Get Out of The Building: Mastering Lean Startup and Amazon's Working Backwards

New
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2 Days

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Cohort-based Course

Learn to build products customers want by mastering Lean Startup and Amazon's Working Backwards methods through real-world case studies.

Previously at

Amazon
SmugMug
Lean Startup Co.
Together Labs

Course overview

Transform from building features to delivering products customers actually want.

Students will gain practical experience with both Lean Startup and Amazon's Working Backwards methodologies through real-world case studies drawn from my experience pioneering these approaches at IMVU and studying them at Amazon. Beyond just learning the theory, you will develop hands-on skills in customer interviews, experiment design, and measurement frameworks. By the end of the course, you will have created real Working Backwards documents, designed and analyzed experiments, and built a complete product development plan they can immediately apply to your own projects. Most importantly, you will learn how to avoid common pitfalls I've seen teams make repeatedly - like building features without customer validation or running experiments without testing fundamental assumptions. This will help you save time and resources while increasing your chances of product success.

Who is this course for

01

Product managers who want to move beyond feature requests and learn proven methods to deeply understand and solve customer problems.

02

Engineers who want to stop building unused features and start creating products that drive real customer value.

03

Founders who need practical tools to validate product ideas and build the right things in their critical early stages.

What you’ll get out of this course

Understanding Customer-Centric Product Development Methodologies

Master the fundamentals of Lean Startup and Working Backwards methodologies through real-world examples. Learn how these frameworks evolved at IMVU and Amazon, and how to choose the right approach for your context.

Starting with the Customer (Working Backwards Fundamentals)

Learn to write compelling Working Backwards documents that articulate clear customer value. Practice crafting PRs and FAQs that define success, surface assumptions, and align teams before coding begins.

Validating Assumptions (Lean Startup in Practice)

Take your customer development skills to the next level by mastering Lean Startup techniques. Design effective experiments, conduct revealing customer interviews, and learn from the infamous IMVU tag cloud mistake.

Measurement and Experimentation

Build robust measurement systems that track what matters. Learn how to design meaningful experiments, avoid common A/B testing pitfalls, and create feedback loops that drive continuous improvement.

Combining Methodologies for Maximum Impact

Discover when and how to combine methodologies for maximum impact. Through real case studies, learn to select the right approach for different situations and create hybrid frameworks that work.

Scaling Customer-Centric Practices

Transform your organization with sustainable customer-centric practices. Create implementation roadmaps, train teams effectively, and build lasting processes that keep customers at the center of development.

This course includes

2 interactive live sessions

Lifetime access to course materials

6 in-depth lessons

Direct access to instructor

Projects to apply learnings

Guided feedback & reflection

Private community of peers

Course certificate upon completion

Maven Satisfaction Guarantee

This course is backed by Maven’s guarantee. You can receive a full refund within 14 days after the course ends, provided you meet the completion criteria in our refund policy.

Course syllabus

Week 1

May 3—May 4

    May

    3

    Session 1: Live class with Q&A and peer networking

    Sat 5/34:00 PM—7:30 PM (UTC)

    Understanding Customer-Centric Methodologies

    1 item

    Starting with the Customer (Working Backwards Fundamentals)

    1 item

    Validating Assumptions (Lean Startup in Practice)

    1 item

    May

    4

    Session 2 - Live class with Q&A and peer networking

    Sun 5/44:00 PM—7:30 PM (UTC)

    Measurement and Experimentation

    1 item

    Combining Methodologies for Maximum Impact

    1 item

    Scaling Customer-Centric Practices

    1 item

What people are saying

        James has an exceptional ability to blend emotional intelligence with technical expertise, offering guidance that aligns with both immediate goals and long-term growth. His coaching has helped me become a more connected, courageous, and effective leader, and I highly recommend him to anyone seeking to lead with both heart and impact.
Ed Essey

Ed Essey

Director of Business Value, Microsoft Garage
        James has an exceptional ability to blend emotional intelligence with technical expertise, offering guidance that aligns with both immediate goals and long-term growth. His coaching has helped me become a more connected, courageous, and effective leader, and I highly recommend him to anyone seeking to lead with both heart and impact.
Rajeev Chandrasekaran

Rajeev Chandrasekaran

Head of Application and Firmware Engineering, Applied Cognition

Retired Tech VP & Amazon advisor turned executive coach, helping technical leaders develop coaching skills to build high-performing teams.

James Birchler

James Birchler

Tech VP & exec coach: 20+ years leading technical teams from startups to Amazon.

I've spent two decades guiding technology organizations through critical growth phases—from VP of Engineering roles at companies like IMVU, SmugMug and Caffeine.tv to Technical Advisor at Amazon.


Today, I advise startups and enterprises across the US and Europe while leading innovation practices in hyper-growth areas at Amazon.


My experience includes pioneering work at IMVU, where my team helped launch the DevOps movement in 2009 by deploying code to production 50 times per day—introducing the term "continuous deployment"—and working alongside Eric Ries to develop the Lean Startup methodology.


My approach combines extensive leadership experience with professional coaching training and certification from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. I help technical leaders navigate key inflection points in their growth journey—whether that's scaling teams, developing their leadership vision, or building high-performance cultures.


I focus on fostering self-awareness, integrity, and accountability while creating environments where continuous learning thrives.


Throughout my career, I've found that the greatest impact comes from helping people and teams reach their full potential. I'm passionate about sharing these tested experiences to help other technical leaders forge their own paths to success.

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Join an upcoming cohort

Get Out of The Building: Mastering Lean Startup and Amazon's Working Backwards

Cohort 1

$495

Dates

May 3—4, 2025

Payment Deadline

Apr 30, 2025
Get reimbursed

Course schedule

  • Saturday & Sunday May 3-4

    9:00am - 12:30pm PT

    If your events are recurring and at the same time, it might be easiest to use a single line item to communicate your course schedule to students

Free resource

CAMS Framework: Coaching, Advising, Mentoring, Supporting

Level up your engineering leadership with CAMS: Coaching, Advising, Mentoring, and Supporting, a framework to understand the difference in these modes of leadership development and when to use them as a technical leader and manager.

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Learning is better with cohorts

Learning is better with cohorts

Active hands-on learning

This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects

Interactive and project-based

You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams

Learn with a cohort of peers

Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you

Frequently Asked Questions

A pattern of wavy dots

Join an upcoming cohort

Get Out of The Building: Mastering Lean Startup and Amazon's Working Backwards

Cohort 1

$495

Dates

May 3—4, 2025

Payment Deadline

Apr 30, 2025
Get reimbursed

$495

2 Days