Corporate Startup Summit 2013 recap

The question

My main question why I attended the conference was:

Is there a market: Do companies have a need to create new products and innovations where we could support them by applying Lean Startup methods in product development?

Other reasons for attending were building up my network and to get to know some new methods I could apply myself.

The direction of the conference

I am an enthusiast for using Lean Startup methods in corporations. Before the conference I wondered how much Lean Startup would be included and in which direction the conference is heading for, e.g.:

• ·      Including startups in a corporate environment via incubator, accelerator
• ·      Fostering entrepreneurship in corporations (“intrapreneurship”)
• ·      Applying lean startup thinking in an organizational transformation in product development

IMHO the presentations at the conference mentioned entrepreneurship the, but we also heard a lot of wisdom and theoretical concepts in the space of innovation.

The notes (some of them)

• “Your startup, is it REAL?”-Question: Are you willing sell your house (for 500k), if you will get 5M funding then? (by Prof. Gunter Dueck)
• Invention turns money into ideas. Innovation turns ideas into money. (by Fred van Ommen)
• Innovation Management is about managing risk vs. Corporate Entrepreneurship is about creating the future. (by Dr. R. Baierl)
• People tend to have a “solution mindset” and use only 10% of their potential with this “incremental approach” compared to people with a pain point mindset with a “fundamental approach”. (adapted from P. Herrmann)

The learnings takeaways

Well, uh ...

• Conferences with presentations only are like energy draining monsters. Most things you have heard will be gone some weeks after the conference. I want to be back at Unconferences with Open Space :)
• Growing my network!
• My first attempt on sketch noting.
• Methods? The Lean Team Canvas and a method “how to turn your stakeholders”.

The conclusion

For me personally the Corporate Startup Conference is not a conference where I can learn a lot of new things. It is more a possibility to network and get in touch with companies, which support startups or entrepreneurism in their company.