Courses

Lean Product Development Course

The application period for this course has ended.  We are no longer accepting applications.  Poornima maybe teaching this course again in 2014.  If you’d like to get in touch with her regarding the course please send an email to: poornima@femgineer.com.

Applications for this course are due by April 5, 2013.

Early bird registration is due by March 15th. Those who submit, and are accepted will receive an 20% discount.

This is a unique opportunity to attend a course taught by Poornima Vijayashanker CEO and Founder of BizeeBee and Founding Engineer of Mint.com.  Poornima has been building startups and products in Silicon Valley for the past 8 years.  She has refined her processes over the years, and applied them to the handful of different products she has built from scratch, including this course!  In this course she will share her learnings,  experience, and the process of building and managing products with a small group of students.

In order to provide highly individualized attention and instruction, the course is limited to 20 students.  The deadline for applying is April 5, 2013.  Due to the limited number of spots available we strongly encourage students to apply early.  Applicants will be notified if they are accepted into the course by April 9, 2013.

This is an 8 week course taught online for 2 hours once a week on Thursday evenings starting April 25, 2013 and ending June 13, 2013.

An ideal student is someone looking for highly individualized attention that will enable them to build and manage the lifecycle of a product.  No technical or prior product development is necessary.  We welcome students who create premium denim to mobile apps, but we do assume you are interested in leveraging the internet as an initial distribution channel for your product.

The course is offered online, making it convenient for busy professionals to attend from anywhere!

Apply Now! or Request More Info

Course Curriculum

You will learn the fundamentals of what you need to build a product, and attract early adopters to test it in the market!  The following topics will be covered in the course:

• Ideation and Brainstorming Techniques 
• Market Research Techniques
  • Competitive Analysis
  • Differentiation Techniques
  • User Segmentation
• Customer Development Techniques
  • Paper Prototyping
  • Conducting Usability Tests
• Product Management
  • Creating and Prioritizing User Stories
  • Getting Buy-In from Team Members and Stakeholders
  • Consistently Shipping Product Features
• Scrappy Marketing Strategies
  • SEO
  • Email Marketing
  • Social Media
• Building a Minimum Viable Product
  • Aligning Business Goals with a Product Roadmap
  • Designing Interactive Mockups
• Analytics and Metrics
• Product Iteration

View Current Course Schedule

Hands-On Labs Online

In addition to the lecture, there will also be 7 hands-on labs.  We will meet online once a week on Tuesday for 2 hours to cover tools, practice course materials to reinforce concepts learned in class, and make you feel comfortable and effective at product development!  The lab topics are:

• Brainstorming
• Market Research Techniques
• Getting Over Writer’s Block
• Product management
• Marketing Tools: email marketing, analytics, keywords
• Creating interactive wireframes
• Performing usability tests

Course Benefits

Students will learn how to do the following:

• Be rigorous in product development
• Broaden ideas but narrow scope to ship consistently
• Recruit teammates and work with a cross-functional team
• Communicate more effectively to get buy-in and handle push back
• Create a collaborative culture that focuses on innovation

“I generally don’t like thinking about marketing but this course forced me to, and I think it was pretty valuable.  I know I’ll be able to talk about my product and about the market that I’m trying to reach intelligently.” – David Cruz, Senior Software Engineer @ KeyIngredient

Read how more students have benefited from the Lean Product Development Course.

Course Tuition

Tuition is $1050, and can be paid in 3 easy installments of $350.  Those who pay in full to by April 5th will receive a 10% discount.  Student who opt for Early Bird registration, will receive a 20% discount, but will need to pay in full by March 15th to receive the discount. There is a $350 non-refundable deposit.

Apply Now! or Request More Info

Applications must be received by April 5, 2013.  To be a part of the Early Bird registration, and receive a 20% discount on registration fees, your application must be received by March 15, 2013.

FAQs

Where is the course offered?

It is online, so anyone with an internet connection participate!  We require students to login through their computer each week for the lectures as well as hands-on labs.  We strive to give as close to an in classroom experience as possible.  To that end we test each student’s internet connection.

Will recordings of the classes be made available?

We provide recordings to all paying students, and recordings are available within a week of the when the class it taught.  However, we strongly encourage students to attend classes to get the most benefit out of the course.

What additional resources and training will be provided?

Students will receive training on the tools mentioned in the hands-on lab section.  They will also be expected to present their ideas and provide feedback to their peers.

Slides for each class will be made available, which will include exercises to be completed for the hands-on labs.  There will be supplemental reading assignments to reinforce concepts taught during the lecture portion of the course.

Who should take this course?

Designers, engineers, product managers, product or brand barketers, and especially entrepreneurs!

When is the payment due?

Those who opt for Early Bird registration will need to pay in full by March 15th to receive a 20% discount.

Students who opt for regular registration can either pay in 3 easy installments of $350 (installment due dates: April 9th, May 1st, June 1st) or pay in full by April 9th to receive a 10% discount.

All students must pay a $350 non-refundable deposit. 

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