Lean Startup Machine partners with Microsoft Ventures to expand into 600 cities over the next 18 months

Lean Startup Machine is a practical workshop aimed at teaching budding entrepreneurs how to start their own companies using Lean Startup methodologies. And yes, the underlying framework is based on principles from Eric Ries’ book The Lean Startup.

Lean Startup Machine (LSM) has held north of 125 workshops across 50 cities on six continents, and today’s it’s announcing a global partnership with Microsoft Ventures – a startup-focused initiative launched by Microsoft back in June – to expand into 600 cities over the next 18 months.

The creation of Microsoft Ventures essentially brought the tech titan’s BizSpark, Bing Fund, and accelerators under one roof, with on-the-ground evangelists operating in hundreds of cities around the globe. Indeed, it’s this reach that LSM is seeking to tap, while Microsoft Ventures’ Murat Berme noted that LSM’s training capabilities will prove invaluable to it too.

“LSM is doing phenomenal work to bring hands-on, customer development training to the world, and Microsoft Ventures works with them because we can be confident attendees completing their workshops are fully capable of taking the next step in pursuing their entrepreneurial ambitions,” he says.

In addition to this partnership, LSM is also launching a new organizing platform – touted as LSM 2.0 – that brings a decentralized approach for local event organizers. Indeed, anyone can visit the site and find a page for their city, and when it reaches a certain number of sign-ups (250 for large conurbations, 150 for smaller ones), it becomes ‘unlocked’ and thus qualifies for an investment of resources, including mentors, sponsors and more. It basically lets demand dictate and inform the supply.

“We’ve grown in a very careful, controlled manner, because the quality of the experience is so important to us,” explains LSM founder and CEO Trevor Owens.

The good folks at LSM in New York will work directly with anyone wishing to bring the workshop to their city, including helping recruit mentors and speakers. For 2014, they already have Eric Ries, Techstars’ David Cohen and people from Twitter, Airbnb and Spotify on board.

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