Behind The Curtain: New Speakers & Hot Topics

It’s mid-summer, and the Lean Startup team is in the midst of planning the 2015 conference. We’re laser focused on creating a real-world experience that pulls you out of your digital life, if only for a few days. Our conference home will be historic Fort Mason, which lends a college-campus vibe to the program. And that’s not unintentional — it’s the perfect backdrop for our community to gather under one roof and have stimulating discussions, with very few distractions (but yes, there will be wifi).

A program with a diverse set of speakers and topics has always been the central tenet for the conference, and this year is no exception. Between the Lean Startup community, attendee feedback, faculty and advisors, we have received awesome recommendations that we’re excited to share with you as we put it all together.

The Conference Program

The conference program will include deep dive discussions on customer development, design/ux, leadership, management, and product/market fit; but, we’ll also focus on specific areas like Lean Startup in non-profit, education, and purpose-driven environments. We’ll have a Lean Startup 101 workshop for those of you new to the practice, and a track designed for corporate innovators in the enterprise sector. We want you to leave feeling energized and able to immediately apply what you’ve learned at the conference directly to your business.

To get a preview of what we’re putting together, be sure to check out our webcast series and soon-to-be announced podcast series, which will feature speakers and faculty from this year’s conference.

Last, but definitely not least, please meet the newest group of luminaries who will be joining Lean Startup this fall in San Francisco:

• Amanda Richardson, VP Product for hot startup Hotel Tonight, on product/market fit
• Alan Lobock, the Chief Executive of Spartacus Muse and professor at ASU enlightens us with lessons on why Lean Startup principles can improve management
• James Warren, CEO/founder of Share More Stories – a former corporate marketer tells us how customer development shifted his entire business model in the first year
• Christina Wodtke, Wodtke Consulting & Stanford University – one the most popular speakers from LSC 2014 returns to lead a hands-on session about early stage customer development
• Rishi Dave, CMO, Dun & Bradstreet, joins us to talk about applying Lean Startup to the (very successful) modernization of the Dun & Bradstreet brand
• Eric Hellweg, Managing Director, Digital Strategy/Editorial Director at Harvard Business Review joins us to talk about turning a 122-year old brand into an agile shop by applying the Lean Startup method
• Dave Binetti, Principal, Dinadesa and Creator of the Innovation Options Framework – another popular speaker from 2014 delivers another session focused on innovation accounting
• Andrew Breen, VP Product Delivery, American Express brings perspective on creating a Lean Startup shop within the iconic financial services enterprise
• Amy Jo Kim, Creative Director, Social Game Designer / Mentor at Maven Ventures | VC & Incubator will teach you how to turbo-charge your early product design
• Prerna Gupta, founder & CEO, Telepathic demonstrates why the Lean Startup method could disrupt Hollywood (really).

We’re excited to share the editorial experience with you as we put the conference together.

As always, please let us know if there’s anyone you’d like to hear from, any topics you’d like us to consider, or any questions you may have about the conference. Email me at Kirsten [at] 2015.lscostg.wpengine.com

The Lean Startup Conference

The conference is a gathering for entrepreneurs, corporate innovators, and thought leaders from across sectors and structures. A fast paced, highly curated program featuring the best of the Lean Startup community, it is held on November 16 – 19 in San Francisco. You’ll receive practical ways to immediately implement the Lean Startup methodology into your daily business. You can get a great deal with our Summer Sale – click here for all the details.

This post was written by Kirsten Cluthe, Editorial Director of The Lean Startup Conference.