Way Below Status Quo (http://waybelowstatusquo.com/) is a group of three prolific bloggers and entrepreneurs (@colinismyname, @TMFproject and @instigatingandi) who are road tripping across the United States this summer, stopping in cities and towns to learn more about the community and give back.

Throughout the way, they will be tweeting, blogging and video blogging about each stop, location, local business and people they meet.

Boulder is one of their stops!

Thursday, July 29th. Come join for the day at the various events we’ve hosted and planned for this group.

Schedule:

• 10:00 AM Hike
  

• 12:00 Lunch at The Med, downtown http://www.themedboulder.com/
  

• 2:00 PM Co-working at Atlas Purveyors (tables reserved) http://atlaspurveyors.com

*At 2:00 PM, a team that’s part of TechStars, http://kapost.com/ will be meeting with the WBSQ team at Atlas to discuss entrepreneurship, their new product and looking for feedback/ideas from bloggers.

• 7:00 PM The Bitter Bar is hosting a party with special drinks, mingling and get together!

If you can’t make the events during the day, come to The Bitter Bar to learn more about their project, mingle, show what a great community Boulder has and enjoy a delicious drink.

More information here: (http://social.waybelowstatusquo.com/wp-content/uploads/files/wbsq_mediakit.pdf).

See you there?

You can RSVP for any/all of Thursday’s plans here: http://statusquo-boulder.eventbrite.com/

*If you want to participate or have a good idea to be included on their schedule, please reach out to any of these three Boulder gals:

• Grace Boyle: gracekboyle at gmail dot com
• Doniree Walker: doniree at gmail dot com
• Joni Klippert: joniklippert at gmail dot com

TEDxBoulder is coming up August 7th!

What is TEDx you may be asking?

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is call TEDxBoulder, where x=independently organized TED event. At our TEDxBoulder event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group.

The current lineup of speakers is here.

Tickets are $25 and available here.

Having just gotten home from Ignite Boulder 11, I feel compelled to borrow a line from one of my daughter’s favorite books: “Wow!  That is all I can say.  Wow!’” (Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, if you must know).  Shortly after IB 10, Andrew Hyde, the driving force behind the event’s huge growth, felt that Ignite Boulder had plateaued, despite the fact that it had become the largest Ignite in the world.  After tonight, I feel confident that he has changed his mind.  I sure have.

When Andrew wrote that post, I agreed – it felt like Ignite Boulder was leveling off.  I wrote a lengthly comment, carefully outlining all of the things from prior Ignites that were now missing from the last two and suggesting ways to recreate them.  I never did publish it.  At the end of the day, I just couldn’t write anything that didn’t sound like a “I knew the band before they became popular” kind of a thing.

Tonight’s event wasn’t awesome because it was like the early Ignites (nor was it awesome because the presenters use the word “awesome” so many times), it had an awesomeness (it’s contagious) all its own.

First of all, there’s the change in venue.  Chautauqua and what it offered was amazing.  There was the pre-show barbecue next to the auditorium and the families picnicking out on the grass.  My wife and I chose to sit on the porch of the Dining Hall, which is always a treat.  Throw in a little sunshine, free beer, and the Flatirons as a backdrop, and you’ve already got yourself a winner.  The auditorium itself was beautiful, an all-wood building with giant doors opened to a nice breeze.  When it got darker, a bit of light peaked through the slats in the walls.  I really look forward to TEDxBoulder, if for no other reason than to be in that building again.

The speakers…yes, the speakers – the best bunch from top to bottom that I’ve seen.  Ef Rodriguez warmed things up with his usual charm, and Anna Sawyer immediately followed with the crowd pleasing How to Marry the Rich, a practical guide to marrying up.  My personal favorite Spark of the night was Josh Fraser’s Snakes and Staircases, which taught me that vending machine deaths are a very real risk and that Scottish accents are very persuasive.  The 14th and final slide deck of the evening, Justin Crowe‘s Modulate Your Life: High Fives & Livin’ On A Prayer, had 1,300+ of us high fiving and belting out the Bon Jovi chorus together to end things just so.

Andrew and I were wrong.  Ignite Boulder just keeps getting better, and there’s plenty of room to grow from here.

On a recent visit to Boulder, entrepreneur and thought leader Eric Ries was kind enough to stop by the TechStars Bunker to lead a discussion for a room full of folks interested in the Lean Startup methodology. In reflecting on that night, I can’t help but wonder, will Lean Startups be the standard in the Boulder startup ecosystem someday soon?

Here’s the methodology in a nutshell: “Stop wasting people’s time.” Ries implores entrepreneurs to stop building products and services that customers don’t want by replacing guesswork with validated learning. At a high level, this requires three actions:

• Build. For the first iteration, build the minimum viable product, as basic as is possible for customers to understand and use. For subsequent cycles, release small batches of code through continuous deployment.
• Measure. Ries recommends measuring the high level stuff, the stuff that matters. Unless it tells you something important about whether what you have built is more or less likely to make customers pay for it, don’t bother measuring it.
• Learn. Talk to customers, look at the data, and face reality. Apply that validated learning to the next cycle before building anything else.

Many of the principles are derived from lean manufacturing, made famous by Toyota, applied in the startup environment. Speed is key here, and progress is measured in how much you learn, not how much code you write.

There’s no need to recount the entire presentation line by line because you can view a recent webinar of Ries’ and hear him directly instead. If you’re curious as to whether the Lean Startup methodology has applications beyond writing code, the answer is yes. Erica O’Grady, who was also there that night, has even applied the Lean Startup methodology to dating.

The Lean Startup methodology seems to be gaining momentum, especially as of late with bloggers and the press. In April Ries held the first Startup Lessons Learned Conference in San Francisco, which was streamed into locations around the world, including Boulder’s own Rally Software.

With that said, coupled with the fact that entrepreneurs, present and future, filled The Bunker that night, it seems that the future for Lean Startups is bright in Boulder. I, for one, can’t wait to see what happens.

Ignite Boulder is nearing institution stage into the tech scene in Boulder.  We are the largest Ignite in the world and bridging the gap between many Boulder communities.

The 10th Ignite in Boulder will be May 6th.  There are less than 200 tickets left, so expect to see it sell out.  You can buy your $10 ticket here. 21+ event and no refunds or transfers allowed.

The speakers will be:

Eric Marcoullier Nine Mistakes I’ve Made and Why I Love Them
Andrea F. Hill Why roller derby should be an olympic sport
Claire Hunsaker Mom Gets an iPhone: User Behavior Crossing the Chasm
Sarah Palaich Everything About Skating You Can’t Learn from The Cutting Edge I, II, III, or IV
Shannon The Audacity of Acquanet
Chris Geer The story of a career change
Julie Penner How to Negotiate; Tricks to Win Arguments, Seal the Deal, or Get Out of Tickets
Tim Nicklas Avatar, BOTOX, & Winter Park – The Children’s Hospital’s unique Rx for kids with cerebral palsy
Dan Viens How To Advance Mankind By Voting The Dummies Off The Island
Suzan Bond From Chic to Chickens: How to transition to small(ish) town living
Sarah Gjestvang Let the kids blow things up.
Terry Cabeen Create
Kia Ruiz Body Awareness for Folks Who Really Love Technology
Danny Suter Embracing Mediocrity: A Realistic Pathway to Happiness

Next Thursday, March 11th, the founder of Gist is going to do a short and fun talk at the TechStars bunker. All are welcome, and beers are provided.

You can see the event on the Boulder Tech Calendar.