Victoria BC Startups

Startup Meetup: Thinklandia Edition

Sep 4, 2013 · 7:00 PM
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Sad fact: summer will be over soon(ish). Happy fact: Septembers are the best here in Tectoria!

Our awesome little meetup group - now approaching 350 members - will reconvene on September 4 for an evening of everything-startups. Put on your best white clothes and come catch up with your friends from around the startup community!

At this meetup, we'll hear a short talk delivered by the co-founders of Kiind, a local startup making a big splash across Canada and the US. Leif Baradoy and Peter Locke (regular meetup attendees) will share some key takeaways from their recent product launch, including:

• The Lean Launch: why did launching our product with a coordinated media push make sense for Kiind?

• Setting Smart Goals and Expectations: what did we hope to learn and leverage from our launch?

• Fraudsters and Surprises: where did we find silver linings when things went awry?

A Note on the Name of this meetup

From September 9-15, in partnership with the Rifflandia music festival, Victoria will once again transform into Thinklandia. From the Thinklandia website:

For seven days, we’re transforming Victoria into a city of ideas and imagination; a place where thinkers, entrepreneurs, speakers, makers, artists, and creators can engage, share, enlighten and inspire. Thinklandia aims to celebrate the creativity, innovation and imagination of Victoria by providing accessible, and often free, events throughout the city. These events will highlight some of our most unique people, groups, products and companies during a week of discovery and fun.

We're very excited to announce that this meetup will be an officially designated event of Thinklandia 2013!

Space will be limited for this meetup, so mark the date in your calendar, RSVP now, and we'll see you on the 4th!

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Peter L.

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback and good questions. Leif, myself, and the rest of the Kiind team had a great time. See you at the next one!

0 · September 5, 2013
Geoff Archer, P.

Great product, great guys, great story (especially the fraudfest)

1 · September 5, 2013
Andrea B.

Great to network, great honest talk by Kiind, and super organizers ;)

2 · September 5, 2013
M. Shawn D.

Great to hear the Kiind crowd talk about their launch.

2 · September 5, 2013
Brent H.

I really enjoyed the gathering and was happy with the discussions! :-) Thank you so much Jesse and everyone for being so open and welcoming..

3 · September 4, 2013
A former member

I'm really sorry, but i'm stuck here at school, still need to work on our group project. I apologize for such a short notice!

0 · September 4, 2013
Brandon G.

Hey guys, I'm interested in learning more about the early days of Kiind.

Did you hire freelancers on contract to help with the development and design?
Did you use O-desk or local talent? or a mix of both? I know vaguely what happened but I think it would be helpful for everyone to learn how you assembled your team.
Vetting process, length of contract, etc..

Looking forward to the talk!

Cheers
Brandon

1 · September 3, 2013
- Peter L.
  
  Brandon, we didn't outsource any development of our core product. We did use local contract talent for design work and the development of our iOS app (which talks to Kiind at arms length via our API). Happy to chat more about it in person.
  
  2 · September 4, 2013
Drew M.

Might miss today, but will see some of you this weekend during OrcaJam

0 · September 4, 2013
A former member

Looking forward to attending this meetup!

1 · September 4, 2013
James A.

Was hoping to make it, but recovering from a cold or something. Freed up the spot for someone else on the waiting list!

0 · September 3, 2013
- Jesse L.
  
  Thanks man, bummer about the cold! We'll see you at the next one.
  
  1 · September 3, 2013
Leif B.

Hi everyone. The concept of "launching" in the age of the lean startup is a little controversial. I'd love it if you use the comment section here in MeetUp to let Peter and I know if there are any specific points you'd like us to cover.
Best,
Leif

2 · August 17, 2013
- View all 4 replies
- M. Shawn D.
  
  specific points:
  -getting talented people interested in developing for your project
  - getting people to buy and survive the ramen lifestyle needed in the early days
  - getting to demonstrable milestones (what is a third-party expecting to see when you demo the product)
  - have had any pitfalls with getting through "the Mom test" of demonstrating your product to interested parties.
  
  0 · August 17, 2013
- A former member
  
  -How to effectively market your app to get users
  
  1 · September 2, 2013
- Dylan T.
  
  Leif, you might assume that most people in the room tomorrow have read The Art of the Start and Getting Real (37 signals). Maybe pick a few battle-proven lean start up antidotes not covered in these books. Thanks for stepping up.
  
  1 · September 3, 2013
- Leif B.
  
  I've actually not read either of those books, although I've read Rework. We'll do our best to talk about the non-obvious though.
  
  0 · September 3, 2013
Bonnie J.

New to Victoria, very curious, eager to make good friends...will tell my husband too. Bonnie Jonas

0 · August 18, 2013
Rob

+ Nevin and rian

0 · August 17, 2013
glenn l.

Cheers, see you there, looking forward to it!

0 · August 16, 2013
M. Shawn D.

I'm looking forward to it! Though, my main talking point may be "don't get involved in developing for four simultaneous start-ups."

0 · August 16, 2013