The inaugural Session of the Founder Institute went exceedingly well. The room was packed. The passion and excitement of the Founders was energizing. The speakers were inspiring:
- Phillip Kaplan: Very responsive to market trends, looking to quickly release rough ideas and see what gains market traction. His "machine gun" approach is possible with ideation techniques that involve interviewing experts to rapidly develop data models and product refinement plans.
- Trip Adler: Very experimental with different models and markets, willing to try radically different ideas in the quest for traction. His fail often to 'train your gut' point was excellent, along with the Trip Method and 'creative time' to come up with ideas.
- Jason Calacanis: Very thoughtful market approach with a lot of research, keeping the core idea secret until it is polished. His market matrix methodology is excellent in helping to identify new markets to pursue on the horizon.
For participating Founders, the Session web page has been updated with reading materials. I hope that this is the beginning of something amazing. Our goal is to put the magic back into startups.