Steve Blank

MAY 6, 2015

Best practices in software development started to move to agile development in the early 2000’s. With Agile you could end up satisfying every feature a customer asked for and still go out of business. Learning could be about product features, customer needs, the right pricing and distribution channel, etc.)

Lean 120

Lean Agile Business Model Customer Development 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 26, 2019

The class was unique in that it was 1) team-based, 2) experiential, 3) lean-driven (hypothesis testing/business model/customer development/agile engineering). When we started this class, the concept of Lean (business models, customer development, agile, pivots, mvp’s) was new to everyone.

Lean 248

Lean Business Model Balance Sheet Video 248

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2016

If the Microsoft board was managing for quarter to quarter or even year to year revenue growth, Ballmer was as good as it gets as a CEO. Services (Cloud, ads, music) have a very different business model. Microsoft executed its 20 th -century business model extremely well, but it missed the new and more important ones.

Azure 120

Azure Business Model Cloud Artificial Inteligence 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2016

If the Microsoft board was managing for quarter to quarter or even year to year revenue growth, Ballmer was as good as it gets as a CEO. Services (Cloud, ads, music) have a very different business model. Microsoft executed its 20 th -century business model extremely well, but it missed the new and more important ones.

Azure 120

Azure Business Model Cloud Artificial Inteligence 120

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2015

Big-bang hard launches make sense for large enterprises like Apple or Microsoft, who are building on existing revenue streams and have the resources for lavish events, Superbowl ads and large inventory buildups. Small real revenue today is better than large later projections. Maximum agility for required pivots.

Hockey Stick 120

Hockey Stick Startup Stealth Agile 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

— Unremarked and unheralded, the balance of power between startup CEOs and their investors has radically changed: IPOs/M&A without a profit (or at times revenue) have become the norm. Typically, this caliber of bankers wouldn’t talk to you unless your company had five profitable quarters of increasing revenue. Board Control.

Founder 245

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

When the product and channel are bits, adoption by 10’s and 100’s of millions and even billions of users can happen in years versus decades. Continuous innovation requires the imagination and courage to challenge the initial hypotheses of your current business model (channel, cost, customers, products, supply chain, etc.)

Restful 222

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 222

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 8, 2023

As for Metaverse — businesses should keep an eye on it as it is not clear yet whether this is hype or a trend. million people and generate monthly revenue. In the meantime, influencers can increase brand awareness for your business by publishing a review of your product on social media.

eCommerce 185

eCommerce Technical Review Software Review Analytics 185

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2023

To achieve success in your business despite today’s volatile global markets , you and your team must have a mindset that goes beyond the traditional strategies of repeatable processes and lower costs. Measure progress through metrics on sales, revenue, and penetration. Look for every opportunity to scale the business.

Agile 229

Agile Leadership Global Distribution 229

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 30, 2020

Revenue is the lifeblood of your tech startup. But too many startup tech entrepreneurs focus on a single revenue stream—a primary source of income that will exclusively sustain the business. This model won’t necessarily doom your startup to failure. Why Are Multiple Revenue Streams So Valuable?

Revenue 127

Revenue Startup Affiliate Advertising 127

Steve Blank

MARCH 8, 2011

It was designed to bring together many of the new approaches to building a successful startup – customer development, agile development, business model generation and pivots. We were positing that 20 years of teaching “how to write a business plan” might be obsolete. This post is part one.

Lean 298

Lean Business Model Customer Development Guinea 298

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

Alexander Osterwalder and I spent last week in Salt Lake City, Utah as judges at the 2 nd Annual International Business Model Competition , hosted by Professor Nathan Furr , and his team at the BYU Center for Entrepreneurship. In an existing corporation, the business plan is the execution document for sustaining innovation.

Business Model 263

Business Model Customer Development Utah Business Plan 263

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

As we prepared for the new Hacking for Defense class at Stanford, we had to stop and ask ourselves: How do we use the Business Model Canvas if the primary goal is not to earn money, but to fulfill a mission? In other words, how can we adapt the Business Model Canvas when the metrics of success for an organization is not revenue?

Business Model 120

Business Model Revenue Channel Community 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Just look at the disruptive challenges that businesses face today– globalization, China as a manufacturer, China as a consumer, the Internet, and a steady stream of new startups. Companies horde cash and squeeze the most revenue and margin from the money they use. Their lifetime as a market leader will be measured in years.

Private Equity 325

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 325

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. Every large company, whether it can articulate it or not, is executing a proven business model (s).

IRR 335

IRR Startup Business Model Agile 335

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 14, 2017

Your revenues are declining or you don’t have any revenue at all! Revenues don’t appear overnight; even the greatest success stories had to work hard to start getting traction and growth. Yet if revenues start to decline, or after a few months customers are still leaving you for other solutions, then you may have an issue.

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Architecture Revenue Channel 157

Steve Blank

APRIL 7, 2020

The classes are built on the Lean Startup methodology: Customer Discovery, Agile Engineering and the Business/Mission Model Canvas. Finally to have a better chance of a viable enterprise, they need to test all the other hypotheses in their business/mission model (pricing, demand creation, revenue, costs, etc.).

Customer 413

Customer Business Model Restful Video 413

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

Business schools teach aspiring executives a variety of courses around the execution of known business models, (accounting, organizational behavior, managerial skills, marketing, operations, etc.). In contrast, startups search for a business model. (Or to optimize this search. to optimize this search.

Wiki 311

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 311

Hearpreneur

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

Tesla Tesla invented a successful business model for bringing compelling electric cars to the market. Mindbody is a shining example of a business that used innovation and quick thinking to turn negative circumstances into an incredible new revenue stream. For me, it's a live example of agile and sustainable business.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Entrepreneur Software Review SEO 120

Steve Blank

JANUARY 25, 2010

In this post we’re going to offer a new definition of why startups exist : a startup is an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. A Business Model. Ok, but what is a business model ? A business model describes how your company creates, delivers and captures value.

Agile 335

Agile Startup Silicon Valley Business Model 335

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, September 22, 2008 The three drivers of growth for your business model. The AARRR model (hence pirates, get it?) He also has a discussion of how your choice of business model determines which of these metric areas you want to focus on. Choose one.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

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. To begin with, the product development model completely ignores a fundamental truth about startups and new products.

Customer Development 238

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

Occam's Razor

MAY 2, 2017

There are great starting points, but there is an assumption that based on your expertise and business knowledge that you’ll be able to personalize these. The challenge I want to take on is to be specific in the recommendations make, and to share how we can be very nimble and agile. Every ecommerce site has to obsess about Revenue.

Metrics 141

Metrics Acquisition eCommerce Analytics 141

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

For decades startups were managed by pretending the company would follow a predictable path (revenue plan, scale, etc.) The Revenue Plan – The Third Fatal Assumption. Notice that the traditional product introduction model leads to a product launch and the execution of a revenue plan. that make up a business model.

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Management Business Model Customer Development 247

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Validated learning about customers Would you rather have $30,000 or $1 million in revenues for your startup? All things being equal, of course, you’d rather have more revenue rather than less. And yet revenue alone is not a sufficient goal. More on that in a moment.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

Teams can prove their competence and validate their ideas by showing investors evidence that there’s a repeatable and scalable business model. A Lean Startup methodology offers entrepreneurs a framework to focus on what’s important: Business Model Discovery. We focus on evidence and trajectory across the business model.

Oakland 326

Oakland Incubator Lean Metrics 326

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2015

More agile competitors are starting to eat into our business. I suggested the best place to start the conversation is with the 21 st century definition of a startup: A startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. How can we restart our innovation culture?”.

Widget 120

Widget Lean Business Model Metrics 120

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

In fact, SaaS industry revenue is projected to grow from $49 billion in 2015 to $67 billion in 2018, a compound annual growth rate of approximately eight percent. The one-page pitch format is also more suitable for SaaS businesses that are constantly testing new ideas. The business model. Do it yourself.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2012

Tossing their agile development process and at times their entire business model in the air, the company would go into fire-drill mode and engineering would start working on whatever his latest insight was. ” “A pivot is a substantive change to one or more of components to your business model.

Founder 316

Founder Cofounder Advisory Board Burn Rate 316

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

When it was spun out as a a separate company, Iridium’s 1990 business plan had assumptions about potential customers, their problems and the product needed to solve that problem. They made other assumptions about the type of sales channel, partnerships and revenue model they would need. Lessons Learned.

Business Plan 335

Business Plan Customer Business Model Customer Development 335

Steve Blank

APRIL 30, 2009

SuperMac sold our graphic boards for the Macintosh through multiple distribution channels: direct sales to major accounts, national chains, independent rep firms, etc. But the computer retail channel was a large part of our sales. Hopefully you and your co-founders are experts in one or two parts (agile development, SEO/SEM, etc.)

Sales 120

Sales Silicon Valley RSS Las Vegas 120

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 20, 2013

Part 6: Distribution channels in Life Sciences. Part 7: Revenue Streams in Life Sciences. The Knox team was a great mix of hands-on device engineers and business development. Knox was relentless about understanding whether their device was a business or whether it was technology in search of a market.

Lean 241

Lean Customer Development IP Agile 241

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

In fact, by the start of class they had ~$750K in revenue for 2011 – not quite Facebook but a nice small business. The question was: Could we get these companies to pivot and learn when they already thought they had an existing business model?). But Jon had much bigger ambitions.

North America 120

North America Lean Customer Development Distribution 120

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, December 14, 2009 Business ecology and the four customer currencies Lately, I’ve been rethinking the concept of “business model&# for startups, in favor of something I call “business ecology.&# Constructing a working business model is a form of ecosystem design.

Customer 156

Customer San Francisco Viral Lean 156

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2010

I think you can blame Customer and Agile Development for a small part of it. Fairchild Semiconductor became the progenitor of a flood of Silicon Valley chip companies and at the same time the adoption of the limited partnership as the model for Venture Firms gave VC’s their own profitable business model. Here’s why.

Lean 258

Lean Internet Silicon Valley Venture Capital 258

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 5, 2009

She has a separate team, with its own culture and office, and a mandate straight from top management to innovate without regard to the company’s historic products, channels, or supply chain. And so the spreadsheet is built with conservative assumptions, including a final revenue target. So far, so good.

San Francisco 102

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 102

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 17, 2009

Customer Development suggests that founders have continual and timely customer, channel and market information. Web startups are at real disadvantage here as founders may confuse web metrics, A/B testing and on-line surveys as the entirety of first-hand knowledge – for most web business models they are not. Birds-eye view”.

Metrics 239

Metrics Customer Customer Development Lean 239