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.

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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 him with a broken neck. Rather than give up, however, he shifted his focus to the startup world.

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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 firm helps youth-serving nonprofits and education organizations find, hire, and keep talent.

Before co-founding Edgility, Greenberg worked in fundraising, policy, and nonprofit management. But she tapped into her true passion when she started recruiting in the education sector, “making that magical connection” to place someone where they’d have the most impact. She spent four years working for a program that mentored and trained aspiring principals for low income communities in the Bay Area. After taking a maternity break, Greenberg returned to the workforce as a consultant. She found enough clients needed her unique expertise in education to launch a business, Redwood Circle Consulting. Five and a half years in, it was time to expand. Greenberg and a business partner, Edgility co-founder Allison Wyatt, launched their firm from opposite coasts.

They weren’t sure what the company’s full scope would look like from the start, says Greenberg, but they established guiding principles. They wanted to build upon their shared talents in the recruiting space. They wanted to focus on organizations for “underserved youth and families—low income families, families of color, and students that were struggling for one reason or another in the school systems that we have today.” And finally, they wanted a lean business with little overhead, zero drama, and high expectations for what they could accomplish.

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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 categories of products and services—and shifting consumer paradigms in the process. Lochhead eschews conventional marketing wisdom and evangelizes “category design,” which he calls “a secret art built on the thinking of legends.”

Lean Startup Co. advisor Christopher Guest recently chatted with Lochhead to understand why category design is so powerful, how to best wield it, and why entrepreneurs should naturally embody it.

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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 Director of Innovation, where he was scouting and incubating innovations in virtual reality, IOT solutions, and industrial 3-D printing. He’s currently Head of Innovation Practice at SmartOrg, which helps drive corporate growth by connecting innovation and finance through strategic portfolio management.

“I'm proof that people can change,” Morales says of his career path. “Part of it is just being a curious learner. My dad was always fixing things. He used to say, ‘Solve the puzzle.’ People come with problems. People who solve puzzles add value.”

Morales and Innovation Consultant, David Binetti, discussed solutions for some of the trickier innovation puzzles facing intrapreneurs at the 2019 Lean Startup Conference.

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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 ensuring each course of action boosts growth, regardless of what their egos may be telling them. This attitude is working in their favor. In the two years since they founded Fernish, the company has grown to 35 employees and their customer base numbers in the thousands.

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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.

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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.

The simple act of reaching out to the customer can be incredibly helpful and enlightening. “You would be amazed at what you find out,” Theron says.

It’s one of the things that is easy to understand in theory, but Theron cautions, entrepreneurs have to put it into practice to see how it works. “Until you actually do it, you don’t understand what the struggles are,” he says, adding, “once you get in there, you realize how much information every single customer or potential customer can give you to save you from wasting time and energy.”

As an added bonus, it’s also a great way to develop a customer base. If you adopt their feedback and apply it to your product or business, “they’re going to be a customer for life.” Because they’ll not only feel heard, but you’ll have created something that made their business (or life) better.

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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…

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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: [email protected]

Follow Lean Startup Co. @leanstartup

https://leanstartup.co/education