Steve Blank

MARCH 3, 2015

Over my career as a serial entrepreneur I observed that since the late 1990s, no early-stage Silicon Valley investor had used business plans to screen investments. The disadvantage is that its methodology was based on the old waterfall model of product development and not the agile and lean methods that startups use today.

Business Plan 120

Business Plan Silicon Valley Saudi Arabia Lean 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

I would say the norm for many early-stage companies is somewhere between 6-10 in-person meetings per year. The earlier stage the more likely it is 10 meetings and the later stage the more likely it is 6. The Agile Board. Ask for short conference calls. Further Reading. I cranked this out pretty quickly.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

View from Seed

MAY 14, 2019

These challenges put founders in a precarious position because they all contribute to a serious loss of agility. And I’d argue that agility is one of the most important attributes that one should be optimizing for at the earliest stages. Third, you want to work with investors that are along for the twists and turns.

Founder 256

Founder Agile Cofounder Seed Capital 256

Steve Blank

JUNE 26, 2015

The first time a few brave corporate innovators tried to overlay the Lean tools and techniques that work in early-stage startups in an existing corporation, the result was chaos, confusion, frustration and ultimately, failure. Fast forward to today. We can adapt these startup tools for use inside the corporation. Get to Yes.

Lean 120

Lean Management Business Model Incubator 120

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. Then, create an encouraging environment for early-stage companies. Provide early seed capital, and be the ones to make those introductions. And do your customer development.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Continuous Deployment 113

Occam's Razor

MAY 2, 2017

There is no golden metric for everyone, we are all unique snowflakes! :). and tell you what are the best key performance indicators (metrics) for them. In the past I’ve shared a cluster of metrics that small, medium and large businesses can use as a springboard…. If you want to play along. Don’t read what I’ve chosen.

Metrics 141

Metrics Acquisition eCommerce Analytics 141

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

In an early-stage startup especially, revenue is not an important goal in and of itself. Let’s start with a simple question: why do early-stage startups want revenue? Every board meeting, the metrics of success change. Go on an agile diet quickly. But all things are never equal. Great post!

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

Another advantage of the early stages is that most dont have to juggle too many competing priorities. Growth - when you have existing customers, the pressure is on to grow your key metrics day-in day-out. Stevey's Blog Rants: Good Agile, Bad Agile Learning from Obama: maneuver warfare on the campa.

San Francisco 88

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 88

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

As customer and agile development reinvent the Startup, it’s time to ask why startup board governance has not kept up with the pace of innovation. Board meetings that guide startups haven’t changed since the early 1900’s. The Wrong Metrics. What do those numbers/metrics look like? Jonathan Swift. The Wrong Discussion s.

Silicon Valley 290

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 290

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2011

As customer and agile development reinvent the Startup, it’s time to ask why startup board governance has not kept up with the pace of innovation. Board meetings that guide startups haven’t changed since the early 1900’s. The Wrong Metrics. What do those numbers/metrics look like? Jonathan Swift. The Wrong Discussion s.

Silicon Valley 258

Silicon Valley Business Model Venture Capital Balance Sheet 258

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. Expo SF (May.

Lean 68

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 2, 2009

The core of the article is my first attempt to articulate the key metrics (in graph form) that I believe demonstrate customer value. Unfortunately, they are disinterested in doing the hard work to help early stage entrepreneurs and companies. Expo SF (May. Conference streaming, sponsors, discounted tickets.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Tampa Continuous Deployment Lean 60

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

In another we decended into a debate about our 5 year forecasts (I built the models so fielded most of these questions), and it became clear they probably weren’t the best fit for our Series A round (this group is no longer in the early-stage VC business). And a third firm “pressure tested” (i.e. link] dazhi chen.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 14, 2008

The people who are the lifeblood of an early-stage startup are earlyvangelists. Kent Beck keynote, "To Agility, and Beyond" Six streaming locations Interviews ► March (7) New conference website, speakers, agenda Two new scholarship programs for lean startups Speed up or slow down? Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 131

San Francisco Customer Lean Continuous Deployment 131

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 5, 2009

In a startup context, numbers like gross revenue are actually vanity metrics, not actionable metrics. One way to conceive of our goal in an early-stage venture is to incrementally “fill in the blanks&# for the business model that we think will one day power our startup. June 8, 2009 1:16 AM Colin said. Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 102

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 102

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 9, 2009

In fact, early stage companies shouldnt be able to get time from anyone else - who else would be crazy enough to try an truly innovative new product? christinelu : if youre building a disruptive innovation.the only people who you want to talk to are early adopters. Brilliant insight. Expo SF (May.

Lean 60

Lean San Francisco Japan Continuous Deployment 60

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 13, 2011

As customer and agile development reinvent the startup, it's time to ask why startup board governance has not kept up with the pace of innovation. Board meetings that guide startups haven't changed since the early 1900's. Most board meetings never get past big company metrics to focus on the crucial startup numbers.

Silicon Valley 117

Silicon Valley Balance Sheet Metrics Early Stage 117

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 4, 2009

This is important, especially if you are a very early stage company. Kent Beck keynote, "To Agility, and Beyond" Six streaming locations Interviews ► March (7) New conference website, speakers, agenda Two new scholarship programs for lean startups Speed up or slow down? Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 8, 2009

But in the early stages of a startup you are still trying to hone in on what exactly the problem is. There's lots of information about performance and metrics out there, as well as a peer expectation that being concerned about those things is an important part of being a competent engineer. Expo SF (May.

Software Review 87

Software Review Design Software San Francisco 87

SoCal CTO

APRIL 28, 2014

Provide the metrics you are trying to achieve. Generally I say that developers should be doing significant developer level testing, but in early-stage startups, testing falls back on the founders. Developers like to do things their way even when it doesn’t meet the needs of the business. Great question.

Technical Cofounder 280

Technical Cofounder Developer Fractional CTO CTO Hire 280

Ben's Blog

MAY 15, 2020

Finally, we’ll zoom out and assess the big picture: how various categories of company may be impacted long-term, how this crisis compares to 2008 (and what that means for early-stage founders), and the industries and business models that are now prime for growth. What are those metrics? Andrew : Right.

Founder 36

Founder Conversion Technical Review Cash Position 36

David Teten

JANUARY 28, 2013

Even if the methodology is full of holes, it is still useful for generating theories on angel-stage opportunities. Small, agile funds are in an excellent position to take advantage of opportunities in the angel space. Only one metric showed statistical differences between these deals and others.

IRR 114

IRR Angel Investor Angel Groups Cofounder 114

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 26, 2012

Bullpen is one of a growing number of early-stage funds - or, perhaps more accurately, "earlier-stage," since even his is no longer the first out of the gate. A company can validate its growth metrics, Bullpen believes, in as little as four to six months after its initial funding periods. How old is Instagram?

IPO 115

IPO Stock San Francisco Lean 115

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 17, 2010

Three premier early-stage venture investors have joined forces to sponsor the event: Baseline , Floodgate , and First Round Capital. Three premier early-stage venture investors have joined forces to sponsor the event: Baseline , Floodgate , and First Round Capital. Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 107

San Francisco Romania Cleveland South Africa 107

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. What are Early Stage VC’s Really Asking? They will realize that you have built a startup that’s agile, resilient and customer-centric. Did the VC’s like your team ?

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

He says, “Spending a few thousand on a domain could make a big difference long term, and give you the credibility and advantage over the competition, especially in the very beginning and early stages of the business.”. Noah says, “Agile is what most software companies use. Step 8: Track your metrics.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Rob Go

NOVEMBER 15, 2016

Often, I find that there is a very distinct trade-off that surfaces when thinking about how to best position yourself for your series A: Option 1 is to focus nearly exclusively on some traction metric. Also, in a market where a bunch of high-flyers are crumbling, investors are more deliberate and less enamored by pure top line metrics.

Product 28

Product Seed Stage Seed Money Metrics 28

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 24, 2009

I liked the flattering Venture Hacks commentary so much Ill just quote it: Many founders believe that early stage startups are endeavors of execution. He believes that many early stage startups are labors of learning. The customer is known, the product is known, and all we have to do is act. Expo SF (May.

Lean 74

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 74

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. Know what the success metrics are for the launch.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 12, 2009

However, this financial bar has had the effect of excluding one segment of potential customers that Id really like to see there - early stage entrepreneurs who have all the intelligence and vision of their later stage counterparts, but simply cannot afford the cash flow to attend. Expo SF (May.

Lean 60

Lean Programming San Francisco Continuous Deployment 60

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 19, 2008

What all these teachers had in common were two things: they were technology early adopters that were willing to take a chance on a new software product, and they all had similar problems organizing their classes and students. Stevey's Blog Rants: Good Agile, Bad Agile Learning from Obama: maneuver warfare on the campa.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 60

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 5, 2019

The first, according to Dr. David Travis at UserFocus , was agile development : Dr. David Travis: “‘Development’ teams morphed into ‘design’ teams. Teams were savvy enough to know that fully formed, completed descriptions of users are an impossibility at the early stages of design. Instead, they wanted conversation starters.

Software Review 115

Software Review Design Agile Analytics 115

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 20, 2009

As a consequence, this new startup is relentlessly metrics-driven. For short stories - I think it is always good to introduce some practical problem (you might have heard from entrepreneur at early stage) and how the lean startup method helped solved that. It is a company built to learn. Expo SF (May.

Lean 68

Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 68

Up and Running

DECEMBER 6, 2012

Here at Palo Alto Software in 2007 and 2008, we embraced these planning concepts and moved towards a more agile planning process. You should also be reviewing your cash flow forecasts to understand how much money you need to take your business through its early stages.

Lean 147

Lean Silicon Valley Forecast Technical Review 147

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

Investors sitting through Incubator or Accelerator demo days have three metrics to judge fledgling startups – 1) great looking product demos, 2) compelling PowerPoint slides, and 3) a world-class team. And we can offer investors metrics to play Moneyball – with the Investment Readiness Level. We think we can do better. Here’s how.

Oakland 326

Oakland Incubator Lean Metrics 326

ConversionXL

MARCH 7, 2017

The first, according to Dr. David Travis at UserFocus , was agile development : Dr. David Travis: “‘Development’ teams morphed into ‘design’ teams. Teams were savvy enough to know that fully formed, completed descriptions of users are an impossibility at the early stages of design. Instead, they wanted conversation starters.

Software Review 102

Software Review Design Agile Analytics 102

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2009

We were focused on revenue, but we didnt understand that revenue is not important for its own sake in an early stage company. Startup Visa update ► February (5) Kiwi lean startup + Australia next Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Rev. Expo SF (May.

San Francisco 94

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 94