Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Five Quarters of Profitability During the 1980’s and through the mid 1990’s startups going public had to do something that most companies today never heard of – they had to show a track record of increasing revenue and consistent profitability. The world of building profitable startups as the primary goal of Venture Capital would end in 1995.

Silicon Valley 233

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 233

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

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. 1970 – 1995: The Golden Age. The world of building profitable startups ended in 1995. August 1995 – March 2000: The Dot.Com Bubble.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

Steve Blank

JULY 15, 2010

Most of the startups they invested in either died by running out of money before they found a scalable business model or ended up in the “land of the living dead” by never growing (failing to Pivot.). Until 1995 startups going public typically had a track record of revenue and profits. Startup lifecycle in an IPO Market.

Venture Capital 302

Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 302

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 19, 2019

What makes this tricky is that markets evolve, and an innovative technology or business model can transform a normal market into a Glengarry Glen Ross market. Google realized that being the way to find the world’s information was a blitzscalable market, thanks to the network effects in its AdWords revenue engine. The difference?

Cofounder 28

Cofounder Business Model IPO Non-Compete 28