We’ve spent a
lot of time this past year running Lean Startup tests on our annual flagship conference to really nail down what you’re most interested in. The results
have helped guide our planning and I’m really excited about all the new options
and sessions we’ve come up with for the October 23-25 event in San Francisco.
We’ll gather at the Palace of Fine Arts for workshops, talks, case studies, networking, and will host an amazing lineup of participants from diverse backgrounds and industries. Our goal—again, based on feedback—is to continue broadening the reach of Lean Startup and embracing the numerous ways people are using it. 2019 will be our most dynamic, varied conference yet, and because all the events are under one roof, you’ll have tons of chances to meet up with fellow attendees, speakers, and experts to share and connect in informal settings.
In order for you to make the most of your time, we’ve organized this year’s sessions into four tracks that will let you make targeted choices: Enterprise and Government; Startup; Nonprofits and Lean Impact; and a new Lean Startup Core Concepts track. You’re welcome to sample from all of them, or stick to just one if that suits your needs best. I’m particularly happy to be offering the Core Concepts track, based on feedback from previous years’ attendees.
Within these categories, we’re offering more than 40 deep dive workshops and case studies from companies including Lyft, Amazon Web Services, Caterpillar, Gumroad, Procter & Gamble, Mozilla, Microsoft Garage, and Molson Coors. The Core Concepts track includes everything from conducting effective customer interviews to metrics and accounting, story-telling, and experiment design. There are sessions on using Lean to solve community problems, building effective teams, hiring and retaining the right talent, and applying Lean toward equity and diversity efforts. The program is packed with real-life lessons about learning from failure, the challenges of innovating after achieving product-market fit, and creating a culture of innovation in large enterprises.
Our mainstage will also be packed with opportunities to learn and be inspired. Arlan Hamilton, Founder and Managing Partner of Backstage Capital, built her company while homeless. She and Twitch founder Justin Kan will have a fireside chat about running a venture capital firm dedicated to minimizing funding disparities in tech by investing in people of color, women, and/or LGBT. We’ll hear from Scott Kupor, managing partner at Andreesen Horowitz, on how to get venture capital, and his colleague Katie Haun, a General Partner at the firm, on building crypto-currency. Morgan DeBaun of Blavity will talk about founding and growing the largest lifestyle brand for black millenials and not being afraid to fail while doing it. Tien Tzuo, Founder and CEO of Zuora, the world’s largest subscription management platform, will share more than a decade of insights on the subscription economy. He’ll discuss how business leaders of all kinds can position their companies to thrive in marketing, IT, finance, product, and sales. We’ll get an honest account of what it’s really like to do a major pivot from CircleUp founder Ryan Caldbeck, and I’ll be talking with Andy Rachleff, CEO of Wealthfront and Co-Founder of Benchmark Capital, about his 35 years in Silicon Valley (a little sneak preview is here). And that’s just a small sampling of who will be with us.
I’m also really pleased to announce a rare opportunity: the chance to sit down for office hours with Michael Seibel of YCombinator. You can apply for this chance to get feedback on your project once you’ve registered for the conference. Michael will also be giving a talk on Blazing A Path to Success: Transformative Advice for Startups, but this is an opportunity to get personalized feedback directly from him and his team.
I hope you’ll consider joining us for what promises to be an enlightening and invigorating few days thanks to the many people who will be sharing their stories and expertise with us. As always, I’m amazed to see how far Lean Startup has traveled, and excited to hear from all of them.
