Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 29, 2008

Finding great engineers is hard; figuring out whos good is even harder. The technical interview is at the heart of these challenges when building a product development team, and so I thought it deserved an entire post on its own. I have found this quite rare in engineers. Thats OK, were not trying to hire a therapist.

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San Francisco Lean Agile Java 146

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

If you’re a business major – go check out the Engineering Society’s monthly meeting. In Silicon Valley, rock climbing’s a current hot spot for startup folks. SVASE or Founder Dating in Silicon Valley, First Tuesday in London and Hackers and Founders in New York all come to mind.

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Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 66

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 30, 2009

Even though some aspects of the product were eventually vindicated as good ones, the underlying architecture suffered from hard-to-change assumptions. After years of engineering effort, changing these assumptions was incredibly hard. This is why agility is such a prized quality in product development. Amazon PostRank

San Francisco 150

San Francisco Lean Agile Continuous Deployment 150

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 7, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, December 7, 2008 The hackers lament One of the thrilling parts of working and writing in Silicon Valley is the incredible variety of people Ive had the chance to meet. And we cant hire new engineers any faster, because you cant be interviewing and debugging and fixing all at the same time!

Software Review 94

Software Review Technical Review Part-Time VPE San Francisco 94

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2010

Id like to call special attention to Kurt Carr s perspective (lets hope he finishes his five-part series): Now that I’m back in Ohio (I was one of the token foreigners in a room full of Silicon Valley residents), I have found myself reliving and rethinking much of what I saw there. Take a look and let me know what you think.

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Software Review 133

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 18, 2008

I believe its important that product teams be cross-functional, no matter what other job function the product champion does. The job of the Chief Engineer is to determine the needs of the product and then to negotiate with the heads of body engineering, drive train engineering, manufacturing engineering, production, purchasing, etc.,

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San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 60

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

Our bias as technologists is to over-focus on the product part of the problem, and five whys tends to counteract that tendency. Its why, at my previous job, we were able to get a new engineer completely productive on their first day. Most engineers would ship code to production on their first day.

Software Review 167

Software Review Technical Review San Francisco Continuous Deployment 167

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 4, 2008

Eric, Any thoughts on how forum feedback fits into customer development and agile product development? Youve probably addressed this in the past, but I continue to be blown away by how fast Blizzard reacts to noise in their forums and rapidly makes fixes to the product. What is customer development?

Lean 102

Lean San Francisco Agile Continuous Deployment 102

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 7, 2008

And if you dont know who your customer is, perhaps some customer development is in order? Labels: customer development , search engine marketing 13comments: Jim Lindstrom said. Seems like a fairly low-cost method of gauging customer interest for a would-be product. What is customer development? Amazon PostRank

Demand 167

Demand San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

Strategy - startups first encounter this when they have the beginnings of a product, and theyve achieved some amount of product/market fit. The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: Five Whys Where did Silicon Valley come from? What is customer development?

San Francisco 88

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 88

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

For example, should we invest a week of engineering time into making our website more failure-proof (which were pretty sure will pay off right away) or into experimenting with a new technology (that might pay off in months, years, or never)? What is customer development? Lets get to the answers. Apples-and-oranges trade-offs.

San Francisco 79

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 79

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

Customer development is a parallel process to product development, which means that you dont have to give up on your dream. Our goal in product development is to find the minimum feature set required to get early customers. What is customer development? This is a common mistake. Amazon PostRank

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Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 168

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 9, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, June 9, 2009 The Lean Startup Tokyo edition I had a blast speaking at Startonomics Tokyo , which was organized to foster ties between the startup cultures in Japan and Silicon Valley. Yet its one of those features thats only ever requested by investors and engineers - never by customers.

Lean 60

Lean San Francisco Japan Continuous Deployment 60

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 17, 2009

I plan to apply these models to my own ventures, especially within new contexts separate from software and web development. The problem is that the most authentic innovators and entrepreneurs are in the Valley. I want more than anything to come to Silicon Valley after I graduate and join the vibrant ecosystem.

Lean 76

Lean San Francisco Web Continuous Deployment 76

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2009

Im not offering extensive studies or research to support this conclusion; the evidence from my peers right here in the innovation capital of America, Silicon Valley, is absolutely overwhelming. Asked to help, I am confident that Silicon Valley and every other innovation center will step up. They are nerds.

Programming 143

Programming San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 143

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 11, 2009

This is especially true in Silicon Valley. Expo New York New York, NY Nov 19 The Lean Startup at MIT Boston, MA Nov 20 Lunch workshop at Dogpatch Labs Boston, MA Dec 17 Lean Startup Cohort program begins San Francisco, CA KISSmetrics KISSmetrics is loading. You dont have to guess who their mentor will be.

Software Review 68

Software Review Software Hiring San Francisco 68

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

Much of what makes the USA, and Silicon Valley in particular, such a great place to start a company is the result of good government policy. This line in your article stood out to me: "Much of what makes the USA, and Silicon Valley in particular, such a great place to start a company is the result of good government policy."

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DC Washington San Francisco SBIR 90

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 14, 2009

Using examples drawn from his own experiences in the startup hub of Silicon Valley, Eric Ries unravels the myths and misconceptions that guide most startups, and paints a picture of a new way forward for the industry. This workshop presents a new methodology that will allow you to bring new products -- and companies -- to life.

Lean 60

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review 60

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

When I reviewed a recent product development book, it immediately shot up to Amazon sales rank 300. Most publishers are still caught up in an outdated “vision vs. metrics&# argument, which is already obsolete here in Silicon Valley. My blog has over 14000 subscribers, for example. Is that a lot? Is that good?

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 20, 2010

Heres an excerpt: Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster - WSJ.com Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists often churn out how-to business books and fancy themselves as management gurus, but few see their methodologies adopted. Eric Ries is experiencing something different. Eric Ries is experiencing something different.

Lean 153

Lean San Francisco Arlington Continuous Deployment 153

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 9, 2010

The event is being produced in partnership with Charles Hudson, who puts on many of Silicon Valleys top events, including the forthcoming Freemium Summit. If you are working on new product development in any sized company, you are welcome to attend. Im incredibly excited. Im incredibly excited. Amazon PostRank

San Francisco 151

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 151

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 15, 2010

His posts are born of tremendous research into the secret history of Silicon Valley , and if you haven’t read those essays, you should. Comprehensive means it has to address all aspects of a startups life: marketing and product development, especially. Let me be clear: Steve is the historian. Amazon PostRank

IPO 166

IPO San Francisco Lean Silicon Valley 166

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 4, 2009

If youre used to pitching your company in a startup hub, like here in Silicon Valley, you may suffer from a debilitating disease: the inability to describe your product to normal people. It also gives you insight into their language. This is important, especially if you are a very early stage company. Amazon PostRank

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

In fact, we often felt frustrated when new startups with a fraction of our success got terrific write-ups in Silicon Valley-centric venues. IMVU was a top-1000 website in the world, with millions of customers and making millions of dollars without getting any significant press coverage. Take a look and let me know what you think.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 5, 2008

The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: Five Whys Where did Silicon Valley come from? What is customer development? ScienceDaily: Corporate culture is most important. Using AdWords to assess demand for your new online. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Campaign 84

Campaign San Francisco Lean Agile 84

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

This is especially true if you live outside the echo chamber of Silicon Valley. This is especially true if you live outside the echo chamber of Silicon Valley. Whether youre a US citizen or an immigrant, entrepreneur or investor, founder or employee, theres something you can do. There are four ways to get involved below.

San Francisco 118

San Francisco DC Startup Lean 118

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 5, 2008

The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: Five Whys Where did Silicon Valley come from? What is customer development? ScienceDaily: Corporate culture is most important. Using AdWords to assess demand for your new online. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Advertising 60

Advertising San Francisco Media Continuous Deployment 60

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 19, 2008

The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: Five Whys Where did Silicon Valley come from? What is customer development? ScienceDaily: Corporate culture is most important. Using AdWords to assess demand for your new online. Take a look and let me know what you think.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 60

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2009

And then, at my first Silicon Valley startup , I watched friends get laid off in successive waves as it started to fail. Google was not the first search engine, but it's the one that succeeded. No business model, either. I turned down two opportunities to interview at Google in its pre-AdWords days. Amazon PostRank

San Francisco 94

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 94

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 22, 2008

The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: Five Whys Where did Silicon Valley come from? What is customer development? ScienceDaily: Corporate culture is most important. Using AdWords to assess demand for your new online. Take a look and let me know what you think.

.Net 158

.Net Operations San Francisco Lean 158

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Expo New York New York, NY Nov 19 The Lean Startup at MIT Boston, MA Nov 20 Lunch workshop at Dogpatch Labs Boston, MA Dec 17 Lean Startup Cohort program begins San Francisco, CA KISSmetrics KISSmetrics is loading. Take a look and let me know what you think. Amazon PostRank

Community 158

Community Management Lean Software Review 158