Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

I am convinced one of Joel Spolskys lasting contributions to the field of managing software teams will turn out to be the Joel Test , a checklist of 12 essential practices that you could use to rate the effectiveness of a software product development team. He wrote it in 2000, and as far as I know has never updated it.

Software Review 144

Software Review Technical Review San Francisco Continuous Deployment 144

Steve Blank

MAY 5, 2016

Prior to her 21 years as an educator, Doris Korda spent 15 years as an engineer-turned-entrepreneur in the cowboy days of the high tech industry. That sounds like a simple thing, but back then, in the tech world, it was mostly engineers talking tech, bits and bytes. Filed under: Customer Development , SiriusXM Radio Show.

Brazil 158

Brazil Entrepreneur Cleveland Cofounder 158

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 23, 2012

invested, IPO’ed in 2000 for $32/share — stock price now $2. But all that investment in growth and sales force didn’t have a long-term payback, and the actual value of the product to small businesses wasn’t as high as claimed, even though the simplest of customer development reveals this fact (ask any restauranteur).

IPO 240

IPO Flash Bootstrapping Private Equity 240

Steve Blank

MAY 5, 2016

Prior to her 21 years as an educator, Doris Korda spent 15 years as an engineer-turned-entrepreneur in the cowboy days of the high tech industry. That sounds like a simple thing, but back then, in the tech world, it was mostly engineers talking tech, bits and bytes. Filed under: Customer Development , SiriusXM Radio Show.

Brazil 120

Brazil Entrepreneur Cleveland Cofounder 120

Seeing Both Sides

JULY 11, 2013

Before this occurs, the sales process is a craft or an art - custom-made by the founder or evangelist sales VP. You dive deep into a customer development process, working closely with a few customers who feed you requirements and are willing to trial an imperfect product that is evolving quickly.

Sales 50

Sales Technical Review Software Review B2B 50

Spencer Fry

APRIL 17, 2017

Long story short, it’s just not 2000's anymore. With no money, how do you expect to have great design, engineering, copy, marketing, content marketing, customer service, operations, and everything else that comes along with running a successful startup. The quality bar has never been higher. Something has to give.

Bootstrapping 63

Bootstrapping Cap Table Liquidation Preference Harvest 63

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 23, 2015

Knowing your customers is the single biggest driver of startup success, and there’s no substitute for getting out of the building to learn about their problems and needs. Like Matthew, Jason sees enormous value in talking with customers: The biggest thing I learned was just how much you don’t know. Get out of the building.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Entrepreneur Colorado Customer Development 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

First, in 1990 the company thought it knew the customer problem to solve, and therefore it knew what solution to build. Second, since it knew the solution, it went into a 8 -year Waterfall engineering development process. Customer Development, Business Model Design and Agile Development could have changed the outcome.

Business Plan 335

Business Plan Customer Business Model Customer Development 335

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

I started my last company with 100% off-shore resources because I could never have completed Customer Development at a reasonable cost of money or regulatory burden had I employed US Citizens. Since 2000 we have passed a number of laws and regulations that are killing innovation in the US. September 10, 2009 4:37 AM Dale B.

DC 90

DC Washington San Francisco Lean 90

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

If you’re looking for a designer, engineer, or biz marketing guy – go to meetups / conferences that those people would go to. With that live, you’ll be able to show other smart engineers and advisors that you’re willing to take some risk and build something. So, do we focus on mountain resorts or retail customers. Then launch.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Many of our job postings for Engineering positions describe the company as a place “where the word ‘millions’ is used frequently and in many contexts&#. Though this was 2000 , and all startup & VC blogs we've grown to love didn't exist yet, I did have mentors available. Customer Development Diagnostics over Lunch.

Software Review 217

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Technical Review 217