Category Archives: Lean Startup

Customer Development, Education, entrepreneurship, Lean Startup

Teaching the Lean Launchpad – in Iran!

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So this just happened: I was invited to hold a lecture at the Qazvin Islamic Azad University (QIAU), one of the most successful and private universities in Iran and one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the world according to Wikipedia.

After thinking long and hard about what I should focus on at such a fantastic teaching opportunity, I settled on the introductory part of the Lean Launchpad curriculum called “What We Now Know“.  I think it gives the most bang for the bucks – the chance to introduce anybody to what a startup is, what we have been doing wrong in building them, why and what to do instead in a short, comprehensive and actionable lecture.

Me. On stage. In Iran. Below two Ayatollahs. Teaching the Lean Launchpad curriculum. From Stanford and Berkeley, USA.

So, yeah. That’s me. On stage. In Iran. Below two Ayatollahs. Teaching the Lean Launchpad curriculum. From Stanford and Berkeley, USA. With Farsi translator on stage, right.

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Customer Development, Education, entrepreneurship, Lean Startup

Lean Launchpad @ University of Cologne

Teams presenting their progress

Teams presenting their progress

Great things take time. A year from when I was invited to Stanford to be trained by Steve Blank, we finally made it! This week, I started to teach the Lean Launchpad curriculum at the University of Cologne, more specifically at the recently launched university incubator named “Gateway” – the perfect place for it.

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Business Ideas, entrepreneurship, Events, Lean Startup, Lessons Learned, startup

I am Making my Open Office Hours More Accessible

UPDATE: You can now book your free in-person office hours with me here: ohours.youcanbook.me.

This article was originally posted at STARTPLATZ by Inga Höglund in German. Reposted here for my English speaking friends. TL;DR – I’m now available for free advice every Wednesday 10am – 1pm 1100 hrs – 1400 hrs (BER time) at STARTPLATZ in Cologne Dusseldorf (check availability and book up front).

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The Norwegian entrepreneur and startup founder Vidar Andersen has since over a year become one of the important members of the STARTPLATZ family.

Vidar supports the regional startup scene coaching applicants to the monthly Rheinland-Pitch event how to pitch their startup and moderating also the event itself. He organizes the Startup Weekend Cologne, Startup Next Cologne and he also lectures and holds seminars around the topics lean startup and corporate innovation here, and now every week he’ll be here for his open office hours.

Whatever startups need help with, he is able to advise and assist. Sometimes, they need help securing more funding to set up their operations and he is able to show them different ways to secure the money they need.

This is an interview with Vidar about his open office hours and why he’s so actively supporting the Cologne startup scene. Many thanks to Vidar for taking the time to speak with us. We hope you enjoy the interview.

Q: How did you get the idea to offer free open office hours?

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