Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 20, 2022

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. L?ozi ??. I just had lunch with Shenwei, one of my ex-students who had just taken a job in a mid-sized consulting firm. After a bit of catching up I offered he was looking a bit lost. “I just got handed a project to help our firm enter a new industry – semiconductors. They want me to map out the space so we can figure out where we can add value.

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Steve Blank

JUNE 20, 2022

This post previously appeared in Fast Company. How does a newly hired Chief Technology Officer (CTO) find and grow the islands of innovation inside a large company? How not to waste your first six months as a new CTO thinking you’re making progress when the status quo is working to keep you at bay? I just had coffee with Anthony, a friend who was just hired as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of a large company (30,000+ people.

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Steve Blank

JANUARY 19, 2022

SAVE THE DATE for the 5th Lean Innovation Educators Summit on The Role of Educators and the University in Building Sustainable and Innovative Ecosystems February 3rd, 2022 from 1 to 4pm EST, 10 to 1pm PST Join me, Jerry Engel, Pete Newell, and Steve Weinstein as well as educators from universities around the world for this upcoming event. The Summit brings together leading entrepreneurship educators who are putting Lean Innovation to work in their classrooms, accelerators, and students

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Steve Blank

JANUARY 18, 2022

This post previously appeared in the Proceedings of the Naval Institute. One of the most audacious and bold manifestos for the future of Naval innovation has just been posted by the Rear Admiral who heads up the Office of Naval Research. It may be the hedge we need to deter China in the South China Sea. While You Were Out. In the two decades since 9/11, while the U.S. was fighting Al-Qaeda and ISIS, China built new weapons and developed new operational concepts to negate U.S. military strengths.

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 9, 2021

This article first appeared in West Point’s Modern War Institute. We just completed the fifth week of our new national security class at Stanford – Technology, Innovation and Great Power Competition. Joe Felter , Raj Shah and I designed the class to cover how technology will shape all the elements of national power (America’s influence and footprint on the world stage).

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

This article first appeared in West Point’s Modern War Institute. . We just completed the fourth week of our new national security class at Stanford – Technology, Innovation and Great Power Competition. Joe Felter , Raj Shah and I designed the class to cover how technology will shape all the elements of national power (America’s influence and footprint on the world stage).

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Steve Blank

OCTOBER 19, 2021

This article first appeared in West Point’s Modern War Institute. We just had our second week of our new national security class at Stanford – Technology, Innovation and Great Power Competition. Joe Felter , Raj Shah and I designed the class to cover how technology will shape all the elements of national power (our influence and footprint on the world stage).

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Steve Blank

OCTOBER 13, 2021

This article first appeared in West Point’s Modern War Institute. We just had our first week of our new national security class at Stanford – Technology, Innovation and Great Power Competition. Joe Felter , Raj Shah and I designed the class to cover how technology will shape all the elements of national power (our influence and footprint on the world stage).

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 21, 2021

For 25 years as the sole Superpower, the U.S. neglected strategic threats from China and a rearmed Russia. The country, our elected officials, and our military committed to a decades-long battle to ensure that terrorists like those that executed the 9/11 attacks are not able to attack us on that scale again. Meanwhile, our country’s legacy weapons systems have too many entrenched and interlocking interests (Congress, lobbyists, DOD/contractor revolving door, service promotion of executors versu

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Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2021

This article first appeared in Poets and Quants. Revolutions start by overturning the status quo. By the end of the 20th century, case studies and business plans had reached an evolutionary dead-end for entrepreneurs. Here’s why and what we did about it. The Rise of Business Schools – Management as an Occupation. The business school was invented in the first decade of the 20th century in response to a massive economic transformation in the U.S. that took place in the last quarter of the 19

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Steve Blank

JUNE 23, 2021

We just finished the 11th annual Lean LaunchPad class at Stanford — our first version focused on deep science and technology. I’ve always thought of the class as a minimal viable product – testing new ideas and changing the class as we learn. This year was no exception as we made some major changes, all of which we are going to keep going forward.

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Steve Blank

JUNE 4, 2021

I was pleasantly surprised to hear from Suresh, an ex-student I’ve known for a long time. A U.S. citizen he was now the head of sales and marketing for a company in London selling medical devices to hospitals in the UK National Health Service. His boss had identified the U.S. as their next market and wanted him to set up a U.S. salesforce. Suresh understood that the U.S. health system was very different from the system in the UK, not just the regulatory regime through the FDA, but the reimburse

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Steve Blank

MAY 24, 2021

Register Here. In 2020 over 1,000 educators joined us online to learn and share how to teach during the pandemic. Now we’re heading back into the classroom and the world has changed. What is the “new normal” for Lean Education? Will using video to “get out of the building” still play a role? What roles do diversity, equity and inclusion play in future syllabi?

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Steve Blank

MARCH 9, 2021

A version of this story previously appeared in Defense One. The story of RYAN and Able Archer is an oft-told lesson of a U.S. intelligence failure, miscalculation, and two superpowers unaware they were on the brink of an accidental nuclear war — all because the Soviet Union relied on a software program to make predictions that were based on false assumptions.

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Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 16, 2021

A version of this article – co-authored with Raj Shah and Joe Felter – previously appeared in War On The Rocks. After hearing from 20+ guest speakers , including two Secretaries of Defense, Generals, Admirals and Policy makers in our Technology, Innovation and Modern War class – the direction of technology and the future of national security came into sharper focus.

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Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 4, 2021

A version of this article – co-authored with Raj Shah and Joe Felter – previously appeared in Defense One. ( Update : After this article was written the Secretary of Defense fired every member of all 40+ defense advisory boards and will start anew. Hopefully the suggestions in this post will help inform how they reconstitute the boards.).

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Steve Blank

JANUARY 14, 2021

Our recent national security class at Stanford, Technology, Innovation, and Modern War was designed to give students insights on how the onslaught of new technologies like AI, machine learning, autonomy, cyber, access to space, biotech, hypersonics, and others have the potential to radically change how countries fight and deter threats. With 20+ guest speakers , including two Secretaries of Defense, Generals, Admirals and Policy makers, the class emphasized that winning future conflicts requires

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Steve Blank

JANUARY 8, 2021

This class, Technology, Innovation, and Modern War was designed to give our students insights on how the onslaught of new technologies like AI, machine learning, autonomy, cyber, access to space, biotech, hypersonics, and others has the potential to radically change how countries fight and deter threats. Our 20+ guest speakers were an extraordinary collection of military and policy leaders including two Secretaries of Defense, Generals, Admirals and Policy makers.

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Steve Blank

JANUARY 6, 2021

Over the weekend I got asked the best way to teach students the principles of Lean via Zoom. One of the key lessons from our Educators Conference is that when teaching online complex information needs to be delivered to students in small, easily processed parts. I realized that pre-pandemic I had put together a series of two-minute videos called “See Why.

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Steve Blank

DECEMBER 28, 2020

With the theme “Build Back Better” Jerry Engel , Pete Newell , Steve Weinstein and I co-hosted nearly 500 Lean Educators from 63 countries and 235 universities online for a three-hour session to share what we’ve learned about educators on how we can help our communities rebound, adjust, and recover. We got insights from each other about tools, tips, techniques and best practices.

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Steve Blank

DECEMBER 21, 2020

We just held our eighteenth and final session of our new national security class Technology, Innovation and Modern War. Joe Felter , Raj Shah and I designed a class to examine the new military systems, operational concepts and doctrines that will emerge from 21st century technologies – Space, Cyber, AI & Machine Learning and Autonomy. Today General James Mattis addressed the class.

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Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2020

Last Friday the Secretary of Defense abruptly fired half of the Defense Business Board. For some reason, he forgot me. He appointed former Trump campaign officials Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie as chair and vice chair and nine other new members. The Defense Business Board is one of several advisory boards that serve as the pleasure of the Secretary of Defense.

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Steve Blank

DECEMBER 3, 2020

We just held our fifteenth session of our new national security class Technology, Innovation and Modern War. Joe Felter , Raj Shah and I designed a class to examine the new military systems, operational concepts and doctrines that will emerge from 21st century technologies – Space, Cyber, AI & Machine Learning and Autonomy. Today’s topic was Midterms with Congressman Mike Gallagher.

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 27, 2020

We just held our fourteenth session of our new national security class Technology, Innovation and Modern War. Joe Felter , Raj Shah and I designed a class to examine the new military systems, operational concepts and doctrines that will emerge from 21st century technologies – Space, Cyber, AI & Machine Learning and Autonomy. Today’s topic was Strategy, Plans and Policy in the Joint Staff.

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 17, 2020

In July 2020, 400+ educators gathered online to discuss and share best practices for Lean education in the virtual environment. We learned a ton. And we’re going to do it again. Join me, Jerry Engel, Pete Newell, and Steve Weinstein for the 3rd edition of Lean Innovation Educators Summit on December 16th, 1 – 4pm EST , 6 – 9pm UTC. Why. COVID-19 has dramatically altered the business landscape.

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 11, 2020

We just held our eleventh session of our new national security class Technology, Innovation and Modern War. Joe Felter , Raj Shah and I designed a class to examine the new military systems, operational concepts and doctrines that will emerge from 21st century technologies – Space, Cyber, AI & Machine Learning and Autonomy. Today’s topic was Military Applications of Cyber.

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2020

We just held our tenth session of our new national security class Technology, Innovation and Modern War. Joe Felter , Raj Shah and I designed a class to examine the new military systems, operational concepts and doctrines that will emerge from 21st century technologies – Space, Cyber, AI & Machine Learning and Autonomy. Today’s topic was The DoD and Modern War.

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Steve Blank

OCTOBER 26, 2020

We just held our eighth session of our new national security class Technology, Innovation and Modern War. Joe Felter , Raj Shah and I designed a class to examine the new military systems, operational concepts and doctrines that will emerge from 21st century technologies – Space, Cyber, AI & Machine Learning and Autonomy. Today’s topic was Artificial Intelligence and Modern War.

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Steve Blank

OCTOBER 19, 2020

We just held our sixth session of our new national security class Technology, Innovation and Modern War. Joe Felter , Raj Shah and I designed a class to examine the new military systems, operational concepts and doctrines that will emerge from 21st century technologies – Space, Cyber, AI & Machine Learning and Autonomy. Today’s topic was Innovations in Acquiring Technologies for Modern War.

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Steve Blank

OCTOBER 9, 2020

We just held our fourth sessions of our new national security class Technology, Innovation and Modern War. Joe Felter , Raj Shah and I designed a class to examine the new military systems, operational concepts and doctrines that will emerge from 21st century technologies – Space, Cyber, AI & Machine Learning and Autonomy. Today’s topic was Defense Strategies and Military Plans in an Era of Great Power Competition.

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Steve Blank

OCTOBER 6, 2020

We just held our third session of our new national security class Technology, Innovation and Modern War. Joe Felter , Raj Shah and I designed a class to examine the new military systems, operational concepts and doctrines that will emerge from 21st century technologies – Space, Cyber, AI & Machine Learning and Autonomy. Today’s topic was Sourcing, Acquiring and Deploying Technology for Modern War.

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 29, 2020

We just held our second session of our new national security class Technology, Innovation and Modern War. Given the tech-centricity of Stanford and Silicon Valley, Joe Felter , Raj Shah and I designed a class to examine the new military systems, operational concepts and doctrines that will emerge from 21st century technologies – Space, Cyber, AI & Machine Learning and Autonomy.

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

I’m teaching my first non-lean start up class in a decade at Stanford next week; Technology, Innovation and Modern War : Keeping America’s Edge in an Era of Great Power Competition. The class is joint listed in Stanford’s International Policy department as well as in the Engineering School, in the department of Management Science and Engineering. — Why This Course?

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Steve Blank

APRIL 16, 2020

Sheltering in place during the Covid-19 pandemic, my coffees with current and ex-students (entrepreneurs, as well as employees early in their careers) have gone virtual. Pre-pandemic these coffees were usually about what startup to join or how to find product/market fit. Though in the last month, even through Zoom I could sense they were struggling with a much weightier problem.

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Steve Blank

MARCH 19, 2020

Jeff Epstein is on the board of Shutterstock, Twilio, Kaiser Permanente, and was the CFO of Oracle, DoubleClick, Nielsen and King World and is an operating partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. He teaches the Lean LaunchPad class at Stanford with me. And the minute he talks about financing I shut up and take notes. He sent this message to the CFOs of his companies yesterday.

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Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

“Winter is coming.”. This is the one blog post that I hope I’m completely wrong about. With the Covid-19 virus a worldwide pandemic, if you’re leading any startup or small business, you have to be asking yourself, “What’s Plan B? And what’s in my lifeboat?”. Here are a few thoughts about operating in uncertainty in a pandemic. Impact. Social isolation and a declared national emergency have had an immediate impact on industries that cluster people; conferences, trade shows, airlines/cruise ships

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Steve Blank

JANUARY 28, 2020

Say not in grief he is no more – but live in thankfulness that he was. If you’re reading my blog, odds are you know who Clayton Christensen was. He passed away this week and it was a loss to us all. Everyone who writes about innovation stood on his shoulders. His insights transformed the language and the practice of innovation. Christensen changed the trajectory of my career and was the guide star for my work on innovation.

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