Four years ago I left my first startup Mint.com. I went from being a founding engineer to a founder. As I began my entrepreneurial journey, I received a LOT of advice. I listened intently, but after awhile I just became dissatisfied with what I was hearing. People kept directing me on a path towards a particular archetype: an engineer turned entrepreneur who raises capital from VCs to build a BIG idea.
It started to feel like the choice to build products that were meant to improve human life would come at the cost of sacrificing my own lifestyle…
But this just didn’t fit with what I wanted or how I had envisioned my life. I wanted freedom and flexibility. Freedom to learn and make mistakes. Freedom from focusing purely on financial returns, while remaining financially solvent. And the freedom to be able to grow slowly and mindfully. I also wanted flexibility in how and when I ran my business, where I ran it from, and how much free time I had to spend with loved ones.
I had the following questions:
How can I start with a small idea, in an area that I have expertise in, and then grow it slowly?
How can I build and run a remote team that can be effective?
How can I generate revenue from day one?
How can I fund my business with little to no outside investment?
How can I balance living healthily while still building my business?
Yet these questions just couldn’t be answered by the popular approaches to startups and product development. And I also didn’t find them in any of the books I had read. Instead, I had to figure out on my own how to integrate building a business with my lifestyle in order to get what I wanted on my own.
It’s taken me four years of searching, trying, and refining to answer each of these questions.
Sharing My Strategies for Building Products & Companies
I’ve been approached by a number of people who are eager to learn from me. Their curiosity inspired me to create my first course: Lean Product Development, nearly one year ago. Since it’s inception, I have taught the course 3 times online to 30+ students across the world, and was invited this fall to teach an extended version of it at Duke University.
What I enjoy most about teaching this course is the diversity of students who participate. They are entrepreneurs, engineers, designers, product managers and marketers, and doctors from around the world, who are all eager to innovate but may also be mothers, fathers, or lead an itinerant lifestyle and as a result need flexibility. I’m also amazed by the variety of products they want to create from petite denim with a positive message to life-saving mobile apps to info products meant to inspire.
Pursuing Innovation In-House and Independently
In talking to students, I’ve come to realize that while many use this course to pursue an idea on their own, others are interested in innovating in-house, and there are some who do both! They are part of larger company or non-profit organization and want to share their learnings with teammates. We know that they will be met with resistance and opposition. As a result, I make sure that myself and the other instructors are offering them simple strategies that will cause subtle shifts to their current tedious and time-consuming processes.
After every iteration of the course I sit back and think about how I can re-design the curriculum and experience to fit the dreams and needs of my incoming students.
In this upcoming iteration, myself and the other instructors have identified two key areas we’d like to improve.
Learning Styles
We’re aware that each student has a style of learning that enables them to understand and perform optimally. This can also vary based on time constraints and other obligations. Hence, we’ve been mindful about offering a few options to meet students’ needs. Students will learn in the following ways: by being instructed by instructors in real-time but having access to video recordings, interacting with other students and working on exercises in small groups, and having time alone to read and apply their learnings to their own ideas.
Learning also takes time, so while the course might only last 8-weeks, you can reach out to us for help and feedback even after the course! We have an online community of alumni and instructors who are available.
New Material
We also know that getting your ideas adopted requires the ability to effectively communicate and fund them, which is why we’re adding two new modules: one that will cover various funding options (bootstrapping, crowdfunding, and angel investment) and another on compelling communication skills.
Finding a Fit
We understand that this course is a time and financial commitment for our students, and want to make sure it fits their needs. To help answer any questions prospective students have, our instructors will be hosting two free info sessions. These info sessions will be interactive Q&As led by prospective students, our instructors will only be there to facilitate not do a sales pitch for the course!
Register to attend online info session on Wednesday March 5, 2014 at 5pm PST
Register to attend online info session on Wednesday April 16, 2014 at 5pm PST
You can learn more about the course here.
If you’re eager to innovate, and want freedom and flexibility but aren’t sure how to make it happen, then we hope you’ll consider letting us provide you with some direction, structure, and ongoing support!
