Venture Hacks

William Pietri left a great comment on Books for Entrepreneurs: Agile Software Development:

“Great to see these approaches getting more attention in the startup world. I’ve been soaking in both agile methods and startup companies a long time, and I think they go perfectly together. They provide just enough structure to make everybody effective, without unnecessary constraints or process bloat.

“One of my clients, sidereel.com started with an XP-ish process from the first week. They had an alpha for investors in 2 months, a private beta in 3, and a public beta in 4 months. Now they’re happily funded, up to a dozen people, and just shy of Alexa 1000 site [emphasis added].  Weekly iterations meant they always had new progress to show potential investors. And being able to change direction easily meant they could try a lot of things out and invest heavily in areas the users liked.

“Speaking of which, I and a colleague are interested in trying out some variations of the Planning Game with a couple of user-focused startups. If any VH readers want to be guinea pigs, we’re looking for Bay Area teams that are early in the process, actively struggling to put together a product plan, and have both business and technical people involved full time. If there’s anybody here that meets those criteria, just drop me a line. My email address is my first name at my domain name [scissor.com].”

Also check out An XP Team Room, where William walks us through the offices of a lean startup in gory detail: