Dan Olsen

Dan Olsen is an entrepreneur, consultant, author, speaker, and expert in product management and Lean Startup. At Olsen Solutions, he works with CEOs and product leaders to help them build great products and strong product teams, often as interim VP of Product.

Olsen has worked with a range of businesses, from small, early-stage startups to large public companies, on a wide variety of web and mobile products. His clients include Facebook, Box, Microsoft, YouSendIt (now HighTail), Epocrates, Medallia, XING, Financial Engines, and One Medical Group.

Prior to consulting, Olsen worked at Intuit, where he led the Quicken product team to record sales and profit. He also led product management at social networking pioneer Friendster, and was the cofounder and CEO of YourVersion, a TechCrunch award-winning personalized news startup. Olsen began his career designing nuclear-powered submarines.

Olsen earned a BS in electrical engineering from Northwestern and an MBA from Stanford. He also earned a master’s degree in industrial engineering from Virginia Tech, where he studied the Lean manufacturing principles that inspired Lean Startup.

Olsen wrote the bestseller The Lean Product Playbook, published by Wiley. He lives in Silicon Valley, where he hosts the monthly Lean Product & Lean UX Meetup. A frequent speaker at business and tech events, Olsen enjoys sharing ideas and comparing notes with as many people as he can. He also gives public and private workshops.