I had a great time this weekend mentoring at Lean Startup Machine San Diego where I met some terrific people and saw some great things happening in a very short amount of time. I'll hopefully share more thoughts on LSM and the Lean movement in general later. I just wanted to throw a quick tip out there for all the attendees who would like to pursue their ideas further or who would like to further apply the customer development techniques they learned this weekend.

Most people have likely never heard of corn Island. Certainly I hadn't until my father-in-law discovered it on a missionary trip to Nicaragua. He and my mother-in-law had subsequently vacationed there, and they brought back some stunning photos along with stories of a warm friendly place that was virtually undiscovered and untouched by rampant development. When he suggested that we all go there for an extended-family getaway (and incredibly generously offered to pay for the trip), he showed me several websites, photos, and descriptions of the island. I was excited beyond belief.

I love startups. I love the startup environment - the pace, the chaos, the challenges, all of it. MP3.com and DivX were both traditional startups. They were both fully funded by major VC firms. And they both went on to successful IPOs. Here's the thing, as much as I love startups, I dislike institutionalized post-IPO corporations. But, the goal of every startup is to someday become an institutionalized corporation (or be acquired by one which is essentially the same but often worse).