I want to write a quick recap of the Lean Startup Machine Mexico City event. What I liked and what I didn’t like.
Just to give you a bit of background, the main goal of this weekend is to actively work on validating a startup business idea. The main tool is the Javelin Board and is worked on by a group of 4-5.
+ Networking
I met a ton of really interesting and awesome people, just to name a few:
@enortham
@KariCau
@Mario_Chavez
@solrac925
– Team
On the last day out of 5 starting members we were 2! Granted we were the only group where this happened. The main reason was that our team leader was only interested in a certain type of solution and once we rejected that, he lost interest.
+ Organization
The event was organized really well. They had material and all equipment necessary. Plus we got food every day which was a plus 🙂
– Workshops
The workshops were very poor. It was either a video or a short presentation without slides. The actual increase in knowledge (provided you read the book The Lean Startup by Eric Ries) after this weekend was close to 0 for me.
+ Experience
The lack of new knowledge was definitely made up by a lot of practice. I definitely learned how to validate an idea and more importantly I did experience this hands on. One memory I will take away is that ALL team’s initial ideas were rejected. This alone made this workshop a positive experience for me.
Knowledge gained
Here are the key things I learned
- Every customer has a problem, but not every solution has a customer
- People are willing to answer your questions if you ask
- Define your customer segment, validate a problem that you expect before thinking about (or worse creating) a solution
- The Javelin Board is more useful than it looks on first sight…
- To validate an idea ask about past experiences/past pain. And not: could you imagine/future pain.
Advice for people planing to join a Lean Startup Machine Event
- Network as much as you can. Build relationships with great people. Everybody is open to talk to you, you just need to make the first step. I personally set goals for each day about who I want to meet.
- Pick a group that has a product idea that doesn’t exist yet. Any team with an existing product will have a very hard time making an extreme pivot and dropping all their past work.
- Pick a product that a lot of normal people could use. You will have to do customer interviews close to your event venue. If you pick a super niche product you won’t find any potential customers easily.
- Prepare your pitch and include a memorable product name.
Alright, that was my Lean Startup Machine Mexico City Review. I think this event provides decent experience on learning how to validate a new startup idea.