The Lean Startup Newsletter - September 8, 2014

The Lean Startup Newsletter - August 18, 2014 by Eric Ries

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The Lean Startup Newsletter

September 8, 1014

 By Eric Ries

When I first heard Todd Park speak about his efforts to make the federal government more entrepreneurial at SXSW in 2011, I left our meeting wondering, "Is this for real?" Could the world's largest bureaucracy really learn to move with the speed and agility of a startup?A year later, right around the time Todd was appointed to the role of the nation's Chief Technology Officer, he gave a keynote speech at SXSW's Lean Startup track about some of the specific programs he was working on that left skeptics cheering. I've written about Todd's work before on my blog, and you can also check out his talk at the 2012 Lean Startup conference here.This month, Todd will take on a new role: technology advisor to the White House based in Silicon Valley. Steven Levy writes in Wired about Todd's ongoing efforts to bring entrepreneurial innovation and iteration to the US government. 

What I'm reading:Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann's commencement address to his high school alma mater on "failing better": "Great entrepreneurs... rely on the scientific method, formulating hypotheses about their new business and structuring experiments to test those hypotheses. They expect that many of these tests will fail. Thomas Edison knew this when he invented the light bulb. He famously said, 'I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.'" A cool piece from Time's Harry McCracken about how Netflix tested its first Wii U app by building a fake GamePad (via 2014 Lean Startup Conference speaker Samihah Azim @samihah)TechCrunch's Kim-Mai Cutler on local prototyping at Nomiku: “But now that the economics of hardware startups have fundamentally changed with new ways to test consumer interest and get feedback through platforms like Kickstarter, some startups are finding that it’s easier to build products locally because the design-and-testing cycles are much tighter.”News from the Lean Startup Community:

Some good tips about testing from Lean Startup Machine’s Trevor Owens: “All founders have confirmation bias, you can’t really get away from that… You need to ask the right questions and not just the ones that will give you the answers that you want.” 

StartupSmart article 

Find a Lean Startup Machine event in your area 

2014 Lean Startup Conference Speaker Christina Wodtke is pitching a panel “Pivots without Pain: Managing a Change In Vision” for SXSW 2015. 

Lean Startup Productions is seeking reporters for The How, a new site that aims to help entrepreneurs kick ass in their jobs. The How will provide super-useful, in-depth, how-to information for startups--from experts and peers. 

Upcoming events:

Be Social Change Class: Lean Startup for Social Good

“Lean Startup for Social Good applies a scientific approach to becoming a better social entrepreneur and change maker, creating maximum value and impact for the people you are serving.”

Monday, September 22, 2014, 6:45 PM to 8:30 PM (EDT)

New York, NYTradecraftAn immersive training program for people who want to become ux designers, growth hackers or sales and business development professionals.San Francisco, CAFocus 100digital undivided presents Focus 100, a tech conference featuring a diverse line-up of innovators and investors: over 80% of speakers are women and/or people of color.Oct 3-4, 2014New York, NY 

The 2014 Lean Startup Conference 

Sign up here for five days of sessions and events designed to improve your success as an entrepreneurFor an introduction to three of our speakers, visit my blog.

Dec 8-12, 2014

San Francisco, CA