Chicago Goes Lean on 1/20

Lean Startup Machine is a metrics-driven startup competition where teams learn to identify the key risks in their business model through hands-on mentorship and our framework of tools.

Bring your team or come alone to pitch an idea or work on someone else's.

Registration deadline 1/20

Speakers & Mentors  (Mouse over for bio)

  • Kevin Taylor
    Kevin Taylor
    Groupon
    Kevin sold his company, Obtiva, to Groupon in 2011. He now does technology stuff at Groupon. He is building EventWax.com during his bounteous (early) morning time. Oh, and he teaches Technology Entrepreneurship to DePaul engineering students.
  • Saya Hillman
    Saya Hillman
    Mac 'n Cheese Productions
    Saya is an Accidental Entrepreneur. Seven years ago, she began helping folk connect because she enjoyed helping folk connect. Who knew self-proclaimed bad-dancers would pay to dance in front of 700 at the Park West?
  • Ray Hightower
    Ray Hightower
    WisdomGroup
    Ray Hightower is founder of WisdomGroup, organizer of ChicagoRuby, and producer of three tech conferences: WindyCityRails, WindyCityDB, and WindyCityGo.
  • Marian Mangoubi
    Marian Mangoubi
    Little Screen Entertainment
    Marian has 10 years of integrated (digital, traditional and mobile) marketing experience working for Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies. She has designed, implemented and evaluated online strategies to drive business growth in B2B, B2C and CPG companies. In 2010, Marian created Sassy CEO, an online media site that shines a light on female tech and mobile entrepreneurs.
  • Bernhard Kappe
    Bernhard Kappe
    Pathfinder
  • Eli Gratz
    Eli Gratz
    VS Networks
    Eli spent 5 years in a management training program and in Lean Process Improvement roles at GE Healthcare before he joined VS Networks, a digital media startup based in Chicago working in product and business development in 2011. He was a finalist at the University of Chicago Booth Business School's New Venture Challenge and a winner of Lean Startup Machine Chicago 2011.
  • Neal Sales-Griffin
    Neal Sales-Griffin
    Code Academy
    Neal Sales-Griffin is the co-founder of Code Academy, an in-person 12 week program that teaches non-technical entrepreneurs how to build web applications with Ruby on Rails. Neal graduated from Northwestern in 2009, has worked at OCA Ventures, Sandbox Industries, and was on the founding team of ContextMedia - a pharmaceutical digital signage company.
  • Sarah Gray
    Sarah Gray
    Technical Advocates
    Sarah has been developing things for the web for a long time now, and has recently started a foray into building her own projects and products. This is awesome.
  • Jonathan Gottfried
    Jonathan Gottfried
    Twilio
    Jon Gottfried is a Developer Evangelist at Twilio and one of the organizers of the Hacker Union. He is a die-hard hacker and loves to help people build amazing products and learn something new in the process. Before joining Twilio, Jon worked as a developer for various startups and Big Co's and even founded his own small startup Lemonade Stand, which was a Semi-Finalist in the StartupBus competition at SXSW.
  • Ted Gonder
    Ted Gonder
    Moneythink
    Ted is a serial social entrepreneur who believes in the power of metrics to change the world. He has helped lead a number of movements, most recently Moneythink, an initiative that mobilizes college students to teach financial and entrepreneurial skills to urban youth.
  • Ryan Lelek
    Ryan Lelek
    LaunchRock
    Ryan has been working on start-ups since he was 15, and loves every minute of it. He has been a part of LSM Chicago, LSM New York, and the StartupBus. Ryan also founded Curly Cloud, which optimizes operating systems and creates tools that make computers simpler. He is now employee #1 at LaunchRock, and is looking forward to helping other startups find enthusiastic customers and build products people love.
  • Dave Hoover
    Dave Hoover
    Groupon
    Dave likes growth. He grows startups, and he grows technologists. He helped grow Obtiva. He's currently growing Groupon, Mad Mimi, Code Academy, and StyleSeek.
  • Amanda Chocko
    Amanda Chocko
    Momentum
    Amanda Chocko is the program director for the west Michigan seed accelerator, Momentum. Inspired by last year's Chicago LSM, she launched the annual Michigan Lean Startup Conference and the Michigan Lean Startup Circle. Amanda has over 15 years of entrepreneurial experience and is a certified small business adviser.
  • Marcy Capron
    Marcy Capron
    Polymathic/Junto
    Marcy is the CEO of Polymathic. Polymathic uses its toolkit called Junto, an online environment for building startups within an open feedback loop, to make MVPs accessible for nontechnical entrepreneurs.
  • Seth Kravitz
    Seth Kravitz
    Technori.com
    Co-Founder of InsuranceAgents.com; Co-Founder of Technori; Mentor at Excelerate, the Knapp Center at IIT, and the Coleman Center at DePaul; Avid photographer and beer explorer. Launching a coffee company in 2012.
  • Ethan Austin
    Ethan Austin
    GiveForward
    Ethan is the co-founder of GiveForward, a 2010 Excelerate Labs company. He likes creating unexpected joy and eating burritos.
  • Daliah Saper
    Daliah Saper
    Saper Law Offices, LLC
    DALIAH SAPER handles high profile cases and is frequently relied upon by the news media as a go-to expert on intellectual property, social media, and business issues. For example, Daliah has been featured on CNBC, ABC News, Fox News, NPR, and WGN 720. She has repeatedly received the honor of being named a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers magazine, is recognized as a leading Media and Entertainment lawyer by Chambers and Partners, and was recently nominated for the prestigious ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award. In addition to conducting Seminars at Saper Law on a monthly basis, Daliah is a frequent lecturer, panelist, and instructor for organizations around the city and the country.
  • Sheel Mohnot
    Sheel Mohnot
    FeeFighters
    Sheel previously served as director of online marketing for Kiva.org and bootstrapped a couple of e-commerce websites.
  • Nick Yecke
    Nick Yecke
    PVPower
    Nick is co-founder of PVPower, making it easier for independant solar installers to plan and execute solar projects across the U.S. Nick is an experienced entrepreneur focused on product development, digital marketing and operations. He's also a huge fan of his undersized dog and the Green Bay Packers.

The Organizers

  • Ryan MacCarrigan
    Ryan MacCarrigan
    Lean Startup Machine
    Ryan is an early adopter and evangelist of Lean Startup methodologies. Prior to becoming VP of Marketing at LSM, he directed marketing at several other tech startups in New York. He is a co-organizer of the NYC Lean Startup Meetup and the Silicon Alley Talent Fair. He also serves on the Leadership Council at StartOut.
  • Jenifer Remsik
    Jenifer Remsik
    Lean Startup Machine

What Our Alumni Say

Our Awesome Partners

  • ChicagoRuby is a group of Ruby on Rails enthusiasts with events in downtown Chicago and in the suburbs.
  • W.E.B.S are strong, forward thinking, innovative leaders! We are shop and franchise owners, work from home moms, business hopefuls and successful creators. We know who you are because we are small business owners too! The staff and founder of W.E.B.S are all entrepreneurs and realize the trials and pressures that go along with starting a small business, especially for minority women.
  • The Chicago Lean Startup Circle is a group of smart and driven high-tech entrepreneurs that have learned how to discover customers and build products they want. Our mission attracts the brightest entrepreneurs in the Midwest and beyond and help them reduce risk and find a path to success.

Awesome Sponsors

  • Twilio (www.twilio.com), the cloud communications company, is reinventing telecom by merging the worlds of cloud computing, web services and telecommunications. Twilio provides a telephony infrastructure web service in the cloud, allowing web developers to integrate phone calls, text messages, and IP voice communications into their web, mobile, and traditional phone applications.
  • Saper Law is an intellectual property, social media, and business law firm with headline grabbing clients and cases. We represent creative entrepreneurs and innovative business organizations.
  • ThoughtWorks The custom software experts .. a company wholly devoted to the art and science of custom software. We make it, and we make our clients better at it. Our bottom line is to design and deliver software fast and predictably.

Learn to build what customers want.