Singularity University workshop 7/27/12: Lean Startup Machine
Notes:
customer validation and development; customer validation is currency
scarce currencies: time, attention, money
exchanging value around these resources is a form of currency; collect currency before we build our product or service
there is an issue re: how most businesses are built now - most startups bomb, despite lots of money, marketing, smart people, 2006, 2009, lots of failures
Resources:
Cindy Alvarez, 10 things I've learned from Customer Validation
http://www.cindyalvarez.com/roundups/10-things-ive-learned
Steve Blank's book
http://steveblank.com/books-for-startups/
Results of short customer validation survey re: personalized learning:
#1 Are you learning anything right now or interested in doing so?
1 - I am studying at the moment [nutrition] but not at SU, I would be interested in the future maybe
2 - How people stay in childish mindsets and distort probabilities. Why governments take huge risks. Health best practices.
3 - putting together a new venture and interested in a variety of resources for entrepreneurs
the specifics depend on the day!
4 - I am learning how to use the online teaching software called Canvas.
5 - synthetic biology, dna programming, programmable matter
#2 What kinds of things do you do when you are trying to learn something?
1 - First read the material, make notes on occasion, look up things of interest, delve into certain subjects deeper and then re-read one more time, see if it all got stuck. If it didn't the first time, it will the second.
2 - Books, Facebook, PubMed, Google, expert network of smart colleagues. I have the Blank//Dorf StartUp Owner's Manual right next to me here on my desk.
3 - 1) search and read on the internet
2) find people with knowledge in my extended social network and ask
3) for in depth technical topics read books & papers
4 - I attended a training session on campus. Since then I've been working on my own, using available online resources to help.
5 - 1) have multiple agent searches constantly gathering information on key topics
2) that are defined in my integrated brain database (http://blog.thebrain.com/megabrain/)
3) search my brain for complete review of information set on topic with correlating intersecting areas of study also mapped.
4) refine manual searches for particular information and analyse
5) integrate that information learned into project sections within that brain map
6) use of copernic summariser for document summarize
#3 What could improve your experience?
1- I would love an audio version of the material. When I find my study material lacking I go hunt down documentaries and online classes. I find online learning and e-books in general very pleasant to work with better than books, make notes on the computer, plus it allows for late night studying this is for me specific because I have two small kids and sometimes I need to sit with them at night can't take a book then
2-all you can eat pricing for audio books, say $200 a year
3- Conferences and in-person events are more for networking than for learning, I will study up to be able to have good conversations with people. To improve the experience, I wonder what opportunities there are for matching people interested in the same microtopic at the same time
4 - Canvas itself is still under active development. The developers could be a bit more responsive to requests for modifying their product. They made some bone-headed design decisions early on which they still have not corrected. More time and fewer extraneous responsibilities. When I was an unmarried college student without children, I had that.
5 - ability to have constant information stream access via contact lens screen capability; Google glasses nice idea, really require 24/7 HUD facility