I emailed and texted a wide array of "South by" regulars, each of whom imparted some very valuable wisdom. Their advice was so good that I felt like I had to write this article and share it with anyone else interested in making the most out of their SXSW experience.

So everyone's heard the buzzwords and maybe even read the book, but is lean start-up methodology (Lean) really a smart practice, and how can it help s...

Here are six tips distilled for aspiring entrepreneurs from Steve Blank and others at the summit.

To me, lean is a state of mind that a founder and team needs to have across all aspects of the business. The specific product and engineering approaches are at the core of the lean startup movement. But if you can apply lean to hiring, sales, marketing, customer service, finance, and everything else, you will be rewarded with a fast, nimble company.