The Michigan Lean Startup Conference: An Attendee's Perspective

Fresh on the heels of QC Merge I found myself en route
to Grand Rapids for the region’s best kept secret, at least as far as lean
startups are concerned, the Michigan Lean Startup Conference (MLSC). The second year conference
is sponsored by Momentum, a Michigan-based seed
stage accelerator. New this year was a day of workshops taught by Ash
Maurya, Brant Cooper, and Patrick Vlaskovits. In
addition to the speakers, the event also offers regional entrepreneurs the
ability to showcase their projects via lightening intros during breaks and at
booths setup outside the conference room.

Startup Luminaries

Eric Ries himself spoke at last
year’s inaugural event. The highlight of this year’s event was Steve
Blank’s presentation given via Skype. Aside from
Steve’s talk, my personal favorites were the presentations by Ash (as a fellow
bootstrapper, I’m a big fan of Ash’s), App Sumo’s Noah
Kagan, and veteran MLSC presenter, Dan
Martell who was to speak in-person but also
presented via Skype due to a travel snafu.

With luminairies like these it’s a mystery to me why this event is attracting
primarily western Michigan attendees. The only exception I encountered was
Bloomington-based entrepreneur Nick Tippmann who I
had met at The Brandery’s Office Hours a few weeks
ago. I’d estimate there were about 200 attendees, about 30 of which attended
the workshops the following day. The general consensus of the presentations
was very positive, matching the energy level I sensed at last year’s event,
and the workshops were equally we received.

Just Like Last Year, Only Better!

One contrast of significance from last year’s event was the caliber of
entrepreneurs with whom I spoke. It seemed last year that the wantrepreneurs
were everywhere. This year, everyone I spoke with seemed to have drunk the
lean startup Kool-aid. This appraisal was born out not only by the appearance
of “all the right words” in conversations but in-depth examinations during the
workshops. Without exception, everyone I spoke to was proud to discuss the
experiments they had run and the learning which resulted. What’s more, there
wasn’t a stealth startup to be found.

Bonus Material

My weekend in Grand Rapids did not end there. Saturday the folks at Atomic
Object hosted “User Experience for Lean Startups”
presented by Lane Halley from
LUXr. My main take aways from this workshop are to not
underestimate the impact of visual learning (thank you clothespin
man!), and personas
are powerful tools that serve both to flesh out facts about your product’s
users and provide a concrete focal point for the product team.

I’m extremely envious of the MLSC and wish there was a similarly focused event
here in Ohio. Fortunately, it’s not a long drive to Grand Rapids, even from my
corner of the Buckeye state, and the commute takes me out of the local startup
eco-system and offers an opportunity to share experiences and ideas with
leaders from another. Kudos to the MLSC team for hosting a very informative
event and hope to see you again next year.