View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

Pre-launch customer development data is another way, sometimes in the form of user surveys for consumer companies or interviews with potential beta customers for B2B businesses. For consumer companies this is usually around user acquisition, engagement, and retention. B) Post-Product Companies.

Seed Stage 149

Seed Stage B2B Seed Capital Revenue 149

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

In an early-stage startup especially, revenue is not an important goal in and of itself. This may sound crazy, coming as it does from an advocate of c harging customers for your product from day one. Let’s start with a simple question: why do early-stage startups want revenue? But all things are never equal.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

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. We spoke with the head of innovation at one Fortune 500 company who told us his only metric for early-stage innovation is “how many assumptions have you tested this week?”

Analytics 167

Analytics Lean Widget Metrics 167

www.ashmaurya.com

AUGUST 29, 2012

Running through the complete process in the early stages makes you much more efficient in later stages as you get a feel for the industry and have warm introductions. It is very common for my insight into a market to improve as I do customer development. Use FollowerWonk to get a feel for their followers.

Email 52

Email Customer Tennessee Software Review 52

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

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. It bears repeating: an early-stage startup must focus on making one customer group excited by a mission-aligned product.

Product 436

Product Viral Channel San Francisco 436

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 16, 2009

Customer Development There was nothing wrong about Rocket Science having a vision radically different than the conventional wisdom. Customer Development says having a vision, faith and a set of hypotheses are a normal part of the startup experience. Quick acquisition by a Sega or EA I suppose. Make sure they are.

Silicon Valley 207

Silicon Valley RSS Video San Diego 207

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

1) It all starts from the Growth Hacking Funnel - in the early stages, startups should not just focus on top/bottom line metric like unique users and revenue. They should understand the different states of the user (Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue) and focus on moving users from one state to the next.

API 167

API Viral Startup Retention 167

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. This was actually a great piece of advice, because ideas change and evolve in the early stages of the startup, it’s about the other person not the idea as much.

Cofounder 47

Cofounder Technical Review San Francisco Founder 47

Steve Blank

JANUARY 21, 2010

Yet at their early stages, they are not small versions of larger established companies. Looking at the abrupt change in skills needed in the transition from Customer Development to a mission-centric organization to process-driven growth and execution, it’s tempting for a board to say: Maybe it’s time to get more experienced executives.

Agile 120

Agile Development Team Review Leadership Merger 120

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

When it comes to early stage investing – it’s all gut. Does it make sense to spend this time speaking about your early stage start-up when your product has not even entered Alpha testing? Only if you’re doing it with the intention to learn about the market and customers. Acquisition / Lifetime Value, etc.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

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?" Building a scalable, profitable, customer acquisition engine.

Developer 42

Developer Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder 42

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. So for this first post, here’s the best advice I can give you: join an awesome founding team and get your product out the door ASAP. Andrew Holt I love these kinds of articles.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

VC Cafe covers early stage Israeli and European tech & mobile startups. Steve Blank on Lean Customer Development. great web customer acquisition tutorials. Customer Development. It used to be hard to find information about early stage startups. VC & Startup Resources.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53