#newarktech

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!

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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.

Newark resident & entrepreneur Matt Cartagena breaks down his new startup idea and why he's attending Lean Startup Machine Newark in November.

Click on the link after the video break to learn more about Lean Startup Machine.

3 Months ago Trevor Owens, Founder of Lean Startup Machine encouraged me to apply to speak at the 2013 Lean Conference in San Francisco in December.

With a slight hesitation, I took him up on the challenge - hoping that the conference could be a platform for bringing awareness to the emerging startup community in Newark and NJ as a whole.

Last week I got the call to speak --- Brick City is going to the Bay!!  

I'll be speaking about how lean startup philosophies can be a tool for economic development in under represented startup communities.  

The momentum & support we have thus far is tremendous.  Shout out to Brick City Tech Meetup; Brick City Development Corp; NJIT; K&L Gates; Audible; Dr. Randal Pinkett; NJ Economic Development Authority; Greater Newark Enterprise Corporation; TechLaunch; IncubateNYC; NJ Tech Meetup; Jersey Shore Tech Meetup; Scarlet Startups; JuiceTank; Geek Supply; iSpeech; Unionwear; Blerdology, Interplay.VC and The Phat Startup.