After eagerly downloading Lion on my Macbook Pro I quickly went ahead and hit install. I then started reading that once the update is complete the installed is deleted making it impossible to follow the guide to creating a bootable USB version of the installer.

It took some searching around, but it seems you can re-download the installer from the app store. What you do is the following:

1. Open the App Store
2. Click on “Purchases”
3. Now Option+Click on “Purchases” again

The grayed out “Installed” button should change back to “Install” you can then click it and re-download Lion to your hard drive. After that you can cancel the install and follow one of the online guides to creating a bootable USB drive.

Hope this helps.