April, 2011

Steve Blank

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The LeanLaunch Pad at Stanford – Class 4: Customer Hypotheses

Steve Blank

The Stanford Lean LaunchPad class was an experiment in a new model of teaching startup entrepreneurship. This post is part four. Part one is here , two is here and three is here. Syllabus is here. Week 4 of the class. Last week the teams were testing their hypotheses about their Value Proposition (their company’s product or service.) This week they were testing who the customer, user, payer for the product will be (and discovering if they have a multi-sided business model , one with both buyer

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The LeanLaunch Pad at Stanford – Class 6: Channel Hypotheses

Steve Blank

The Stanford Lean LaunchPad class was an experiment with a new model of teaching startup entrepreneurship. With two weeks and two more updates to go, this post is part six. Parts one through five are here , Syllabus is here. While we’ve been pushing hard on the teams, this week the teaching team was about to get its socks blown off. All the teams were showing us what agile looked like, but this week several would remind us what focused and relentless really meant.

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Entrepreneurs Are Artists

Steve Blank

I wrote about entrepreneurs as artists in a previous post. The FounderLy team interviewed me and got me to give a better explanation of what I was trying to say in this 2 minute video clip. If you can’t see the video click here. Filed under: Big Companies versus Startups: Durant versus Sloan , Business Model versus Business Plan , Customer Development , Family/Career.

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Risk and Culture in Silicon Valley

Steve Blank

Om Malik runs Gigaom , probably the most interesting and accurate site on the blogosphere. Om was kind enough to have me in for an interview. We covered a wide range of topics. This talk on Risk and Culture in Silicon Valley is a small 1 minute snippet of a longer interview on his blog. Filed under: Family/Career , Teaching , Technology , Venture Capital.

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One Hand Clapping – Entrepreneurship In Ann Arbor, Michigan

Steve Blank

I spent a few days in March in Ann Arbor Michigan as a guest of Professor Thomas Zurbuchen , Associate Dean for Entrepreneurial Programs, and Doug Neal , Director of Center for Entrepreneurship in the Engineering School at the University of Michigan. I gave a keynote on entrepreneurship to MPowered , the student Entrepreneurship Organization, spoke on a panel on Entrepreneurship and the Aerospace Industry, and gave another keynote at the Ann Arbor New Tech Meetup and A2Geeks , the regional star

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Mentors, Coaches and Teachers

Steve Blank

When the student is ready, the master appears. Buddhist Proverb. Lots of entrepreneurs believe they want a mentor. In fact, they’re actually asking for a teacher or a coach. A mentor relationship is a two-way street. To make it work, you have to bring something to the party. A Question from the Audience. Recently when I was at a conference taking questions from the audience, I got a question that I had never heard before.

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The Apprentice – Entrepreneur Version

Steve Blank

We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master. Ernest Hemingway. Silicon Valley is built on simple myths – one of the most pervasive is that all winning startups are founded straight out of school by 20 year olds from Stanford or Harvard. The reality is these are the exceptions not the rule. Too Old at 30? I was having coffee with an ex-student at the ranch, watching our bobcat hunt in the front lawn.