Day 1 of LSM (www.leanstartupmachine.com) in Washington D.C. was quite a thriller. Hosted in a fairly interesting (and relatively new) incubator in central D.C. called TheFort.vc, the D.C. startup scene looks to be growing and thriving.

I came over here (all the way from Bangkok) to learn what they are doing and start working with them as an MC (master of ceremonies; role description: run the show). It is indeed different than expected but in some quite positive ways. They definitely seem to have nailed down a very functional leanstartup method and even after the first day - which was actually less than a half day (started at 18:30, ended at 23:00) I could see teams grasping leanstartup methodology and techniques actively.

LSM looks like a very hands-on, learn by doing workshop. Which is great because the learn by doing philosophy is of course what I'm all about (its even our 3 Day Startup signature). The team running  LSM is also really fun. A young group of people who have really researched leanstartup well and as the saying goes they do what they preach.  LSM itself is a startup that very visibily uses its own techniques - and has done a fairly impressive job at scaling and executing new projects that adapt and improve in real-time.

Day 1 of LSM@D.C. saw participants come together, get an introduction presentation by Trevor, after which they are all required to sign a pledge that helps to break them out of the mental mold and contributes to forcing them to adapt and learn leanstartup techniques over the weekend.
From that point, quick idea pitches are given by participants, of projects they want to work on.
A typical voting mechanism takes place and teams are formed.
From that point, a bit of information is given and a plan of action (assignment) is given to the teams: to start using LSM's custom leanstartup canvas (components taken, customized, and added from the Business Model Canvas method) to start learning fast by failing faster (a very interesting and well-branded slogan for LSM indeed).





Brant Cooper, a fairly active evangelist of leanstartup also skyped in to give a nice Q&A session a bit later in the evening, while iconically sipping a beer in his backyard out in California.








Stay tuned...there's 2 days left, and more to come! (and here's a nice arbitrary photo of a view from TheFort;)

Labels: lean, leanstartup, startup, washington DC, workshop