Book Josh Barker for Your Next Speaking Event.
Josh Barker — CEO, Founder, Innovator, Entrepreneur
As an experienced public speaker, Josh’s charismatic, high-energy, engaging personality is able to inspire startup founders, business leaders, and entrepreneurs alike when it comes to launching successful new products the right way.
Josh knows that 9 out of 10 ventures fail and takes his decades of Silicon Valley experience and helps corporate and Startup ventures change the odds. WIth proven methods and mindsets – he helps innovators switch the narrative by understanding what it takes to gain traction within their market, validate their innovative ideas, and build ventures that achieve exponential growth using the secrets learned in Silicon Valley.
Josh has always been an innovator at heart with a passion for developing products and ideas. While serving as the Director of Innovation at KPMG, he was offered the chance to launch a Silicon Valley-based startup that he couldn’t turn down. However, what the startup ended up being wrong for the market and it failed.
From that point on, his mission turned to helping ventures build the right thing at the right time for the right market.
Since then, Josh founded City Innovations, a Venture Studio that helps corporations and entrepreneurs envision, validate, fund, and launch sustainable digital ventures and products by building the right thing — the first time around.
Keynote Topics
Josh can speak on multiple topics, but here’s a rundown of some of the topics that he’s an expert in:
- The Market Validation Funnel: A Playbook for Building High Growth Ventures
- A Step-By-Step Guide to Bringing New Products to Market
- A Deep Dive into the Common Pitfalls that Ventures Face and How to Avoid Them
- How to Reduce Risk when Bringing New Products to the Market
- Finding Product-Market-Org Fit: Turn Your Enterprise into a Systematic Innovation Machine that Fits Your Organization's Goals
- Lean Startup Methodologies: Effective Strategies for Testing Market Assumptions and Fast-Tracking Your Venture's Growth
- Finding Product Market Fit in Corporate Innovation
At a Glance
- Josh Barker, MBA
- CEO and Founder at City Innovations, A Venture Studio & Product Innovation Studio
- Former Director of Innovation at KPMG
- Co-founder in Silicon Valley
- Built 13 startups, learned from 9 failures
- Recently spoke at Tech Week Grand Rapids, American Marketing Association, SURGE powered by Lakeshore Advantage, and more
- Collectively influenced, coached, and developed 100s of successful ventures, product launches, and startups across dozens of industries
- Mentor at the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at The University of Chicago
- Podcast Host of Venture unscripted.
- Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan (but willing to travel)
Josh in Action
Video Short: Marry Yourself to Solving the Problem
Video Short: Experiments Should Be Created in Days
Video Short: Mistake startups make when going to software agencies
Master Class: The Market Validation Funnel Primer
Podcast: How to Level Up Entrepreneurship with World Renowned Gamification Expert, Yu-kai Chou
Podcast: Lessons Learned After 20 Years of Entrepreneurship with entrepreneur and filmmaker, John Pottenger
See more on our social media platforms
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Request Josh Barker for Your Next Speaking Opportunity