean startup , youll know that I am trying to apply customer development principles. And if you know those principles, you may notice that I am trying to pass from the "customer discovery" phase to the "customer validation" phase.

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Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

Whether youre a US citizen or an immigrant, entrepreneur or investor, founder or employee, theres something you can do. Whether youre a US citizen or an immigrant, entrepreneur or investor, founder or employee, theres something you can do. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

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San Francisco DC Startup Lean 118

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 23, 2009

Priority will be given to employees of companies participating in the fbFund REV program, but I am confident that there will be room for members of the general public who want to attend. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? If youd like to reserve a spot, please RSVP.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 21, 2010

Yet, the real stories of successful startups are full of activities that can rightly be called institution-building: hiring creative employees, coordinating their activities, and creating a company culture that delivers results. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ▼ June (3) What is a startup?

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Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 1, 2009

Well have a full audio recording posted soon, but I did want to share the slides with everyone. LIKED: Y startups fail, cont deployment vs waterfall vs agile, small batches & learn fr biz metrics #leanstartup As concise a summary as Ive ever seen. A: have them deploy code to production on their first day as an employee.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 19, 2009

In fact theyd cause there to be more jobs for Americans, because the companies they started would hire more employees as they grew. In fact theyd cause there to be more jobs for Americans, because the companies they started would hire more employees as they grew. Brad Feld is working on promoting this idea inside the halls of Congress.

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Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 29, 2008

On the one hand, it gives you insight into what kind of employee the candidate might be. The six key attributes spell ABCDEF: Agility. When talking about their past experience, candidates with agility will know why they did what they did in a given situation. I use the circle question, too.

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Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 20, 2009

Its unit of progress is that of validated learning about its customers. Because this radical notion of progress is located firmly in the heads of its employees, and not in any artifacts they produce, the lean startup is employee-centric and knowledge-obsessed. It is a truly fun place to work. Expo SF (May.

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Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 68

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 6, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 6, 2008 When NOT to listen to your users; when NOT to rely on split-tests There are three legs to the lean startup concept: agile product development , low-cost (fast to market) platforms , and rapid-iteration customer development. I think Drucker said it best. Expo SF (May.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Agile 128

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Do some Customer Development instead. I wont recount what happened next (although your can hear us recount it in audio ). For example, if your employees are feeling frustrated that they dont get much third-party validation for their work, use a board of advisers to fill that role. Help you raise money. Expo SF (May.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 2, 2009

For example, I often cite a real example of a problem that has as its root cause a new employee who was not properly trained. I pick that example on purpose, for two reasons: 1) most of the companies I work with deal with this problem and yet 2) almost none of them have any kind of training program in place for new employees.

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San Francisco Lean Technical Review Software Review 164

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 27, 2009

Customer Development : a disciplined approach to finding out if there is a market for your product before its too late. Customer Development Engineering : techniques for accelerating your product development. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 117

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 7, 2009

We eventually discovered (via five whys ) that we also had to get each new employee acculturated to a fearless way of thinking. Because this was such a big cultural change for most new employees, we didnt leave them to sink or swim on their own. For one, it required us to keep our developer sandbox setup procedure simple and automated.

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Continuous Deployment San Francisco Software Review Lean 131

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

Hes a new employee, and he was not properly trained in TDD So far, this isnt much different from the kind of analysis any competent operations team would conduct for a site outage. Instead, five whys kept leading to problems caused by an improperly trained new employee, and wed make a small adjustment. What is customer development?

Software Review 167

Software Review Technical Review San Francisco Continuous Deployment 167

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

Lean manufacturing , agile software development , and Theory of Constraints are all examples of this idea in action. Its easier to believe in a glorious future when you have only zeroes, for everyone: founders, investors, and employees. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Software Review 167

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

It has to balance competing goals of establishing clear ownership, while avoiding talented employees getting stuck. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? What is customer development? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 79

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 1, 2009

Not everything has to follow lean startup and customer development principles, and I write that as a devoted practitioner of both. It would be far more useful to discover how Apple really does develop their innovative products it rather than assume that they follow the principles that you and I espouse. Expo SF (May.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 166

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2009

Then I wouldnt have the chance to work with the incredible employees and mentors from whom I learned so much. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? And yet, missing out on these trends wasnt the end of the world. Expo SF (May.

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Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 11, 2009

Thats all helpful for recruiting, retaining, and ramping-up a new employee. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? They have a certain amount of trust based on having been part of a common mission, and they share a passion for the projects goals. Expo SF (May.

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Software Review Software Hiring San Francisco 68

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 24, 2009

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Kent Beck keynote, "To Agility, and Beyond" Six streaming locations Interviews ► March (7) New conference website, speakers, agenda Two new scholarship programs for lean startups Speed up or slow down? Expo SF (May.

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Metrics San Francisco Lean Viral 88

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 6, 2008

When youve mastered that, consider adding operations, customer service, marketing, product management, business development - the idea is that when the team needs to get approval or support from another department, they already have an "insider" who can make it happen. No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

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San Francisco SCRUM Lean Continuous Deployment 74

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 7, 2008

Our online media company is small, we have 6 employees, great proven leaders, great talent, great cashflow. Our CTO is the CEO himself, but he lacks the understanding of the new software development processes and the new technologies. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

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Software Review Technical Review Part-Time VPE San Francisco 94

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

Hopefully, they have internal reports that show the true correlation between their features and customer results. Are employees paying more attention to those reports than to the positive press coverage? Your employees probably read the same press you are trying to influence. I sure hope so. I sure hope so. Expo SF (May.

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