Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

The companies I spoke to all agreed that the community there was extremely supportive, especially in the critical ulta-early-stage. As a result, the companies get a lot of exposure to VCs, investors, and partners in larger, more traditional startup hubs. Then, create an encouraging environment for early-stage companies.

San Francisco 113

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Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 30, 2009

A discounted price is available for early stage entrepreneurs and students. In 2002 I became exposed to the idea of “agile software development&# and subsequently was a first round investor in Rally Software which is now the market leader in Agile application lifecycle management software.

Lean 68

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 68

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? Employ customer development.

Silicon Valley 212

Silicon Valley RSS Vertical California 212

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 139

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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. For a small company this is like throwing your tradeshow money on the floor. Look for locations near entrances, food concessions, rest rooms, seminar rooms, or close to major exhibitors.

Silicon Valley 178

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 178

Steve Blank

JUNE 22, 2009

Hewlett’s partner Dave Packard wanted to get into the computer business.) Reply Sujoy Neogi , on August 14, 2010 at 10:12 pm Said: Good one, but i feel you need to listen to Steve Blank more if you are a startup. ?domiausias Reply Hans , on June 15, 2010 at 4:40 pm Said: Excellent observation.

Silicon Valley 164

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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.

Equity 72

Equity Founder Technical Cofounder Cofounder 72

Steve Blank

JULY 2, 2009

The CDROM content business in the early 1990’s was one of the many of the long line of venture capital fads. Sure when clumped together they perform worse than some other asset classes (Fred Wilson made a good post on this: [link] The performance of a limited partner’s investment is clearly a product of the team of VCs you invest in.

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.

Silicon Valley 207

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Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2009

Which at this stage of the company was marketing and financing. 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.

Silicon Valley 122

Silicon Valley Product RSS California 122

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? This is the usual reason given for a marketing launch, but for most early stage startups, its a failure. Establish credibility with potential partners.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

" => I have not bothered to put up a landing page, survey to test customer demand, or done any customer development whatsoever. "Where is the best place to find a rockstar developer to bring it to life?" 24 Comments • Nov 8, 2010 I love this answer. Yishan Wong • Nov 8, 2010 lol.if

Developer 42

Developer Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder 42

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

Also, make a bullet list of the marketing activities that will drive customers to your door. List key partners and resources you will need, and then list your core team as well as their roles. Also, make a bullet list of the marketing activities that will drive customers to your door. The importance of a domain name.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Up and Running

DECEMBER 6, 2012

In 2010, Alex Osterwalder published his book, Business Model Generation , where he created a framework for what Tim called “business identity.” ” Blank’s main innovation here is what he calls Customer Development, which is a methodology for learning and validating market needs through detailed customer communication and follow up.

Lean 147

Lean Silicon Valley Forecast Technical Review 147

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

One of the things I do as a founder of a later stage startup is to meet with early stage entrepreneurs to help them get their companies going. In Meebo’s case, for example, I was lucky enough to partner up with Elaine and Sandy. No looking for partnerships (who’s going to partner with you anyway?). Partner up?

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 8, 2009

Law firm partners often have anger management issues, but the thing about anger is that it is not always wrong to be angry — if somebody is angry at you because you did something wrong, then that anger is valid. Customer development isn’t just for [.] understands and groks Customer Development.

Silicon Valley 271

Silicon Valley RSS Customer Development California 271

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

14 Comments • Nov 15, 2010 +1 for use of Platonic. D Craig Montuori • Nov 15, 2010 My original comment (asked as an answer): Well written, good points. Anon User • Nov 15, 2010 Ryan another thing you can do if you like is to vote up this answer, which will also show your endorsement of it.

Technical Review 51

Technical Review Startup CTO Hire Cofounder 51

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

VC Cafe covers early stage Israeli and European tech & mobile startups. Steve Blank on Lean Customer Development. Mark Suster GRP Partners Advice. Seed Stage Valuation Guide. Philippe Botteri, Bessemer Venture Partners. Venture Capital Cafe > Startup Resources (Updated Mar 2013). Codeacademy.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53