Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. Product Development – Getting Funded as The Goal In a traditional product development model, entrepreneurs come up with an idea or concept, write a business plan and try to get funding to bring that idea to fruition.

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 264

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2009

Customer Development ) to help you quickly recognize and reverse any incorrect decisions. Martin , on April 10, 2009 at 9:27 am Said: A post that would delight F.A. link] Reply craig sparer , on April 10, 2009 at 5:44 pm Said: So true. In a startup it doesn’t matter if you’re 100% right 100% of the time.

Silicon Valley 302

Silicon Valley RSS Startup Agile 302

Steve Blank

APRIL 29, 2010

I’ve been teaching Customer Development at U.C. Berkeley was brave enough to let me write and teach a class on a subject that no one had ever heard of – Customer Development. Customer Development was a process to quickly search for a profitable business model when customer needs (features, pricing, channel, etc.)

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Customer Development Lean Developer Customer 226

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

New strategic direction in companies with loyal customers have different consequences then when you had no customers Acquiring new customers are a lot more expensive that converting existing ones. While this sounds inexplicable to an outside observer, sometimes it makes sense.

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Customer Silicon Valley RSS California 201

Steve Blank

MARCH 19, 2009

Yet two smart VC firms, Sigma and Matrix Partners, realized that somewhere in this mess there was value. After talking to its resellers and customers I realized that SuperMac was the only company that could be described as “fifth in a group of three.” And with all of that they had gone broke, out of business and into Chapter 11.

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Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

I liked the fact that you linked to the wikipedia page for a payphone — nice touch Reply Chris Ryland , on October 5, 2009 at 12:06 pm Said: Where did Ben Wegbreit fit in the Convergent picture? Reply steveblank , on October 5, 2009 at 2:08 pm Said: Chris, Ben was the founding VP of Engineering at Ardent.

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North Carolina Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 126

Steve Blank

AUGUST 17, 2009

Although this reseearch would lead to the development of the Backward Wave Oscillator and Traveling Wave Tube for military applications, Stanford was building tubes and circuits not entire systems. They’ll make much more sense if you read some of the earlier ones for context. The labs basic research was done by graduate students or Ph.Ds

Silicon Valley 144

Silicon Valley RSS California Government 144

Steve Blank

MAY 22, 2009

While one could argue that a trade show is just another demand creation activity akin to advertising or PR, trade shows are the closest eyeball-to-eyeball contact you’re company is going to have with customers, competitors and partners. Part 1 of this post offered some suggestions on going to trade shows to generate awareness.

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Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 129

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Building a new startup hub Last week, I had a unique opportunity to spend some time in Boulder at the behest of TechStars. As a result, the companies get a lot of exposure to VCs, investors, and partners in larger, more traditional startup hubs. And do your customer development.

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San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Continuous Deployment 113

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 28, 2008

We pitch to potential partners, vendors, publishers, conferences, employees, and even lawyers. Turns out, they were incredibly well-credentialed graduate students who had, in fact, developed some interesting new robotics technology. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

San Francisco 128

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 128

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 30, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, July 30, 2009 Techstars brings The Lean Startup to Boulder Im very excited to announce a pair of events that will kick off a very busy fall speaking tour. July 30, 2009 7:35 AM Hazem Awad said. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

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Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 12, 2008

You might get a bunch of inbound emails from other press and partners, and all of these things can contribute to a feeling that you’re on your way to getting tons of traffic. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? It strokes your ego.

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Audience San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean 119

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2013

The first post described how China built a science and technology infrastructure to support advanced weapons systems development. These local governments financially supported the startups because, by locating in these zones, the new ventures were seen as contributing to local economic development. It went bankrupt in 1997.).

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Venture Capital China Offshore SBIR 272

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 8, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, June 8, 2009 Datablindness Most of us are swimming in a sea of data about our products, companies, and teams. There are lots of good reasons why I can’t have instantaneous access to this data, and each partner has their own. June 8, 2009 8:28 PM Geoff said. We can learn to see.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 84

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

There are few courses which teach aspiring entrepreneurs the skills (business models, customer and agile development, design thinking, etc.) Therefore we developed a class to teach students how to think about all the parts of building a business, not just the product. to optimize this search. What’s Different About the Class?

Wiki 312

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 312

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 27, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, May 27, 2009 Austin: the Lean Startup tour continues Next week I head to Austin, TX for my first visit ever. The Lean Startup is a practical approach for creating and managing a new breed of company that excels in low-cost experimentation, rapid iteration, and true customer insight.

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Lean Austin San Francisco Continuous Deployment 60

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Kathy Sierra at Business of Software 2009 - Business of Software Blog , May 4, 2010 "In the old days, getting customers was easy. Guide to Evaluating Startup Ideas - Tony Wright dot com , May 27, 2010 A great developer I once worked with was kvetching at lunch one day. They’re deep into Customer Development ,” he said.

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Fractional CTO Startup Venture Capital Cofounder 248

Steve Blank

JUNE 5, 2009

You make several first order approximations about your business model, distribution channels, demand creation, and customer acceptance. You leave the comfort of your existing job, convince a few partners to join you and you jump off the bridge together. No building, no money, no customers, no market? Great, sign me up.

Silicon Valley 219

Silicon Valley RSS Vertical California 219

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

Oh, and we had no installed customer base. I had hired the VP of marketing from a potential software partner who was responsible to get all this 3 rd party software on our computer. Ernest Hemingway One of an entrepreneur’s greatest strengths is their relentless pursuit of a goal.

Silicon Valley 327

Silicon Valley Software Review RSS Technical Review 327

Steve Blank

JULY 9, 2009

So I got out out of the building to meet and understand our customers and distribution partners. I remember after a month or two of talking to 14-22 year old male gamers (our potential target market,) I realized that for the first time in my career I had no emotional connection to my customers or channel partners.

Silicon Valley 142

Silicon Valley RSS California Video 142

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2013

The first post described how China built a science and technology infrastructure to support advanced weapons systems development. These local governments financially supported the startups because, by locating in these zones, the new ventures were seen as contributing to local economic development. It went bankrupt in 1997.).

Venture Capital 164

Venture Capital China Offshore SBIR 164

Steve Blank

MARCH 22, 2009

And you’d like me to do my talk on Customer Development and startups?” “No, we’re the other CIA.” Their VC firm, In-Q-Tel , has been in business for 10 years, and like most VC firms they have an annual event where they show off their new portfolio companies to their limited partners and other VC partners.

Silicon Valley 253

Silicon Valley Thailand RSS Venture Capital 253

Steve Blank

MAY 21, 2009

Partners Booths While your booth may be small, some of your potential or existing partners may have much larger ones, in much more visible locations. If you’re in markets that still exhibit at them (semiconductors, communications, enterprise software, medical devices, etc.,) Plus tips on overall trade show strategy.

Silicon Valley 185

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 185

Steve Blank

APRIL 13, 2013

I trained the Startup Weekend Next Beijing mentors and instructors, presented to several hundred entrepreneurs, and had a great fireside chat with Zhen Fund founding partner Xu Xiaoping in front of another roomful of entrepreneurs. The table below from web2asia.com shows the number of users of online social networks as of 2009.

Silicon Valley 269

Silicon Valley China Venture Capital Merger 269

Steve Blank

JUNE 22, 2009

Hewlett’s partner Dave Packard wanted to get into the computer business.) It was priced at $22,000 – equivalent to about $140,000 in 2009 dollars. Reply Vincent Chan @Power of Scale , on June 22, 2009 at 9:35 am Said: Thanks for showing this letter. Thx for sharing (and researching)! It’s so interesting!

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Silicon Valley RSS California Agile 169

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2009

And one would become my mentor and partner in later companies.) Filed under: Customer Development , Family/Career , Technology | Tagged: Steve Blank , Entrepreneurs , Tips for Startups « Am I a Founder? Two of my role models for my career were in this company. (And But this story is not about Convergent.

Entrepreneur 282

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS 282

Steve Blank

APRIL 13, 2013

I trained the Startup Weekend Next Beijing mentors and instructors, presented to several hundred entrepreneurs, and had a great fireside chat with Zhen Fund founding partner Xu Xiaoping in front of another roomful of entrepreneurs. The table below from web2asia.com shows the number of users of online social networks as of 2009.

Silicon Valley 161

Silicon Valley China Venture Capital Merger 161

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2009

The positive effect of the tidal wave of press was as a door opener for us to raise money from corporate partners. Our VP of Business Development had no problems getting meetings and fund raising was easy. Not being able to hear negative customer input is an extremely bad idea.

Silicon Valley 122

Silicon Valley Product RSS California 122

Steve Blank

JULY 2, 2009

If you were a “with it” VC you needed to have a “Content&# or “Multimedia&# company in your portfolio to impress your limited partners – educational software companies, game companies, or anything that could be described as content and/or Multimedia. Reply Wyatt ODay , on July 2, 2009 at 8:18 am Said: Great post, Steve.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS Software Review 120

Steve Blank

JULY 16, 2009

Meanwhile my partner was in heaven working with his newly hired group of game designers directing and producing our first games. No, not really, but my partner owns the studio and tells me it’s spectacular and everyone will love it. Go spend some time outside the building talking to potential distribution partners.

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Silicon Valley RSS Video San Diego 212

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Friday, March 13, 2009 Dont launch Heres a common question I get from startups, especially in the early stages: when should we launch? Establish credibility with potential partners. You need to combine your product with others, and this requires partners like OEMs or system integrators.

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San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

Steve Blank

JUNE 29, 2009

No one will say work less and go home and spend time with your partner and/or family. Filed under: Customer Development , ESL , Technology | Tagged: Steve Blank , Entrepreneurs , ESL « Convergent Technologies: War Story 1 – Selling with Sports Scores A Wilderness of Mirrors » 17 Responses Michael F.

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Agile Silicon Valley RSS California 251

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 1, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, January 1, 2009 Happy new year When I started writing this blog a few months ago, I wasnt sure if anyone would find it interesting. Heres hoping your 2009 is inspiring and a time of growth. What do you expect for 2009? January 1, 2009 7:36 PM Michael Scepaniak said.

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San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 60

www.startuplessonslearned.com

MAY 4, 2012

They assume that the tasks that they are performing during the early stage of startup development are the same tasks that will be performed during the next and very different stages. Robin wondered when her partner would be able to become more involved, but, in the end, Antje never joined full-time.

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Equity Founder Technical Cofounder Cofounder 72

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 6, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 6, 2008 When NOT to listen to your users; when NOT to rely on split-tests There are three legs to the lean startup concept: agile product development , low-cost (fast to market) platforms , and rapid-iteration customer development. Or to some passionate customers. Were doomed!

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Agile 128

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers - SoCal CTO , November 1, 2010 I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? Naturally, a big part of the go-to-market includes partnering with other players in the market. What went wrong?

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

www.instigatorblog.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

But nevertheless, I do think that the first few employees – especially those ever-critical developers – need to be more properly incentivized and made to feel closer to founders than employees. I get that the numbers are post Series A, but even if you assume 50% dilution, you're giving your first hire developer between 1-2%.

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Equity Employee Startup Vesting 41