Steve Blank

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Even the Smartest VCs Sometimes Get it Wrong – Bill Gurley and Regulated Markets

Steve Blank

The tech ecosystem got a rude awakening in May 1998 when the U.S. Unless you were in life sciences (therapeutics, medical devices, or diagnostics), very little government regulation applied. We ignored Washington and Washington mostly ignored us (defense contractors excepted.)

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Why Pioneers Have Arrows In Their Backs

Steve Blank

The irony is that in a retrospective paper ten years later (1998), [ 2 ] the authors backed off from their claims. In 1998 Goto.com , a small startup (later Overture, now part of Yahoo ! ), created the pay per click search engine and advertising system and demo’d it at the TED conference. The only problem is that it’s simply not true.

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The Rise of Chinese Venture Capital – (Part 3 of 5)

Steve Blank

But it wasn’t until 1998 that corporate-backed VC firms could be established, and that started a wave of VC funds backed by government, corporate and foreign capital. A great summary diagram below from OECD’s Report on China’s Innovation Policy traces the evolution of China’s Innovation Ecosystem.

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The Rise of Chinese Venture Capital – (Part 3 of 5)

Steve Blank

But it wasn’t until 1998 that corporate-backed VC firms could be established, and that started a wave of VC funds backed by government, corporate and foreign capital. A great summary diagram below from OECD’s Report on China’s Innovation Policy traces the evolution of China’s Innovation Ecosystem.

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New Rules for the New Internet Bubble

Steve Blank

Rules for building a company in 2011 are different than they were in 2008 or 1998. The revenue, profits and speed of scale of the winning companies can be breathtaking. The New Exits. Startup exits in the next three years will include IPO’s as well as acquisitions.

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Hubris Versus Humility: The $15 billion Difference

Steve Blank

In 1998 RIM quickly followed this up with a next generation product with an 8-line display, ran on AA batteries and would last 500 hours. It used narrowband PCS and was housed in a clamshell device with a full keyboard. RIM Interactive Pager 900. The fact that you could send messages interactively blew people away.

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Driven to Distraction – the future of car safety

Steve Blank

These began to appear in cars in the late 1980’s/1990’s and were required in 1998. For example, accelerometers-on-a-chip made airbags possible as they were able to detect a crash in progress. In the 1990’s computers capable of real-time analysis of wheel sensors (position and slip) made ABS (anti-lock braking systems) possible.