The first part of the presentation will start with explaining what a startup is, why it is an important phenomenon to be aware of, and what are the challenges that it is confronted. Then the Lean Startup methodology will be explained with various real startup examples, and the key mindset shift encouraged by the methodology will be highlighted.

The second part of the presentation will focus on software startups, and introduce several empirical studies that investigate the Lean Startup methodology from different perspectives, to show why we should care about it. These studies were conducted by various researchers from the Software Startup Research Network (SSRN) that has been recently formed.

The presentation will be ended with some thoughts on what is ahead for the Lean Startup methodology, and look into the potentials of combining it with another innovation methodology: Design Thinking.

Dr. Xiaofeng Wang is a senior researcher at the Computer Science Faculty of Free University of Bozen-Bolzano in Italy. Her current research interests in software startups were evoked by the huge passion and enthusiasm conveyed by entrepreneurs and lean startup practitioners she encountered. Years ago she had same conviction on the research of agile and lean software development. Apart from research, teaching entrepreneurship to promising university students is another endeavor that keeps her committed.

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