Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Reading the NY Times article “ Jeffrey Katzenberg Raises $1 Billion for Short-Form Video Venture, ” I realized it was time for a new startup heuristic: the amount of customer discovery and product-market fit you need to find is inversely proportional to the amount and availability of risk capital. It’s the antithesis of the Lean Startup.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

In 2001 companies IPO’d very quickly if they were working, by 2011 IPOs had slowed down to the point that in 2013 Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures astutely called billion-dollar outcomes “unicorns.” The legends of Silicon Valley?—?two two founders in a garage?—?(HP HP Style) are dead. It’s just now that we’re Seed Investors.

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

In this time, building a successful business meant building a company that had paying customers quarter after quarter. It did not mean building a startup into a company to flip or hype on the market with no earnings or revenue, but building a company that had paying customers. They taught you about customers, markets and profits.

Silicon Valley 217

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

The signals are loud and clear : seed and late stage valuations are getting frothy and wacky, and hiring talent in Silicon Valley is the toughest it has been since the dot.com bubble. They taught you about customers, markets and profits. 2001 – 2010: Back to Basics: The Lean Startup. Carpe Diem.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

500hats.com

AUGUST 2, 2012

While a flood of new VCs came into existence during the late 90’s internet boom, many had difficulty raising new funds after the crashes of 2000-2001 and 2008 , and as a result significantly fewer fund managers exist now compared to a decade ago. note: apologies in advance for the west coast bias; i’m in silicon valley).

Silicon Valley 74

Silicon Valley Early Stage Venture Capital Valuation 74

Steve Blank

JANUARY 17, 2016

Silicon Valley’s pay-it-forward culture means that others will help when you’re starting up. Looking to create their accelerator/incubator, Wayne and seven other founders rented a Silicon Valley house together one summer. The features didn’t match what ultimately the customers would buy or wanted.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley North Carolina Cofounder Entrepreneur 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 9, 2016

When the legend becomes fact…print the legend” The Hollywoodization of Silicon Valley startup stories “prints legends,” but for most startups those stories are pure fiction. Customer input shaped Amper’s product: One of the things that was really important to us was using Lean methodology.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Cofounder Entrepreneur IPO 120