Steve Blank

DECEMBER 11, 2020

I’m not going to talk about reforming the acquisition process, which many of your class speakers have mentioned and does need to get done. Mid-term, Limited Use of Force: The year is 2025, Taiwan has yet to budge on the sale of microchips. Three Solutions. Doing that is like turning an aircraft carrier.

Technical Review 322

Technical Review Taiwan Technology Design 322

Steve Blank

MAY 11, 2021

Instead, their solutions must still compete for funding in a formal budgeting and acquisition process before being eligible for widespread adoption. Investors are also likely to express impatience with the long timelines of defense sales. If confirmed, Brown could accelerate much needed reforms to military acquisition processes.

Artificial Inteligence 326

Artificial Inteligence Marketing Startup Silicon Valley 326

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2011

more likely to successfully scale with sales driven startups than with product centric startups. We found 4 different major groups of startups that all have very different behavior regarding customer acquisition, time, product, market and team. Solo founders take 3.6x less likely to pivot. Business-heavy founding teams are 6.2x

Technical Cofounder 333

Technical Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 333

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

After 20 years of working in startups, I decided to take a step back and look at the product development model I had been following and see why it usually failed to provide useful guidance in activities outside the building – sales, marketing and business development. So what’s wrong the product development model?

Customer Development 238

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

billion for a company with less than $50 million in sales. Tech acquisitions went crazy at the same time the IPO market did. The Rise of Mergers and Acquisitions -– March 2003 -2008 After the dot.com bubble collapsed, the IPO market (and most tech M&A deals) shutdown for technology companies. billion.) So what’s left?

Silicon Valley 217

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2016

If you think the job of a CEO is to increase sales, then Ballmer did a spectacular job. He tripled Microsoft’s sales to $78 billion and profits more than doubled from $9 billion to $22 billion. The launch of the Xbox and Kinect, and the acquisitions of Skype and Yammer happened on his shift.

Azure 120

Azure Business Model Cloud Artificial Inteligence 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2016

If you think the job of a CEO is to increase sales, then Ballmer did a spectacular job. He tripled Microsoft’s sales to $78 billion and profits more than doubled from $9 billion to $22 billion. The launch of the Xbox and Kinect, and the acquisitions of Skype and Yammer happened on his shift.

Azure 120

Azure Business Model Cloud Artificial Inteligence 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 25, 2009

We knew from back-of-the-envelope calculations that I would need 3 times the combined marketing and sales budgets of the incumbents for a head-on assault. (I The 3:1 Lanchester Laws said I would need $60M in marketing and sales spending to win. You need to hire the right type of sales people for the type of [.]

Silicon Valley 141

Silicon Valley Marketing RSS California 141

Steve Blank

APRIL 8, 2010

They collected information that justified their assumptions about the problem, opportunity, market size, their solution and competitors and the their team, They rolled up a 5-year sales forecast with assumptions about their revenue model, pricing, sales, marketing, customer acquisition cost, etc.

Business Model 328

Business Model Business Plan Customer Cap Table 328

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

For web startups, this is when the cost of customer acquisition is less than the lifetime value of that customer. For example, at a minimum, a web based startup needs to understand the Customer Lifecycle, Customer Acquisition Cost, Marketing Cost, Viral Coefficient, Customer Lifetime Value, etc. Customer Acquisition.

Balance Sheet 298

Balance Sheet Startup Burn Rate Metrics 298

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 31, 2014

channel partners and Chinese manufacturers and customer acquisition and activation programs outside their home country. to understand distribution channel landscape, potential partners and rough cost of customer acquisition. sales office. This meant they would need U.S. Trip 2 to the U.S. Test product/market fit in the U.S.

Global 335

Global Australia Silicon Valley China 335

Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

The implications for entrepreneurs is that each of these (market risk versus invention risk,) require radically different financing models, a different type of venture investor, different timing for hiring sales and marketing, etc. Personally, I think that customer acquisition, brand, reputation, etc.,

Vertical 144

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 144

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 11, 2014

Most companies incrementally improved their products with process innovation (better materials, cheaper, product line extensions) and/or through acquisitions. They had direct interaction with customers and controlled a sales channel which allowed them to negotiate their own deals with customers. Lessons Learned.

Channel 286

Channel Customer Development Distribution Restful 286

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

You’ll realize you’re ready to exit the Search step when you have customer validation: You’ve found a sales channel that matches how the customer wants to buy and the costs of using that channel are understood. writing the HR manual, sales comp plan, expense reports, branding guidelines, etc.). Most startups die here.

Startup 120

Startup Lean Venture Capital Advisory Board 120

Steve Blank

JULY 15, 2010

The size of the red bars (IPO’s) versus blue (mergers and acquisitions) illustrates that while venture-backed startups did get acquired, the IPO market was booming. But unlike an IPO where you sold stock to the public and got to run your company, in an acquisition your company is gone, and the odds are in a year or so you will be too.

Venture Capital 297

Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 297

Steve Blank

MARCH 4, 2014

Sales teams are commission-based, executive compensation is based on EPS, revenue and margin, business units on revenue and margin contribution, etc. One of the least obvious but most important HR Process, and ultimately the most contentious, issue in corporate innovation is the difference in incentives. What Does this Mean?

IRR 335

IRR Startup Business Model Agile 335

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 2, 2013

And they discovered that: device makers were spending $500-$800 in Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) to acquire a customer. They found out that the device makers sales and marketing teams were both spending money to acquire customers. ($500 per sales rep per device + $800 marketing discounts offered to competitors’ customers.).

Customer 323

Customer Churn Rate Customer Development Lean 323

Steve Blank

APRIL 15, 2011

Many of the students had heard phrases that fall under Customer Relationships before; “customer acquisition, SEO/SEM, public relations, Social Network, Advertising, Loyalty programs, cross-sell and up-sell” etc., But the big project for the week was testing and analyzing Customer Acquisition Costs. The results were disappointing.

Customer 247

Customer Cloud EC2 Channel 247

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 3, 2012

In turn, these new strategies drove the need for companies to be structured around functions (manufacturing, purchasing, sales, etc.). In the 1920’s companies restructured from monolithic functional organizations (sales, marketing, manufacturing, purchasing, etc.) This might include new products, markets or acquisitions.

Business Model 333

Business Model Customer Development United States Operations 333

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2019

The hard part in a company is not getting a demo or setting up an internal accelerator, it’s getting something delivered all the way through your existing sales channel. What does it take to get from that demo into your engineering group, to be delivered as a product into your existing sales channel?

Incubator 331

Incubator Lean Programming Government 331

Steve Blank

APRIL 13, 2013

Car sales in China went from 1 million in 2001 to 14 million in 2011. there are almost no mergers or acquisitions in this market segment. on NASDAQ or the NYSE or on ChiNext, China’s equivalent of NASDAQ) compared to the 90% of exits in US via mergers or acquisitions. In the U.S. Unlike the U.S.

Silicon Valley 267

Silicon Valley China Venture Capital Merger 267

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Market Type affects your spending and sales ramp after you reach product/market fit. Dave McClure’s AARRR metrics and Andrew Chen ‘s specifics on freemium models, viral marketing, user acquisition and engagement both offer examples of exit criteria for Customer Discovery and Validation for startups on the web. Does this help?

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

This required a repeatable and scalable sales process, which required a professional sales staff and a product stable enough that customers wouldn’t return it. This often is a way for founders and early employees to turn some of their stock into cash before an IPO or sale of company. Hire a CEO to Go Public.

Founder 245

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245

Steve Blank

APRIL 7, 2016

” They said, “It’s OK, I’m going to buy it once it’s for sale so I’ll be your first customer.” Steve : So while raising money, you were running a branding and a customer-acquisition campaign. . … They put their credit card in and paid for the app. We’ll refund the money.”

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Entrepreneur Morocco Arkansas 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 1, 2020

Sales pipeline/forecast. I listened in on a board call with an enterprise software company this week, and when the CEO said, “Our VP of sales assured me our pipeline won’t be affected.” How can you shift focus to customer retention versus acquisition? Internal Assessment. Operating Numbers.

South Korea 333

South Korea Salary Business Model China 333

Steve Blank

APRIL 13, 2013

Car sales in China went from 1 million in 2001 to 14 million in 2011. there are almost no mergers or acquisitions in this market segment. on NASDAQ or the NYSE or on ChiNext, China’s equivalent of NASDAQ) compared to the 90% of exits in US via mergers or acquisitions. In the U.S. Unlike the U.S.

Silicon Valley 159

Silicon Valley China Venture Capital Merger 159

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 figured out the revenue model (subscription, license, direct sale, etc.) Bob looked wistful, “Our founders built a company known for taking risks and moving fast. and how to price the product.

Widget 120

Widget Lean Business Model Metrics 120

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

What are your hypotheses around customer acquisition costs? General Marketing, Sales Funnel, etc. Actually engage in “search engine marketing” (SEM)spend $20 as a team to test customer acquisition cost. B-to-B versus B-to-C channels and sales (business to business versus business to consumer). Multi-sided markets.

Wiki 311

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 311

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

Requirement writers and acquisition folks look at systems integration across the battlefield system, while contracting officers, yet another segment, will count beans , measure the degree of competition and assess the quality of market research involved. They will articulate pains in terms of size, weight, form fit, complexity and durability.

Business Model 120

Business Model Revenue Channel Community 120

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2010

But scaling customer acquisition may take the same amount of dollars as a traditional software startup. ). Previous experience of investing in software companies that hire direct sales organizations and take years to build the product using waterfall development doesn’t translate to expertise in Consumer Internet startups.

Lean 258

Lean Internet Silicon Valley Venture Capital 258

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

The key contributors to an out-of-control burn rate is 1) hiring a sales force too early, 2) turning on the demand creation activities too early, 3) developing something other than the minimum feature set for first customer ship. These are great, but they are not repeatable by a sales organization. Who influences a sale?

Lean 244

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2021

In the Roku case study we’ve chosen three execution branches: (1) delivery platforms, (2) sales channels, and (3) chip platforms. Sales channels. Sales channels are the paths through which your product lands in customers’ hands. Some sales channels may behave similarly; more often than not, they each pose unique challenges.

Product 436

Product Viral Channel San Francisco 436

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

For a Series A round you want to prove you have built a repeatable and scalable sales/revenue model and understand all parts of the business model. You need to begin to “instrument” your customer acquisition process with analytics. Series B is about proving your net revenue model (can you be profitable?). 2M in 18 months.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

Steve Blank

JANUARY 21, 2010

The good news is this team found a business model, product/market fit and a repeatable sales model. What lies ahead, however, is a different set of challenges: finding the new set of mainstream customers on the other side of the chasm and managing the sales growth curve. Take the Money and Let Someone Else Sort it Out.

Agile 120

Agile Development Team Review Leadership Merger 120

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 8, 2015

Acquiring a growth-stage private startup can provide a faster ROI at lower risk than the acquisition of an early- stage startup. For example, Google’s acquisition of Nest (which had customers, revenue and a distribution channel) allowed it to enter the connected home market immediately.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Acquisition Boston Early Stage 120

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.). Great founding CEO’s live for these moments. FIgure out who you are.

Cofounder 335

Cofounder Advisory Board Customer Development Leadership 335

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2013

Thousands, then millions of new customers were coming to the site through SEO, just like we’d guessed with our customer acquisition hypothesis. Once we built out a sales team, revenue also started to grow nicely. Our assumptions about cost also proved correct—we were entering new markets incredibly cheaply.

Lean 293

Lean Agile Customer Development SEO 293