article thumbnail

Is the Lean Startup Dead?

Steve Blank

Most entrepreneurs today don’t remember the Dot-Com bubble of 1995 or the Dot-Com crash that followed in 2000. As a reminder, the Dot Com bubble was a five-year period from August 1995 (the Netscape IPO ) when there was a massive wave of experiments on the then-new internet, in commerce, entertainment, nascent social media, and search.

Lean 335
article thumbnail

Can You Trust Any vc's Under 40?

Steve Blank

Over the same 30 years, Venture Capital firms have honed their skills and strategies to match Wall Streets needs to achieve liquidity for their portfolio companies. One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is misunderstanding the role of venture capital investors. What Do VC’s Do?

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

If you take funding from a venture capital firm or angel investor and want to build a large, enduring company (rather than sell it to the highest bidder), this isn’t the decade to do it. The collapse of the IPO market and dysfunctional math in the venture capital community has stacked the odds against you. Here’s why.

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

Internet 334
article thumbnail

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

Steve Blank

Consumer Internet investing seems to have split off from traditional Venture Capital, and is creating a new category of VC’s: Lean VC’s. Electron-based Venture Capital. When I first came to Silicon Valley the world of Venture Capital looked pretty simple. Here’s why.

Lean 260
article thumbnail

A Glimpse: My American Dream

thebarefootvc

I feel incredibly lucky, to work with an extraordinary group of individuals who are passionate about innovation (in all forms, in business models, funding structures and technology) AND I get to meet inspiring, brilliant entrepreneurs every day.

article thumbnail

The pioneers of Silicon Valley’s fast culture on how to grow quickly, not recklessly

Reid Hoffman

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. If O’Reilly had that same insight in 1995, it could have been an amazing blitzscaling opportunity. These companies didn’t blitzscale; they scaled sustainably.”.