

Free Stanford Class with Steve Blank - eduardoflores
http://www.launchpad-class.org/

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nl
Is there any information about how the class will work?

The non-virtual version of this class is heavily team based, and people are
expected to go and find customers and actually talk to them(!). The workload
is also quite heavy - I believe around 20 hours per week.

How will the team part work for the online class?

Edit: also, on the off chance anyone is thinking about teams already, I'd be
interested in talking.

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sblank
Not sure if I'm smart enough to figure out how to make teams work virtually
for 1,000's of thousands of students at a time. (Can't figure out how to grade
progress on this scale.)

I'm leaning to have the class teach individual entrepreneurs the basics of how
to build a startup using the business model canvas, customer development and
agile engineering.

Think of it as a step-by-step guide to building a startup. An advanced version
of the Four Steps to the Epiphany updated for web/mobile/cloud, etc.

Thoughts?

~~~
bravura
You could have other students do collaborative "grading" for certain
assignments, much like students vote on which questions get asked.

For example, the assignment is to pick a method for reaching customers. I
describe my business and propose five methods for reaching clients. To get
feedback, I then have to vote on five other student's ideas about how they
would reach clients.

Whichever method the students choose is the best for me, I have to do.

Students can also note which ideas for reaching clients seem particularly good
or particularly poor. You can cull the top of these annotations to discuss the
ones of broadest use for the class to understand.

I think the principles of your approach are simple enough (and that's a good
thing) that for basic grading you could crowdsource it. It's not as good as
being able to pick your brain, but it's still pretty good. You could then use
the voting method to find the biggest wins and the most useful fail-cases to
discuss in class.

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huherto
Also <http://www.entrepreneur-class.org/>

~~~
donald_draper
What do you guys make of those two classes, which one would you choose if you
had only time for one of them ?

(asking because right now AI and ML require quite some time and I want to do
other technical classes starting january ^^)

~~~
sblank
I'd take Chuck Eesley's class first. The Lean LaunchPad class is a methodology
driven version of the 2012 update to the Four Steps to the Epiphany.

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UjjwolL
I think it would have been better if they had created all the Stanford Classes
under single domain rather to have different for each one of them.

~~~
dudurocha
Or at least have a greater www.stanford-classes.edu, to show all of them. But
the need for a own domain, is to make it easier when the class really starts.
Its easier, to use your own domain, that have a leanlauchlab.stanford.edu.

But the point is, its a wonderful news! Congrats Stanford!

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pknerd
This is a life time opportunity any entrepreneur or a soon-to-be entrepreneur
will never like to miss. Specially those who are not in US or out of Valley.

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ma2rten
I am no quite sure if I should take this class - or the Entrepreneurship one
for that matter. I am busy start a startup. This classes will probably take
quite some time and I can't really imagine, what I could possibly learn form
them, that I haven't picked up from various resources linked here over time.
What do you think?

~~~
seanos
So there is nothing Steve Blank could teach you that you don't already know?
Besides, these classes involve getting into teams and trying out the concepts
from class (and might have read about on HN) in the real world. I think you
might learn a lot.

~~~
ma2rten
Of cause I am not saying that he could not teach me anything. I just can't
imaging that it will be worth the time-investment. I didn't realize that the
online student will also work in teams, that actually makes me even less
inclined to take part. Working on another project, will be a even bigger
distraction from my own startup.

~~~
andreyf
Learning about startups while starting your own is a balance everyone has to
consider for themselves. Depending on how much you already know about
startups, a class could either be an eye-opening epiphany which will save you
years of work wasted because of silly mistakes, or a waste of time repeating
what you already know.

Beware of the Dunning-Kruger effect when deciding which you'll be. I've met
one too many founders with an attitude of "I'm too busy working hard to stop
and think" that could really have benefited from stopping, stepping back, and
reconsidering some of their major assumptions.

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combiclickwise
What a great opportunity! For someone like me who lives in India, this is a
fantastic opportunity to learn from Steve Blank himself.

His book has changed the way I work but I feel there is a whole world of
difference in actually learning from him in a class room format, doing
exercises and taking it step by step.

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alexanderberman
Wow this is absolutely fantastic news. I'm thoroughly excited - I want to take
them all!

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javajones
I'm really excited by this and the other online classes. Has anyone else taken
these? I'm wondering if I've over done it with the sign ups.

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Casc
Has anyone gotten any type of response post sign up?

~~~
worldimperator
Nope. But I didnt get one from the current AI and ML either, if I remember
correctly.

