Todd Stone, Author at General Assembly Blog

About Todd Stone

Todd Stone is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and has written for Inc. Magazine, Business Insider and Ad Age. He is a former startup founder and he and his twin brother form the comedy team, Stone and Stone. Together, they have appeared on truTV, CNN, on Friars Club roasts and as semi-finalists on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing.” You can follow Todd and his brother @stoneandstone.

Father of “The Lean Startup” Movement Clarifies His Message: Don’t Bulls— Yourself

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Eric-Ries-General-Assembly

Eric Ries discusses his lean startup methodology at General Assembly in New York City.

“Lean Startup is not a religion,” said Eric Ries, the 37 year-old author of The Lean Startup (2011), which is the handbook for what has become a cult-like movement embraced by entrepreneurs and innovators worldwide.

The core philosophy of the book – and of its practitioners – is to test ideas early and often by getting feedback from potential customers. Before investing very much time and money into a product, the idea is to quickly create an MVP (minimal viable product) and put it in front of potential consumers. This avoids wasting time and money developing products that people may not want.

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The Simulated Startup: Meet the Innovative Startups Inside Mammoth Companies

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MasterCard Employee

MasterCard employee demonstrates ShopThis! with MasterPass which will allow consumers to buy products directly from Intel’s Virtual Shopping Experience – a fully interactive 3-D virtual fitting room app at MasterCard’s Innovation Showcase event.

“Agile methodology,” “failing fast,” “pivoting”—all concepts commonly used in startups—are increasingly being put to work inside the walls of large, well-established companies. This is because executives at Fortune 500 companies have realized that the natural limitations that face startups—limitations on time and financial resources—can actually be boons, resulting in fresh ideas and fast execution.

So a handful of large public companies, including General Electric (GE) and MasterCard, have created startups within their own mammoth companies. In 2013, GE created FastWorks, an internal startup entity. Its mission was to develop products using the “lean startup” approach, codified by Eric Ries in his book, The Lean Startup. (This means constantly experimenting and regularly getting feedback from customers to avoid building products that customers don’t want.)

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