article thumbnail

See More than 120 Speakers and Mentors at The Lean Startup Conference

Startup Lessons Learned

Guest post by Lisa Regan, writer for The Lean Startup Conference The Lean Startup Conference is next week--and now that we can step back and see all the speakers and mentors, we have to say: Wow. Another way to learn more about who’s speaking is to sort the conference program by category and find people addressing specific topics.

Lean 165
article thumbnail

Last Chance for Summer Sale Prices

Startup Lessons Learned

Post by Sarah Milstein & Eric Ries, co-hosts for The Lean Startup Conference At this year’s Lean Startup Conference , we seek to answer the difficult questions you face as an entrepreneur. We particularly like this post, Hiring Executives: If You’ve Never Done the Job, How Do You Hire Somebody Good? ,

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Yes, but who said they'd actually BUY the damn thing?

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

If you can't find ten people who say they'll buy it, your company is bullshit. I say "find ten people who say they'll buy." You repeat these mantras at Lean Startup Meetings but you're not doing it.? If the VP of Engineering thinks the target customer is just like him/her, you're doomed. Short-sighted, no?

article thumbnail

Ardent War Story 5: The Best Marketers Are Engineers

Steve Blank

I would discover that there was a more effective alternative in building a marketing department than hiring traditional marketers with MBA’s. Some of these advisors from the academic community would work with our of VP of Engineering and help us solve specific technical problems.

Engineer 205
article thumbnail

Ardent 1: Supercomputers Get Personal

Steve Blank

I’ve convinced the team you’d be perfect, come join us as the VP of Marketing.” My ex-boss was going to be the VP of Engineering and I would report to the CEO whose marketing acumen and sales instincts seemed at the time to be telepathic and sense of theater was legend. We’re building a supercomputer.”

article thumbnail

Lessons Learned: What does a startup CTO actually do?

Startup Lessons Learned

So I initially gravitated to the CTO title, and not VP of Engineering. Platform selection and technical design - if your business strategy is to create a low-burn, highly iterative lean startup, youd better be using foundational tools that make that easy rather than hard. Find the 80/20 - this was my favorite part of the job.

CTO 168
article thumbnail

Convergent Technologies: War Story 1 – Selling with Sports Scores.

Steve Blank

The VP of Engineering says, “well we don’t have the resources or time, and as long as you know we could build better computers then you guys, why don’t you tell us the details about your computers.” Hiring a VP of Sales in customer discovery typically sets a startup back. Help them?!! So, here is my assignment.