Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 11, 2014

Most companies incrementally improved their products with process innovation (better materials, cheaper, product line extensions) and/or through acquisitions. Skunk works differed from advanced research groups in that they were more than just product development groups. Skunk works looked much like a startup.

Channel 286

Channel Customer Development Distribution Restful 286

Steve Blank

JANUARY 14, 2014

A pivot may mean you changed your customer segment, your channel, revenue model/pricing, resources, activities, costs, partners, customer acquisition – lots of other things than just the product. Filed under: Business Model versus Business Plan , Customer Development.

Business Model 330

Business Model Lean Customer Development Channel 330

Duct Tape Marketing

AUGUST 29, 2014

Channels Report. Another useful report is Channels (Acquisition > Channels) with the “Mobile Traffic” segment applied. Within the Channels report, you apply the segment named “Mobile Traffic” by clicking “+Add Segment” at the top right corner of the report.

Analytics 65

Analytics Mobile Channel Conversion 65

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know I believe that: 1) a product is just a part of a startup, but understanding customers, channel, pricing, etc. are what make it a business, 2) business plans are fine for large companies where there is an existing market, existing product and existing customers.

Wiki 311

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 311

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

You are ready to expand when: You know the lifetime value of your customer and the cost of acquiring a new customer. Your business model isn’t repetitive – that is, you do not have only one channel of customer acquisition. By customer development. Build Products Without Considering the Market.

Startup 115

Startup Acquisition Business Model Finance 115

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

is an elegant way to model any service-oriented business: Acquisition Activation Retention Referral Revenue We used a very similar scheme at IMVU, although we werent lucky enough to have started with this framework, and so had to derive a lot of it ourselves via trial and error. The AARRR model (hence pirates, get it?)

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

As a founder you are testing a series of hypotheses about all the pieces of the business model: Who are the customers/users? What’s the distribution channel? An early indication that you’ve found the right business model is when you believe the cost of getting customers will be less than the revenues the customers will generate.

Balance Sheet 298

Balance Sheet Startup Burn Rate Metrics 298

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

As a formal method, the Lean Startup consists of three parts: The Business Model Canvas – to frame hypotheses, Customer Development – to test those hypotheses in front of customers, and Agile Engineering – to build Minimum Viable Products to maximize learning. Customer Segments is changed to Beneficiaries.

Business Model 120

Business Model Revenue Channel Community 120

Steve Blank

JANUARY 26, 2016

All while we’re still writing a Request for a Proposal from within the US Government procurement and acquisition channels. These acquisition and procurement “silos” of excellence are virtually impenetrable by new ideas and requirements. We’re Our Own Worst Enemy. Efficiently Being Inefficient.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley North Korea Agile Lean 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2010

None of the students were domain experts in their areas, and each team had to figure out how to contact potential customers and channel partners. Yet every team did figure out how to conduct extensive out of building Customer Discovery. (By By design we didn’t give them too much Customer Development theory.

Intellectual Property 226

Intellectual Property Business Model Customer Development Distribution 226

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

We never seek any rights to give Amex preferential treatment at the time of a potential acquisition. There is a possibility that Amex may explore acquisitions within the Amex Ventures portfolio, but those discussions will be on market terms similar to those with other potential acquirers.”. Can the founders communicate well?

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Technical Review Portfolio 60

Steve Blank

MARCH 4, 2014

These groups are adapting or adopting the practices of startups and accelerators – disruption and innovation rather than direct competition, customer development versus more product features, agility and speed versus lowest cost. existing enterprises are establishing corporate innovation groups.

IRR 335

IRR Startup Business Model Agile 335

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2015

And when we do make bets, they’re small bets on incremental products or acquisitions that simply add to the bottom line.”. They’ve found product/market fit (what products customers want to buy). They’ve learned the best distribution channel to get the product from their company to the customer.

Widget 120

Widget Lean Business Model Metrics 120

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2010

Most of the social and mobile channels (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, iPhone, Android) have emerged in just the past 3-5 years. But scaling customer acquisition may take the same amount of dollars as a traditional software startup. ). Lean VC’s are expert in on-line distribution, Agile and Customer Development.

Lean 258

Lean Internet Silicon Valley Venture Capital 258

Steve Blank

APRIL 7, 2016

When your customers are grabbing your Minimal Viable Product out of your hands, it’s time to launch the product. The radio show airs on SiriusXM Channel 111 (weekly Thursdays at 1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern). Steve : So while raising money, you were running a branding and a customer-acquisition campaign.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Entrepreneur Morocco Arkansas 120

A Crowded Space

AUGUST 20, 2015

They will need to do tons of customer development. The sales and marketing channels will be complete guesses - trying lots of different things to see what works. Once the product / market fit is established and acquisition channels are better understood, the startup can enter the next phase.

Vertical 60

Vertical Channel Acquisition Metrics 60

Seeing Both Sides

JULY 11, 2013

Before this occurs, the sales process is a craft or an art - custom-made by the founder or evangelist sales VP. You dive deep into a customer development process, working closely with a few customers who feed you requirements and are willing to trial an imperfect product that is evolving quickly. 1) Enterprise Sales.

Sales 50

Sales Technical Review Software Review B2B 50

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Instead, each potential customer has to go through a self-serve process of signing up and paying money. Because they have no presence in the market, they have to find distribution channels to bring in customers. But in the meantime, by iterating on their product with customers, they have a chance to get there on their own.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

www.ashmaurya.com

AUGUST 29, 2012

There are many channels that can produce your first early customers and contacts, but the one I see most often is cold email. You can use this pitch to get more followers, or you can build your value proposition around a productized consulting offer (SEO analysis, customer acquisition, etc.).

Email 52

Email Customer Tennessee Software Review 52

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2021

Shawn immediately said the name I had given the four steps was confusing – I had called it market development – he suggested that I call it Customer Development – and the name stuck. In the Roku case study we’ve chosen three execution branches: (1) delivery platforms, (2) sales channels, and (3) chip platforms.

Product 436

Product Viral Channel San Francisco 436

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 23, 2013

LSC: Tell us about the customer development you did for your book: Alistair: We''ve been thrilled at how Lean Analytics seemed to resonate with founders. The dominant channel by which we reach customers is the Internet, whether you''re a small local restaurant on Yelp or a global maker of tissue paper.

Analytics 167

Analytics Lean Widget Metrics 167

The Startup Toolkit

NOVEMBER 15, 2012

Growth is acquisition plus retention. Or, in canvas terms, channel plus relationship. Acquisition and retention tend to be inseparable from the product. You shift from qualitative feedback (customer development) to quantitative feedback (metrics). Cost of acquisition vs. lifetime value.

Startup 55

Startup Business Model Retention Acquisition 55

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

For those of you who have been following the discussion, a Lean Startup is Eric Ries ’s description of the intersection of Customer Development , Agile Development and if available, open platforms and open source. The Customer Development process (and the Lean Startup) is one way to do that.

Lean 244

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 7, 2008

The App Store is a channel for customer acquisition. As the channel gets more and more crowded, just launching an app in the store is getting worse and worse as a strategy for each new entrant. I think its helpful to think about two kinds of competition for distribution: acquisition competition and retention competition.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Retention SEM 68

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 15, 2017

Incorporate the value of referrals, the lifetime customer spend, the market insights, and the marketing support that you receive from them. Invest more of your marketing dollars in the channels and messages that were the source of your superusers. Target your marketing funds. Refine your onboarding sequence.

Community 124

Community LLC Customer Developer 124

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020

Dave McClure’s conversion metrics visualize where different conversion optimization opportunities lie—including those for acquisition. Acquisition focuses on how to grab attention in a very crowded content environment. This feedback can improve your acquisition strategies , your value proposition , and your processes on every level.

Acquisition 111

Acquisition Software Review PPC Analytics 111

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

He wanted to build direct customer relationships to get product feedback but only 2% of customers would ever return their registration cards. So when he saw the browser it instantly dawned on him that this would be the greatest customer development tool ever. The Wedding Channel. Shopping.com. Commission Junction.

Product 350

Product Tuvalu Dilution Incubator 350

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

On Sean’s GrowthHackers.com , categories include… So, essentially everything from customer development and onboarding to persuasion and social marketing fall under the umbrella of growth hacking. Peep Laja , ConversionXL : “I see growth hacking as traffic acquisition + conversion optimization.”

Retention 48

Retention Metrics Acquisition Conversion 48

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

Teams use the Lean Startup toolkit: the Business Model Canvas + Customer Development process + Agile Engineering. These three tools allow startups to focus on the parts of an early stage venture that matter the most: the product, product/market fit, customer acquisition, revenue and cost model, channels and partners.

Oakland 326

Oakland Incubator Lean Metrics 326

Steve Blank

JULY 29, 2013

Its goal is to take the original idea and search for a repeatable and scalable business model - first by finding product/market fit, then by testing all the parts of the business model (pricing, channel, acquisition/activation, partners, costs, etc.). Filed under: Customer Development , Family/Career/Culture.

Cofounder 335

Cofounder Advisory Board Customer Development Leadership 335

Steve Blank

JULY 16, 2009

Steve I have to tell you some bad news, I just showed our potential channel partners and customers a few completed pieces of the games we had. Customer Development There was nothing wrong about Rocket Science having a vision radically different than the conventional wisdom. Quick acquisition by a Sega or EA I suppose.

Silicon Valley 207

Silicon Valley RSS Video San Diego 207

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

They should understand the different states of the user (Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue) and focus on moving users from one state to the next. In a nutshell: Acquisition - Get people to hear about your product from press, blogs and social channels. First Steps in Growth Hacking for Startups.

API 167

API Viral Startup Retention 167

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 14, 2009

Each of these four currencies represents a way for a customer to “pay&# for services from a company. A great product enables customers, developers, partners, and even competitors to exchange their unique currencies in combinations that lead to financial success for the company that organizes them.

Customer 156

Customer San Francisco Viral Lean 156

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 24, 2009

This starts a downward spiral: as more and more apps become indistinguishable, they send out more and more notifications, which leads to increasing fatigue on the part of customers. As notification channels get stuffed full of these messages, customers tune them out (or platforms have to put in place dramatic limits on access).

Metrics 88

Metrics San Francisco Lean Viral 88

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

Those were the messages from the two latest guests on Entrepreneurs are Everywhere , my radio show on Sirius XM Channel 111. Clips from their interviews are below, but first a word about the show: Entrepreneurs are Everywhere airs Thursdays at 1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern on Sirius XM Channel 111. Giving help and getting help.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Cofounder Investment Bankers 120

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

They have many, many man-years of development and customer development in them. Patrick: You can channel Cathy Sierra on this and say that the users, you become a Meeting King. Is there a repeatable advertising channel that’s going to get you people? Edwin: There are a million others. That sounds awesome.

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 20, 2012

In both physical and Web/mobile channels, earlyvangelists display these common characteristics: They have a problem or need. We now know this results in wasted engineering effort, time and cash, as customers don’t use, want or need most of the features developed without their input. They understand they have a problem.

Customer 119

Customer Advisory Board Engineer Cofounder 119