As we learned on Day 1, the definition of a startup is: “a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.”
That definition encompasses enterprises, governments and nonprofits. Today we look closer at how to implement Lean Startup into an existing company.
We’ll hear Mark Little, head of GE Global Research, and Eric Ries discuss GE FastWorks, an initiative at one of the world’s largest companies inspired by the Lean Startup method. They’ll talk about the challenges faced in implementing the program, which launched innovative businesses like GE Fuel Cells.
Mark and Eric will cover:
- Strategies to convince your finance team the importance of focusing on speed to market vs cost
- How to bypass legal issues that can delay progress
- Specific ways to deploy Lean Startup to the rest of the organization
If you are part of an existing company or enterprise, at this year’s conference we have more than ever for you. Below are some of the content that will specifically relate to you.
Janice Semper, Getting Lean to Stick
Janice Semper, co-founder of FastWorks at GE and a principal architect of the company’s Culture of Simplification effort and will share her thoughts on the company’s progress and lessons learned on the journey thus far, and the implications for next steps.
Driving Change in the Enterprise, Cindy Alvarez
Even when large organizations have the appetite for change, it’s hard to put philosophy into practice. In this workshop, Cindy will talk about approaches that have worked (and not worked) to get teams across Microsoft being more Lean and experimental. There will be hands-on exercises will include working with skeptics, practice interviewing, and running “premortems”.
Lean – from Campus to Startup, Errol Arkilic
In this panel, participants from leading academic institutions and entrepreneurs with technologies that have been spun out will discuss how Lean Startup is being applied in a campus setting and beyond. You will learn how Lean Startup has restructured the innovation ecosystem at Ga Tech and how NYU has spread it throughout campus to foster cross-boundary collaboration. You will also learn about the genesis of The National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program and hear what it takes to transition from search to execution from one of I-Corps’ emerging success stories, Neon Labs.
