2009 Customer Development Fractional VPE Product 
Steve Blank
OCTOBER 5, 2009
I had last been in Chapel Hill on a winter’s day in 1986, traveling with the VP of Sales of our new supercomputer startup, Ardent. I’ve convinced the team you’d be perfect, come join us as the VP of Marketing.” Never mind The first idea for our new company was a software product that looked something like Hypertext.
Steve Blank
JUNE 25, 2009
Twenty eight years ago I was the bright, young, eager product marketing manager called out to the field to support sales by explaining the technical details of Convergent Technologies products to potential customers. So their management teams were insisting that they OEM (buy from someone else) these products.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Startup Lessons Learned
SEPTEMBER 30, 2008
So I initially gravitated to the CTO title, and not VP of Engineering. If the CEO wants to completely change the product in order to serve a new customer segment, you need someone in the room who can digest the needs of the new (proposed) business, and lay out the costs of each possible approach. They might do anything
Startup Lessons Learned
DECEMBER 7, 2008
In a few cases, they are clearly smart people in a bad situation, and Ive written about their pain in The product managers lament and The engineering managers lament. As a last disclaimer, please consult the definition of the word hacker if youre not familiar with the controversies surrounding that term.)
www.women2.org
MARCH 8, 2012
After quitting my job and starting Sorced , I spent a few months validating my business concept by creating the product mockups and doing customer development. Consequently, I either needed a tech co-founder or to pay someone to develop the product. The Alchemist Series: Customer Development and Metrics.
Expert insights. Personalized for you.
131 
Let's personalize your content