Lean Startup Co. was born from the global movement launched by Eric Ries’ The Lean Startup and The Startup Way. We pioneered and continue to lead the way in education on innovation, modern management and the Lean Startup methodology for Startups, Government, Enterprise, and Nonprofits.
Imagine if entrepreneurship was a core function of every organization; we could solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Our expert faculty train, coach, and consult your organization through implementing new practices that, when supported by accountability and strong leadership, lead to cultural transformation.
Welcome to our community. We hope you’ll check out our library of online media, join us for a live event, or visit our Education page to learn about bringing the entrepreneurial spirit to your organization.
Founders
Eric Ries
Co-Founder & Author
Eric Ries is an entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way. He serves on the advisory board of several technology startups and has been named Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Harvard Business School, named one of the Best Young Entrepreneurs of Tech by BusinessWeek and honored with a TechFellow award in the category of Engineering Leadership. Previously, he co-founded and served as CTO of IMVU. He is currently Founder & CEO of the Long-Term Stock Exchange.
Heather McGough
CEO & Co-Founder
Heather McGough is CEO and Co-Founder of Lean Startup Company. She aims to transform the way people think and work in the 21st century by empowering the community with modern management education specifically designed for a fast-moving world. The first seven years of her career were spent in the nonprofit sector which still influences much of her work today.
Team
Andy Archer
Account Manager
Andy Archer is an Account Manager for Lean Startup Co.'s Education Program. With a background in entrepreneurship, project management and account management, he works with clients to ensure their training, coaching and consulting engagements with Lean Startup Co. are a success.
Chris Stephens
Head of Sales & Client Management
Chris Stephens is a highly experienced sales leader and entrepreneur. As Head of Sales & Client Management, Chris oversees all client-facing operations at Lean Startup Co. His mission is to enable our Education team to deliver the transformational outcomes our clients seek.
CJ Legare
Chief of Staff
CJ brings with her to the Lean Startup Co. team a background in experiential marketing, and film/TV production. She is a Generalist who supports the daily needs of the company as we advocate for the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators.
Jenna Elkins, CMP
Head of Events
Jenna Elkins brings more than 10 years of conference planning and program development experience to Lean Startup Co.
Jenny Trang
Director of Business Development
Jenny Trang is Lean Startup Co.'s Director of Business Development and brings over a decade of experience in sales, client development, and marketing.
Leeann Trang
Head of Operations
With over a decade of experience advising executive teams and streamlining business operations, Leeann leads business optimization efforts for the Lean Startup Co. team.
Maria Vargas
Marketing and Events Associate
Maria Vargas supports Lean Startup Co. in marketing operations, project management and event logistics.
Marilyn Gorman
Faculty Lead
Marilyn Gorman is a highly experienced learning professional, facilitator and executive coach.
Monte Warren
Senior Client Manager
Monte Warren is the Senior Client Manager for Lean Startup Co. He provides continuous client support for the corporate education program, helping to ensure successful training, coaching and consulting engagements.
Rita Dillon
Senior Strategist
Rita is an experienced and innovative strategist, facilitator and coach. She has worked with large and small organizations across the globe to develop outcome-based solutions that serve as catalysts for transformational change.
Stacy Conlon
Director of Business Development
Stacy Conlon is the Director of Business Development for Lean Startup Company’s Education Program.
Faculty
Adam Berk
Faculty
A lean entrepreneur, lean teacher, and serial entrepreneur who helps large organizations implement innovation at scale.
Andi Plantenberg
Faculty
An innovation consultant who builds entrepreneurial capabilities in the enterprise.
Dan Olsen
Faculty
Author of The Lean Product Playbook, passionate about product management and helping companies adopt Lean Startup principles.
Hisham Ibrahim
Faculty
A product leader who seamlessly weaves together design thinking, jobs-to-be-done and Lean Startup practices.
Hugh Molotsi
Faculty
Hugh Molotsi advises and invests in startups and is an active practitioner and teacher of Lean Startup Methodologies.
Jonathan Bertfield
Faculty
Spent two decades as a product manager and strategist for large companies and startups.
Marilyn Gorman
Faculty Lead
Marilyn Gorman is a highly experienced learning professional, facilitator and executive coach.
Advisors
Chris Guest
Topology Eyewear
Chris is the Chief Marketing & Growth Officer at Topology Eyewear, working at the intersection of Lean, Growth, Brand Marketing and Category Design.
Cindy Alvarez
Microsoft
Cindy Alvarez is the author of Lean Customer Development: Building Products Your Customers Will Buy and Director of User Experience for Yammer (a Microsoft company).
Dan Martell
Clarity
Dan Martell is the co-founder of Clarity a marketplace that connects entrepreneurs to get great business advice.
Hiten Shah
Quick Sprout
Hiten Shah started three SaaS companies, Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics and Quick Sprout. Two are self-funded & the other is venture backed. Hiten enjoys helping others think.
Laura Becker
Laura Becker is a B2B Sales Consultant with an entrepreneurial mindset, always working at the intersection of Sales, Marketing and Customer Success.
Laura Klein
Users Know
Laura fell in love with technology when she saw her first user research session in 1995. Since then, she's worked as an engineer, UX designer, and product manager at both startups and large companies in Silicon Valley.
Manuel Rosso
SevenR Services
Manuel Rosso has been practicing Lean Startup principles since 2006 when he worked with Eric Ries and the rest of the IMVU team as VP of Product and Marketing.
Zach Nies
Techstars
Zach Nies is Managing Director at Techstars for the Boulder program and a member of the faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder.