He doesn't work at that startup anymore as far as I know. I think he might be on the board still. I have only vague memories of the exact current relationship,

He doesn't work at that startup anymore as far as I know. I think he might be on the board still. I have only vague memories of the exact current relationship, but Eric Ries seems to have (1) run a "lean startup" before they were cool, (2) left the lean startup, and (3) started blogging about lean startups and consulting.