Who are we?

The cost of launching a tech venture is continually falling, due to a large number of interrelated technical, social, and financial factors. There are many recent examples of startups that successfully capitalize on these factors to reach profitability and multi-million dollar valuations in a very short period of time with minimal capital investment. On the other hand, many entrepreneurs spend a great deal of time and money on ventures that never produce a return. The quicker and cheaper an entrepreneur can test an idea in the marketplace, the quicker he can determine whether it is worth greater investment, or whether to move on to the next project. Ultra Light Startups is a group of entrepreneurs who explore these perpetually evolving factors and refine techniques to launch technology ventures - minimizing cost and time associated with testing ideas in the marketplace.

What are the characteristics of an Ultra Light Startup?

• Low permanent headcount, low overhead, low budget
• The use of outsourcing, offshoring and outsourcing marketplaces (e.g. Guru.com, Elance, oDesk)
• Use of off-the-shelf and open source software and platforms (e.g. WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, MediaWiki) and their ecosystems
• Minimizing hardware costs and maximizing flexibility with cloud/network computing
• Leveraging infrastructure and communities provided by the diverse set of existing and social platforms and devices
• Viral/guerilla/social marketing
• Any other low-cost, high-flexibility techniques

What kind of events do we host?

• Entrepreneurs Forums. Monthly meetings of 30-50 tech entrepreneurs where we share ideas, network, and participate in discussions about topics of interest to individuals starting lightweight tech ventures. Typically, this takes the form of a speaker, an exercise, or interactive panel discussion related to a particular "ultra light" startup technique. These monthly meetings are the primary forum for Ultra Light Startups.
• Working Groups. Ultra Light Startups sponsors a Specification Review Working Group to provide a trusted forum for entrepreneurs to give and receive feedback on product specifications prior to tendering to outsourced development. This forum is based on strong convictions that a well-specified technology project will cost less to develop and that the eyes of multiple experienced entrepreneurs are an excellent way to rapidly and effectively refine a specification.
• Special Events. Ultra Light Startups has been asked to participate or co-sponsor a number of events and activities related to tech startups, including business plan competitions, conference sessions, and community events. To hear about these projects, be sure to join one of the distribution lists (email, Facebook, etc).

What makes us different?

There are many tech entrepreneurs groups out there today. Ultra Light Startups is different in two ways:

• We are the only group focusing specifically on these low-cost, high-flexibility techniques. We are dedicated to perpetually streamlining the process of launching successful technology startups.
• Attendees at our events are exclusively entrepreneurs. Most groups are a diverse mix of entrepreneurs, employees of larger companies, contractors, freelancers, salespeople, recruiters, and anyone else who feels like showing up. Because of our unique, 100% participatory format, we ensure that everyone at our events is an active tech entrepreneur. A forum where everyone is a decision-maker and everyone is comfortable in a high-disclosure format is uniquely valuable.