article thumbnail

New Rules for the New Internet Bubble

Steve Blank

The Golden Age (1970 – 1995): Build a growing business with a consistently profitable track record (after at least 5 quarters,) and go public when it’s time. Dot.com Bubble ( 1995-2000): “ Anything goes” as public markets clamor for ideas, vague promises of future growth, and IPOs happen absent regard for history or profitability.

Internet 334
article thumbnail

How to Hack Growth When Growth Stalls

ConversionXL

Reporting in the Harvard Business Review on a major study of growth stalls they conducted, Olson and his colleagues cite the case of the iconic brand Levi Strauss, which hit a historic high mark of sales in 1995, reaching revenue of $7 billion, but then, starting in 1996, saw a decline in sales so precipitous that by 2000, revenue was down to $4.6

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Welcome to the Lost Decade (for Entrepreneurs, IPO’s and VC’s)

Steve Blank

Until 1995 startups going public typically had a track record of revenue and profits. Netscape’s 1995 IPO changed the rules. The size of the red bars (IPO’s) versus blue (mergers and acquisitions) illustrates that while venture-backed startups did get acquired, the IPO market was booming. Source: NVCA.). Free At Last.

article thumbnail

The Rise of the Lean VC – Consumer Internet Gets Its Own Investors

Steve Blank

I think you can blame Customer and Agile Development for a small part of it. One could argue that there’s nothing new here, as Internet distibution models started in 1995. But scaling customer acquisition may take the same amount of dollars as a traditional software startup. ). Here’s why. Electron-based Venture Capital.

Lean 258
article thumbnail

Why Uber is The Revenge of the Founders

Steve Blank

In 1995 Netscape changed the rules about going public. Facebook’s ~$20 billion acquisition of WhatsApp, a 5-year-old startup that had $10 million in revenue, made no sense until you realized that Facebook was paying to acquire 300 million new users.). 2. Information is everywhere. 4. Founder-friendly VCs.

Founder 245