You have all outdone yourself this year with Lightning Talk applications. From the man with the chicken (you know who you are) to the expedition to the North Pole, the BoS community continues to amaze.
We could have filled our available sessions four times over and selecting the best batch of speakers has taken a good deal of angst – may all our problems be that satisfying!
Here are the final five we chose for the main stage. Send supportive tweets or offer a round of applause, please, for:
Mark Abramson
Mark is CEO of Forward Thought, Inc.; co-founder of Medicine of Cycling and Vice Chairman of USA Cycling.
He is veteran of both early-stage startups and enterprise software projects, he has particular technical expertise in digital workflow, industrial printing and complex global supply chains for high-growth companies. He’s also a dad, runs the Microsoft SF.NET & BizSparkSF groups for Bay Area startups, collects antique woodworking machines and mentors on Lean Startup methods.
Lightning Talk: Defining your customer. Articulating their problem
Jared Chung
Jared leads CareerVillage.org, a technology nonprofit that crowdsources career advice for high school students living in low-income communities.
Previously a consultant with McKinsey & Company, Jared managed teams on projects in a wide range of industries across a dozen countries over a 6 year period. In addition he built cross-functional joint ventures, led training seminars, and led pro-bono consulting projects. In his spare time he is a Director at TEDxCambridge.
Lightning Talk: I want to know what it’s like to be you
Brydon Gilliss
I write letters to computers asking them to do things for people.
I work out of the shared office space in Guelph, Ontario Canada named ThreeFortyNine, which I started. I’m the founder of the hockey startup 20Skaters where we’re so intense about customer discovery, we shower with our customers!ᐧ
Lightning Talk: The future of mobile technology: maybe less is more?
Claire Lew
Claire Lew is the CEO of Know Your Company, a software tool that helps business owners with 25 to 75 employees overcome company growing pains.
The software was originally built by Basecamp (formerly 37signals). Since then, Know Your Company has helped over 5,000 people at companies like Airbnb and Kickstarter.
Claire’s mission in life is to help people become happier at work. Previously, she co-founded The Starter League, a beginner-focused software school in Chicago, and founded ClarityBox, a consulting practice for CEOs. Claire is also a proud Northwestern University alum. Learn more about Claire by reaching out directly @cjlew23.
Lightning Talk: how to get honest feedback from your employees
Robert Moore
Bob graduated from Princeton and wrote the first version of RJMetrics from his attic in Collingswood, NJ.
Bob has also written guest columns for TechCrunch, licensed a Poker odds calculator to The Sharper Image, built a wildly popular AIM chatbot, helped design products for late-night infomercials, and opened on-stage for Vanilla Ice (seriously).
Lightning Talk: When to turn in your keyboard. OR: what’s the most valuable use of your time as a founder?