Lean Newark

If you frequent the tech scene in Newark, you know him. He's the sleek, polished, gentleman at a corner table in the Converge co-work space or =SPACE incubator, perhaps wearing a lapel pin and carrying the classic 80's laptop bag sold by his company, Geek Supply, which could pass for cool streetwear or, better, geek-wear!  In fact, he can't walk down the street without feeling he's been transposed to a Bugle Boy jeans commercial; only the question is where did you get that bag? It's been such a hurdle getting to his destination that he's even resorted to turning the bag's eye-popping details inward, to hide them from view and facilitate his commute. It's a great problem to have when your products are sought after, when you've merged, quite well in my opinion, the iconic elements of street, geek and gentleman. Jimi Olaghere, co-founder of Geek Supply Co. powered by Geek Cook, is doing just that with his new line A Geek & A Gentleman.  The line is described as a fusion of two unique lifestyles creating accessories to enhance your suit and products to make you stand out. Yup! If the creator is any indication, this line is definitely his offspring.

But it's Olaghere's cause-related consciousness that sparked me to reach out and talk business. You see, he and I share a common thread--Sickle Cell Anemia. My mother passed on due to complications related to the genetic disease. Olaghere is bravely battling and living with Sickle Cell Anemia daily and brings awareness to our nation's need for more education and bone marrow donors. He and I will be partnering in these efforts. 

It's cool to be fashionable, tech savvy, cause-conscious and innovative all at once. Olaghere has founded companies such as BagAWriter.com and GeekCookUSA. He's an alumnus of Lean Startup Machine Newark and has taken his businesses and ideas through the validation process, made pivots, and seen resulting growth. So this year, Jimi Olaghere signed on to not only mentor, but his company, Geek Supply, is a Sponsor of this year's Lean Newark weekend in November. 

Come meet Olaghere and his product lines, Geek Supply and A Geek & A Gentleman, at the Lean Indiegrove Social (#LeanIndiegroveSocial) in Jersey City, Wednesday, October 8, 2014 6:30p-8:30p. Browse items to increase your cool at our Geek Swag Boutique.

There will be other presentations during the night, including Bad Ass Startup Hacks, Lean Startup How To, and Google+ Enlightenment, to help you achieve stress-less existence and higher efficiency through tools to make your life and business better. Attend the last Lean social mixer of the season before we kick off our Lean Newark workshop next month! Check out the full agenda.

Grab your tickets, bring friends! Join the convo on Twitter #LeanIndiegroveSocial.

Geek Supply Swag Boutique: A Geek & A Gentleman powered by GeekCook featuring Founder, Jimi Olaghere

The fusion of two unique lifestyles creating accessories to enhance your suit and products to make you stand out.

April Peters, Founding Organizer | Lean Newark

LEAN CITI SOCIAL: A colorful surge of Lifestyle, Tech, Culture and Space!

Brought to you by Lean Newark (LSM Newark) in partnership with Google Developer Group Women North Jersey (GDG Women NJ) and =SPACE (Equal Space Co.), a Sharespace and Incubator in downtown Newark.

Purchase tickets here.

Be sure to RSVP on the meetup page! 

Our stellar team for this event includes, Sylvia Wandahwa of GDG Women NJ, MEDINA and Sean Hairston of =SPACE, Emily Manz of Brick City Development Corp., and myself.

Check back regularly for updates and please spread the word.

For more details, see the full listing here.

When: Thursday, September 4, 2014 6:30 PM

Where: =SPACE (Equal Space) 89 Market Street, 4th Floor  Newark, NJ

Price: $10.00 per person; Purchase tickets or sponsor securely here: https://leancitisocial.eventbrite.com

You can always get in touch with me through my group profile on Meetup.

We can't wait to see you at the Lean Citi Social!

April Peters

It's no coincidence that Newark attracts innovative, creative types. The city's immersive culture--one where people come from the outside to plunge in--has drawn the likes of Audible.com, Phone.com, Videolicious, and iSpeech!  

Last year, Lean Startup Machine Newark trained over 75 entrepreneurs on how to build disruptive products using lean methodology. Lean Newark has helped open the door for more Lean weekends to take place throughout the Garden State this year and in the coming years, including the Lean Startup NJ weekend taking place this September in Somerset, and the upcoming third Lean Startup Newark weekend in November. This year, I presented on Newark's emerging and immersive startup ecosystem and the need for more women in tech, as a keynote and panel presenter at the Google I/O Extended Event at Montclair State University.

The Garden State is abuzz with activity, excitement, growth and revitalized resources. And in that vein, I am pleased to welcome two stellar women to the Lean Newark Co-Organizing Team.

Blogger Melissa Jackson blends art, culture and technology in a colorful multimedia discourse. Melissa is a Business Analyst at Rutgers University with a career focused on reducing complexity and providing technical solutions that meet user needs. She has a healthy enthusiasm for creating user-friendly end products and possesses an expertise in lean project management. 

We equally welcome Emily Manz, widely known for her role at Brick City Development Corporation. Emily has developed partnerships to increase the number of Newark residents leveraging technology for wealth creation including a strategic partnership with Lean Startup Machine in the last two years and the establishment of the Converge co-working pop-up space in Newark.

These ladies make up my core planning team as we approach the LSM Weekend, November 7-9, 2014.

We've scheduled a Lean Newark Tour with stops in Newark (of course) and Jersey City, NJ. Stay tuned for updates! For more info, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

See you soon!

Women In Technology Moderated Panel - Google I/O NJ 2014

Lean Newark represented at the Google I/O Extended Event, organized by Google Developer Group North Jersey at Montclair State University. Above is the FULL Women in Tech panel discussion, moderated by Nicole Bryan, Director of Corporate and Social Responsibility at MSU.

I, the artist, am neatly sandwiched between a chemist, Sylvia, and a futurist, Lubna. This, by far, was one of the most enlightening and refreshing discussions I've been a part of around the subject of reducing gender disparities in the field of technology!

If you would like to participate in changing the landscape, I invite you, female tech enthusiasts and techies alike, to feel welcome and join Lean Newark's Meetup and the newly formed Google Developer Group Women North Jersey Meetup. Join the action and bring your authentic self and skill set to the table!

Credits...

Moderator: Nicole Bryan: Director of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Assistant Professor of Management and International Business at Montclair State University. Nicosa Consulting Group 

Panelists (l to r): 

Sylvia Wandahwa: Research Chemist. Reckitt Benckiser & GDG Jedi 

April Peters, Founding Organizer, Lean Startup Machine Newark, Singer-Songwriter/Recording Artist

Lubna Dajani: Connector, Innovator, Rainmaker at Stratemerge Inc., ALC Hackathon Mishor 3D.

Join us for the Launch Party of Converge, a pop-up co-working space for entrepreneurs! 

The site of Lean Newark's start-up weekend is now also a pop-up coworking space, sponsored by Brick City Development. Starting May 29 and continuing each Thursday during this summer, entrepreneurs in and around Newark will be able to work on their businesses and collaborate with like minds at SEED Gallery in downtown Newark. The space is free for entrepreneurs, will accomodate up to 30 people, and be open from 9am to 10pm Thursdays.

RSVP to help us kick off this grand summer event! Lean Newark will be on deck to answer questions and talk about this year's lean startup weekend! See you there! 

Can Newark grow 100 startups in 1 year? Join 117 others in the Lean Newark Movement! By adding your email, you are declaring your support of workshops which build and spark entrepreneurs and startups in Newark: Click and e-sign here.

Follow Lean Newark on Twitter

April Peters, Singer-Songwriter and Founding Organizer, Lean Newark

Can Newark grow 100 startups in 1 year? Steven Royster, Lean Startup Evangelist and Coordinator, tackles this question and more at Ignite's Lean Startup Conference 2013.

Join 112 others in the Lean Newark Movement! By adding your email you are stating that you believe a workshop which builds entrepreneurs should be brought to Newark: https://www.leanstartupmachine.com/cities/newark

Follow Lean Newark on Twitter

April Peters

Join the Movement to Unlock Newark and bring Lean to the city in 2014! Sign up in support here.

Guest post by April Peters, Recording Artist, Singer-Songwriter, and Founding Organizer for Lean Newark 

Before you find yourself in the pitfalls of false starts and failed attempts month after grueling month, perhaps even years, launching an idea or product, I’ve got something great for you! Last week, I spent quality time at Brick City Tech’s Meetup and fireside chat on Crowd-funding and Intellectual Property, featuring panelists David Postolski, a registered patent and intellectual property attorney at Day Pitney, and Kim Wales of Wales Capital, a thought leader in the crowd-funding industry. Conversation surrounded tech startup, protecting yourself and your ideas, and beating a lack of capital through alternative investment paths like crowd-funding.

The room was electric with riveting personal stories of stolen ideas, inventions on the market, copyright infringements, successful fundraising efforts and failed crowd-funding campaigns (this one hit close to home). David and Kim adeptly shared what differentiated the failures from the successes—such as lack of market research, unprotected inventions, sharing new ideas too soon, the need to sufficiently build networks (professional and social media) before launching a fundraising campaign, and ignoring the tried-and-true value of face-to-face personal interaction.

Now for that great thing…. Lean Startup Machine Weekends in Newark teach the above-mentioned key principles in only three days, treating startup like an experiment and helping you ask, “Should this product be built?” and “Can we build a sustainable business around this set of products and services?” During a Lean Newark weekend you’ll be able to: 1. Figure out the problem you want to solve; 2. Learn before you launch; and 3. Get out of the building to test the product’s/service’s viability with ACTUAL customers.

I’m excited to reconnect with our partners, Judith Sheft, NJIT, Anthony Frasier, The Phat Startup and Brick City Tech to co-host additional tech meet-ups and social events leading up to the Lean Newark 2014 workshop. We still need about 100 more signups to bring the workshop to Newark, so please add your email at https://www.leanstartupmachine.com/cities/newark to help us UNLOCK Newark!

Follow Lean Newark on Twitter

April Peters

In 2013, Lean Startup Machine Newark trained 75+ aspiring entrepreneurs on how to build disruptive products using lean methodology.  Lean Newark emerged as a linchpin for NJ's tech startup community, connecting organizations like the NJEDA, BCDC, GNEC, Audible, TechLaunch, JuiceTank, BCT Partners, NJIT, K&L Gates, PNC, Brick City Tech Meetup, Build In Brick City, ff Ventures, Startup Valley, NJ Tech Meetup and Scarlet Startups.  We represented Newark's startup community on the national stage at the 2013 Lean Startup Conference in San Francisco and served as a catalyst for new workshops coming up in New Brunswick and Madison. 

When I brought LSM to Newark in 2013, one of my goals was to find smart entrepreneurs committed to expanding Newark's startup community.  I certainly found that person in April Peters.  April has been a core Lean Newark member from the start, leading our partnerships with Dr. Randal Pinkett (our March 2013 Keynote) and his Campus CEO Challenge, NJIT, PNC Bank and local vendors.  I'm happy to pass the torch to April to lead the 2014 workshops. I will continue to be an evangelist for Lean Newark by volunteering as a mentor, blogging at LeanNewark.com and being a channel for resources through my role at the NJEDA.

Now - April and I need your help.  To launch the next Newark workshop we need 200 email signups on Lean Startup Machine's new 2.0 global platform.  Please show your support by visiting this link - https://www.leanstartupmachine.com/cities/newark - providing your email address in the signup box and clicking UNLOCK!

Thanks in advance for your support.  See you soon.

Guest post by John Incantalupo, Co-founder CollegeRise, 2-time Lean Newark attendee.

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“In the end, it’s about getting to the truth about ideas.”

That’s what Steven Royster said to me after this past LeanNewark weekend...and he couldn’t be more right!

I came to the weekend to join a team this time around.

Last March I had pitched a concept called CollegeRise, and formed a team around the idea.  But THIS time I thought it would be more important to learn from a different perspective.  Here’s what I learned…

Joining a team with a fully developed product/idea was a mistake in judgement on my part.  I should have known better. Why?  Because coming to a learning weekend with a developed mindset is exactly what I did last March at the first LeanNewark event held at NJIT.  So this was almost like an instant replay, only 6 months later...

Everyone has ideas, concepts, prototypes, wireframes, a website, facebook fans, twitter followers, and the rest (maybe even a deal waiting in the wings).  We’re all entrepreneurially active - that’s what attracts us to a weekend event like the Lean Startup Machine weekend.

In order to be successful (and by that, I do NOT mean win!) I have learned you really must leave all that “stuff” behind - just for the weekend.  It is truly stifling, and will impede your progress toward the truth.

So that’s the second time I’ve mentioned “the truth” isn’t it?

The “truth” - as I refer to it here - is what you’re left with when you’ve discovered your customers pain.  

The truth about your idea may be that your product/idea/concept/prototype NEVER addressed your customers pain - and therefore you’ll need to pivot.  Or maybe you don’t even know who your customer is?  Again, pivot.  Or maybe the pain you’ve discovered isn’t painful enough for the customer to take action - PIVOT!

A pivot - or change of concept/idea - doesn’t mean you were ever wrong.  It simply means you didn’t have the ability to get at the truth.

THAT is what I’ve learned this past weekend, and that is what you’ll learn when you participate in a LeanNewark weekend - the ability to get at the truth...and that will bring you, as it did me, one step closer to launching your own startup.

Any entrepreneur with a new idea should have three essential tools for building, learning & measuring progress about their busienss:

Javelin App  -- idea to product/market validation

Strategyzer - validation to full business model

Microsoft Excel - quantitative operational model

If you've been wondering what it's like to be an entrepreneur, or your startup project is stuck in a rut, then the next Lean Startup Machine Newark bootcamp  - November 8th though 10th - is where you need to be.

2.5 days of running startup experiments with real customers and mentorship from the likes of:

Chuck Creekmur, Founder of AllHipHop.com (Newark company)

John Frankel, Partner at FF Venture Capital

Guy Story, CTO of Audible.com (Newark company)

Rachel Brooks, Founder of Citizen Made

Tiffany Aliche, National speaker and author of  "The One Week Budget" (Newark entrepreneur)

Anthony Frasier & James Lopez, Founders of The Phat Startup (Newark entrepreneurs)

Jimi Olaghere, Founder of Geek Supply (Newark entrepreneur)

Clark Lagemann, Founder of myHint.co

Rob Caucci, Lean Startup expert & Founder of Pijon 

Brian Shields, Founder of IncubateNYC

Kevin Selhi, leading Partnerships at Outbrain & founder of Griot Apparel

Travis Khan, Executive Director of TechLaunch

This workshop is strictly for those on the grind to change the world in whatever industry/market/cause that drives your passions!

But we only have 2 general admission tickets left!

If you're ready to take the leap, then use register NOW at www.LeanNewark.EventBrite.com and use "LeanNewarkFriend" code to get 50% off your registration fee.

Let's Build Something Great!

Before you whine about the lack of capital for your startup idea, talk to Rachel Brooks about how she's bootstrapping Citizen Made to be the top customization tool for internet retail.

First off, as the founder of Lean Startup Machine Newark - I'm a huge fan of Startup Weekend. It's the grandaddy of all weekend sprints to work on new ideas.  In fact, I'm volunteering at the next Startup Weekend New Jersey at JuiceTank Labs in Somerset. 

However, I'm often asked - what's the difference between an LSM and Startup Weekend experience?  The answer is intent.

The intent of Startup Weekend is to help entrepreneurs build products based on their own ideas.  Lean Startup Machine intends to teach aspiring entrepreneurs how to validate an idea - before building the product. Positioned together, both LSM & SW are condenced versions of the startup lifecycle:

Start with an idea

Build experiments to test the idea with customers

Measure market response

Learn what to do next -- i.e. Persevere or Pivot

My advice to anyone with a burning passion to work on a startup idea is to attend an LSM Workshop to learn if the idea is what customers actually want.  Once you've validated the idea, then go to SW to form a team and build the product.

In fact, if you're attending SW New Jersey on November 15th, then you automatically get 50% off of the LSM Newark workshop on November 8th by using the code "SWNJ" when you register by clicking HERE.

In over 80 workshops, Lean Startup Machine (LSM) has taught 4,000+ entrepreneurs how to discover new markets and test product ideas.  LSM undoubtedly believes that lean-principled entrepreneurial communities can be catalysts for regional economic development.   But  entrepreneurs need more than a 3-day workshop to build sustainable businesses.  To have a chance at success, they need:

the right team

a place to work

access to select mentors

capital to get started

So LSM is forming a $30K AngelList Syndicate to invest in the winning team of the next Lean Newark workshop on November 8-10. The objective is to prove that successful startups can be built on lean principles and thrive in emerging startup communities. Qualifying teams must:

be a winner or runner-up of an LSM competition

comprise 3 founders with one strong technical co-founder

commit to work full-time at the startup for 3 months in Newark

LSM-backed startups will get:

$30K in seed capital for 3 months

access to LSM's network of  entrepreneur & investor mentors

endorsement for the top tech startup accelerators (Tech Stars, Y-Combinator, TechLaunch)

Lean Startup principles are applicable for entrepreneurs in all sectors - from manufacturing to services to social organizations.  However technology, as a foundational or enabling element, is often a key differentiator for any startup.   At Lean Startup Machine workshops, we encourage entrepreneurs to leverage internet technology to scale learning about customers and deliver product ideas.  At the same time, we're fully aware of the disconnect between talented software engineers & web developers and smart entrepreneurs with ideas.   So we're using Lean Newark to combine technical and entrepreneurial talent to build the strongest startup teams in NJ! From now through October 11th, we're giving away 50 student scholarships for the next Lean Startup Machine Newark workshop on November 8-10.  To qualify you must be:

enrolled at a NJ university

majoring in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or other software development discipline, and

passionate about working in a startup environment

If you can handle all three then, then register HERE using the code LeanStudent.  

YOU MUST REGISTER WITH A UNIVERSITY DOMAIN TO QUALIFY.