Skip to main content
Thursday, June 5, 2014 - 12:45pm - 2:00pm
Projects & Teams
BT5

Play the Lean Startup Game

Organizations often build products with minimal customer involvement. Consequently, they often build  products that are different from what the customer actually wants or what the customer will pay for. Lean startups take a different approach and involve customers at every stage of product development. Ram Srinivasan describes how to run a business based on the lean startup approach. Ram begins by playing a collaborative game that explores the marketplace. Delegates self-organize into teams and try to run a profitable business making widgets. They sell the widgets to customers and during the course of game learn what the customer wants—and is willing to pay for. The teams track a few metrics to determine their profitability. At the end of the game, Ram debriefs the teams on why customer discovery and customer validation are important.

Ram Srinivasan, Independent Consultant

Ram Srinivasan is an agile coach and trainer, partnering with his clients and using his expertise to create pragmatic solutions. Ram regularly conducts public and private training sessions on agile methodologies, lean-kanban systems, coaching, facilitation, and Innovation Games®. He has a project management background (PMP, CSP, PMI-ACP) and more than ten years of experience working with start-ups, mid-size and large organizations (e-commerce, media, telecom, finance, and insurance).

read more