Steve Blank

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Times Square Strategy Session – Web Startups and Customer Development

Steve Blank

Back in 1999, it all ended very bad. Reply Eran Shir , on November 21, 2009 at 9:35 pm Said: Steve, a great post is judged by the level of discussion it manages to spur, so in that metric, this is a fantastic one.

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Philadelphia University Commencement Speech – May 15th 2011

Steve Blank

I managed to find a job at the Miami International Airport loading racehorses onto cargo planes. Eighteen months after arriving in Thailand, I was managing a group of 15 electronics technicians. In 1999… with the company’s revenue north of $100 million…I handed the keys to a new CEO and left. You get to make your own luck.

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Startup Stock Options – Why A Good Deal Has Gone Bad

Steve Blank

In the 20 th century, the best companies IPO’d in 6-8 years from startup (and in the Dot-Com bubble of 1996-1999 that could be as short as 2-3 years.) Add to that all the other known negatives of a startups– no work-life balance, insane hours, inexperienced management, risk of going out of business, etc.

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Customer Development Manifesto: Market Type (part 4) « Steve Blank

Steve Blank

Handspring in a Existing Market As an example, imagine it’s October 1999 and you are Donna Dubinsky the CEO of a feisty new startup, Handspring, entering the billion dollar Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) market. Other companies in the 1999 PDA market were Palm, the original innovator, as well Microsoft and Hewlett Packard.

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China’s Torch Program – the glow that can light the world (Part 2 of 5)

Steve Blank

In the last decade Torch managed to break free of China’s state central planning bureaucracies. Set up in 1999, Innofund offers grants ($150 – $250K), loan interest subsidies and equity investment. Seed Funding (Innofund). The best analog for China’s InnoFund is the U.S. government’s SBIR and STTR programs.

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China’s Torch Program – the glow that can light the world (Part 2 of 5)

Steve Blank

In the last decade Torch managed to break free of China’s state central planning bureaucracies. Set up in 1999, Innofund offers grants ($150 – $250K), loan interest subsidies and equity investment. Seed Funding (Innofund). The best analog for China’s InnoFund is the U.S. government’s SBIR and STTR programs.

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Agile Opportunism – Entrepreneurial DNA « Steve Blank

Steve Blank

I was met by a very apologetic manager who said, “We’ve been trying to get a hold of you for the last week. The manager of the training department who hired you wasn’t authorized to do so – and he’s been fired. With my offer letter in-hand I reported to ESL’s Human Resources (HR) department.

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