1st Gear – Start Making Innovation Real is a Lafeyette event hosted by Opportunity Machine, a company designed to bring together key elements of startups to accelerate their growth and success. 1st Gear is a day-long session where attendees will come in with an idea or product and learn how to implement important product development techniques using plan-do-study-act cycles and customer development activities. The event will be on November 13th, 2012 from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
The Head Machinist at Opportunity Machine, Bob Miller, is right in the middle of the thriving ecosystem in Lafayette. He promotes events such as 1st Gear, which will attract startup companies in various stages of development. He enjoys sharing his experience and seeing the confidence grow in entrepreneurs as they learn to decrease risk and increase speed. He said, “It’s all about failing fast, failing cheap, and getting to the really great ideas that take the world by storm.”
Miller expects around 100 people in attendance and tickets to this event are free and available here. Although you may come alone, Miller says maximum results come from bringing team members, mentors, coaches, etc. The more perspectives you have readily available, the better the results of the session and product development will be.
This workshop is meant for anyone and everyone looking to accelerate a business or concept. “It’s not a matter of geography,” said Miller. “There is not a single startup or existing company from across the state that would not benefit from attending the workshop. Your cost is the time you spend and the gas you burn coming, that’s all. You get access to 20 years of technology start-up product development expertise and certified Innovation Black Belts. To my knowledge, this is the FIRST time in the country that the Lean Startup Methodology is combined with the Innovation Engineering Management System.”
Buy your tickets now and learn more about Opportunity Machine here, they are hoping to bring 1st Gear to other cities next year!