Momentum

Recap-The Michigan Lean Startup Conference

by Momentum blogger, Laura Percherski

On Thursday, 20 nationally recognized speakers came to Grand Rapids, Michigan to talk to our completely-sold-out Michigan Lean Startup Conference. The audience was filled with all things startup: founders, investors, consultants and people simply interested in innovation.

The concept of the Lean Startup is a relatively new one across the country and this conference marked the formal introduction of the lean principles into West Michigan. Some attendees were brand new to the lean startup methodology and others were familiar with it through reading the many great books on lean startup methodologies.

The presentations started strong with Eric Ries, entrepreneur, creator of the Lean Startup methodology and author of The Lean Startup.

Eric explained the genesis of this approach with roots in lean manufacturing and customer development, a concept introduced by Steve Blank, author of Four Steps to the Epiphany. As Steve would echo, Eric believes that the important challenge is building a product that people want, rather than a cool piece of software, beautifully designed that no one will buy.

In the end, a successful product is built specifically for a customer segment, and address their wants and needs. “The customer is the most important part of the production line” – W. Edwards Demming

Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits, authors of The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development, dispelled several myths about the lean startup. They call their book a comprehensive cheat-sheet to customer development, which focuses on finding prospective customers and discovering their needs.

A funny (and true) point they made in their presentation was that ‘your baby might be ugly’. In the context of a startup, Patrick and Brant were referring to the scary realization that the product you built might not be what customers want, and you need to be open to hearing that your baby (the product) is ugly (it sucks).

Next up was Rob Walling, author of Start Small, Stay Small: The Developers Guide to Launching a Startup. Rob shared his experience of moving from a developer to an entrepreneur and told some great stories.

Rob backed into customer development after realizing that the code he and his team built was worth nothing without customers. In other words a perfectly engineered product is worth nothing without a market that wants to buy it.

Dan Martell followed. Dan is a Canadian entrepreneur, cofounder of Flowtown and startup advisor. Dan has used the lean startup methodology and metrics based marketing to build his companies and help others build theirs.

Dan’s gave a great example of how lean startup methodology can apply to even non-web technology companies. His brother Pierre, a mechanic-turned-home builder, was building houses no one would buy until he solicited feedback from women, and figured out that his customer was actually women. This approach rapidly grew Pierre’s business.

William Pietri, software engineer and entrepreneur, discussed building a sustainable startup. William is currently the CTO and co-founder of a venture-backed web startup that helps people use their social networks to make better purchasing decisions.

Jeffery Shox, a Registered Patent Attorney spoke about the lean startup and patents for the lean startup. In his presentation, Minimal Viable Patent, Jeffery explained why smart startups file patents and how to avoid common pitfalls.

Investor Panel
There were a few main takeaways from the investor panel:
The lean startup methods are good for the investor – they can get the company further with less money One key question for entrepreneurs to answer is what is the right metric for your business? Customer development is great but curating customer feedback is the key to startup success.

Founder Panel
In this highly interactive session, entrepreneurs Jeff Epstein, Zach Steindler, Gagan Palrecha and was moderated by Dug Song. The panel discussed the finer points of building agile software startups to discover and deliver on outsized market opportunities.

We considered this event a success for a few reasons. The lean startup method works and in addition to the Momentum teams implementing this methodology this year, we are excited to introduce these principles to more startups in west Michigan. Helping the startup community grow in our area helps move Michigan toward a sustainable future. The conference was a great opportunity to bring startup enthusiasts from throughout the state together to share a common interest.

If you attended we hope you took away some valuable tools to start practicing lean startup methods. Our Momentum teams have already begun to implement these practices so check back on our blog throughout the summer. We will update you on their progress!