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.

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Posted on September 14, 2009 by steveblank Over the last 30 years Wall Street’s appetite for technology stocks have changed radically – swinging between unbridled enthusiasm to believing they’re all toxic. (No 2009 – Back to The Future The bad news is that since the bubble most VC firms haven’t made a profit. So what’s left?

Silicon Valley 217

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Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

However, you will be dealing with almost daily change, (new customer feedback/insights from a Customer Development process and technical roadblocks ,) as the company searches for a repeatable and scalable business model. Reply YA , on June 14, 2009 at 10:48 am Said: Interesting. The Adventure of a Lifetime. Thanks Steve!

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Filed under: Customer Development | Tagged: Entrepreneurs « Customer Development Manifesto: The Path of Warriors and Winners (part 5) Unintended Lessons » 6 Responses Twitter Trackbacks for Let’s Fire Our Customers « Steve Blank [steveblank.com] on Topsy.com , on September 24, 2009 at 7:19 am Said: [.]

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Steve Blank

MAY 11, 2009

Present at the Creation It was early 1991 and Apple’s software development team was hard at work on QuickTime , the first multimedia framework for a computer. So SuperMac engineering also developed video compression software, called Cinepak. Reply steveblank , on May 11, 2009 at 4:07 pm Said: No. It’s here to stay.

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Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

They couldn’t keep up with the fast product development times that were enabled by using standard microprocessors. The answer depends on your answer to two questions: which step in the Customer Development process are you on? Customer Development and Selling Strategy If you’ve just started your company you are in customer discovery.

Technology 138

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Steve Blank

MARCH 19, 2009

The assets were a series of products already developed and on the market or in the development pipeline. 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.” In essence it was a restart with a mixed bag of assets and liabilities.

Silicon Valley 146

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Steve Blank

APRIL 6, 2009

If you are a practitioner of Customer Development, ESL was doing it before most us were born. In 1962 Wheelon left for a new job as the first director of the CIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology where he was responsible for development of OXCART , the A-12 Spyplane, and three major satellite reconnaissance systems.

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Steve Blank

AUGUST 13, 2009

Customer Development/Lean Startups In hindsight startups and the venture capital community left out the most important first step any startup ought to be doing – hypothesis testing in front of customers- from day one. It’s what my textbook on Customer Development describes. I was an idiot. Berkeley and at Stanford.

Silicon Valley 179

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 23, 2009

The Times Square Strategy discussion I had with Eric Ries , was still top of mind, so instead of my standard Customer Development lecture , I offered my thoughts on: the origin of Customer Development, where we are today, and where does Customer Development go, and how you can help get it there.

Customer Development 212

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Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

on April 10, 2009 at 6:58 am Said: Amazing blog. Greetings from Crete, Greece Reply Jerry Ji , on April 10, 2009 at 11:09 am Said: Simply _THE BEST_ war story I’ve read in months. Reply How to close a term sheet quickly - Venture Hacks , on April 28, 2009 at 10:43 am Said: [.]

Silicon Valley 259

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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.

North Carolina 125

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

This post describes a solution – the Customer Development Model. In future posts I’ll describe how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provide the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development. A few successful ones do all these things.

Customer Development 242

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Steve Blank

JULY 27, 2009

It is a skill you need to either have or develop. King James Bible, New Testament – Matthew 7:7 Filed under: Marketing , Technology , Zilog | Tagged: Entrepreneurs , Steve Blank « The Road Not Taken He’s Only in Field Service » 20 Responses Mike Paciello , on July 27, 2009 at 8:54 am Said: Thanks Steve.

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 26, 2009

So no post today on entrepreneurship, Secret History of Silicon Valley, Customer Development, Lean Startups, etc. Reply gvb , on November 26, 2009 at 10:20 am Said: “Hopefully we won’t run into any wildlife bigger than us (other than our assortment of rattlesnakes, rabbits …).&#

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Steve Blank

APRIL 2, 2009

Since no benchmarks existed, we enlisted our engineering department in a serious software development effort and wrote our own. » 8 Responses Strategy versus Relentless Tactical Execution « Yet Another VC Blog , on April 2, 2009 at 6:19 am Said: [.]

Silicon Valley 124

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

This post describes how the traditional product development model distorts startup sales, marketing and business development. Finally, I’ll write about how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provided the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development.

Customer Development 215

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Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

I began to gain an appreciation of how world-class venture capitalists develop pattern recognition for these common types of problems. “Oh I was between my 7th and 8th and final startup; licking my wounds from Rocket Science, the company I had cratered as my first and last attempt as a startup CEO.

Silicon Valley 125

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Steve Blank

APRIL 30, 2009

Reply Bill Allred , on May 1, 2009 at 10:46 am Said: This is a really common pitfall. Reply Niall Smart , on May 2, 2009 at 12:20 am Said: Great story – your point about snazzy design vs. actual impact is still relevant in the context of spending money on outsourced web graphic design.

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Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

Market Risk vs. Invention Risk - Click to Enlarge For companies building web-based products, product development may be difficult, but with enough time and iteration engineering will eventually converge on a solution and ship a functional product - i t’s engineering, not invention. In these markets it’s all about invention risk.

Vertical 144

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Steve Blank

MARCH 25, 2009

Getting B-52s through the Soviet Air Defense System » 20 Responses brantcooper , on March 26, 2009 at 3:52 pm Said: Great story, Steve. Reply Dave Goulden , on March 26, 2009 at 11:04 pm Said: I love the redefinition of the market. Reply Knowtu » links for 2009-03-26 , on March 27, 2009 at 1:02 am Said: [.]

Silicon Valley 141

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Steve Blank

APRIL 27, 2009

So I started to read all I could find on the development of microwaves. A Stanford professor was at Harvard in World War II because the head of the Office of Scientific Research and Development thought Terman was the best radio engineer in the country. What Does WWII Have to Do with Silicon Valley? Just a quick history refresher.

Silicon Valley 180

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Steve Blank

MARCH 20, 2009

Would love to read that whole thing at one go… Reply Alvin , on March 21, 2009 at 7:02 pm Said: Great stuff! Reply steveblank , on March 23, 2009 at 12:11 am Said: Alvin, you can buy the book online at [link] They ship to the Philippines. I read all your posts today and can’t wait for the next one.

Silicon Valley 134

Silicon Valley Customer RSS Philippines 134

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

This post describes how companies using the Customer Development model can increase their credibility, valuation and probability of getting a first round of funding by presenting their results in a “Lesson Learned&# venture pitch. Is there a profitable business model? Can it scale?”

Customer Development 262

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Steve Blank

JULY 30, 2009

And other startups are in a New Market — creating a market from scratch (like Apple with the iPhone, or iPod/iTunes.) (“Market Type&# radically changes how you sell and market at each step in Customer Development. It’s one of the subtle distinctions that at times gets lost in the process.

Silicon Valley 131

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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. Stanford had a Customer Development loop going on inside their own lab. The labs basic research was done by graduate students or Ph.Ds

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

In future posts I’ll describe how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provided the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development. They never understood Market Type. Why does Market Type matter?

Customer Development 196

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 196

Steve Blank

MAY 1, 2009

The Customer Development talk can be seen here. Reply steveblank , on May 2, 2009 at 1:25 am Said: Your welcome. alancommike , on May 2, 2009 at 11:59 am Said: I’m glad the the presentation was recorded. That said I will be giving a Customer Development talk at TIECON , Saturday May 16th, 1:30 thanks for asking.

Customer Development 139

Customer Development Developer Silicon Valley Customer 139

Steve Blank

JUNE 3, 2010

If you’ve been reading my book on Customer Development and follow my work on Market Type , this type of innovation is best for adding new products to existing markets. In fact the people a large firm needs for this kind of innovation looks suspiciously like startup founders and the processes needed look like Customer Development.

Search 242

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

Graduation day with classmate Joseph Helton (right), killed in action in Iraq in 2009. I returned to the Air Force Academy as an instructor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, intent on spreading the gospel of Customer Development and Lean. Filed under: Air Force , Customer Development , Lean LaunchPad , Teaching.

Lean 262

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Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

This product development diagram had become part of the DNA of Silicon Valley. Reply A real time story start-up | Failed Screenwriter , on April 8, 2009 at 6:33 pm Said: [.] Reply Best books for the lean product managers — Justin Gibbs , on April 28, 2009 at 2:44 pm Said: [.]

Product Development 143

Product Development Developer Silicon Valley Product 143

Steve Blank

MAY 22, 2009

Reply steveblank , on May 22, 2009 at 2:39 pm Said: Morteza, The comments about “ignore this post&# were meant that if your sales channel is the web you rarely go to trade shows. Hope this helps steve Morteza Tatlari , on May 22, 2009 at 9:14 pm Said: Thanks Steve for your answer. Honestly, I didn’t get that!

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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.) Four Steps.

Customer Development 219

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 30, 2009

Customer Development is all about gathering a list of what features customers want by talking to them, surveying them, or running “focus groups.” Customer Development is about Testing the Founder’s Hypothesis Any idiot can get outside the building and ask customers what they want, compile a feature list and hand it to engineering.

Customer Development 278

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 278

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

This series of posts is a brief explanation of how we’ve evolved from Product Development to Customer Development to the Lean Startup. The Product Development Diagram Emerging early in the twentieth century, this product-centric model described a process that evolved in manufacturing industries.

Silicon Valley 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 29, 2015

The) first thing was I wanted to be a land developer because I wanted to be my own builder. What did I know about land development? He left EA in 2009 to start Vaporware Labs, a product incubator that mostly failed, but also created products including Commonred, which was acquired by Income.com in 2012.

Las Vegas 120

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

Martin , on November 9, 2009 at 6:41 am Said: Hmm… Not to get too meta here… But if the point of this post is to teach us how to distinguish motion from action (even partly), I didn’t get much help. Ernest Hemingway One of an entrepreneur’s greatest strengths is their relentless pursuit of a goal.

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