Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 24, 2010

Over the last half a century, Silicon Valley has grown into the leading technology and innovation cluster for the United States and the world. Venture capital used to be a tight club clustered around formal firms located in Silicon Valley, Boston, and New York. The story to date is a familiar one.

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Steve Blank

JULY 7, 2015

My guests on Bay Area Ventures on Wharton Business Radio on Sirius XM Channel 111 were: Eric Ries , entrepreneur and author of the New York Times bestseller, The Lean Startup. Eric Ries co-founded Catalyst Recruiting while attending Yale, and continued his entrepreneurial career as a Senior Software Engineer at There.com.

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Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 6, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, November 6, 2008 Steveys Blog Rants: Good Agile, Bad Agile I thought Id share an interesting post from someone with a decidedly anti-agile point of view. Steveys Blog Rants: Good Agile, Bad Agile : "Google is an exceptionally disciplined company, from a software-engineering perspective.

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Agile San Francisco Software Review Continuous Deployment 76

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

There are very few people in Silicon Valley who have such a precise grasp on what defines success of early-stage startup companies than Eric Ries. 3:35 The real entrepreneurs come out during a down economy. 19:30 A teachable moment for entrepreneurs: HAVE A HYPOTHESIS! 42:20 Did agile development influence you?

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Silicon Valley Lean Social Media PR 301

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2021

While all the teams used the Mission Model Canvas , (videos here ), Customer Development and Agile Engineering to build Minimal Viable Products, each of their journeys was unique. Steve Weinstein , 30-year veteran of Silicon Valley technology companies and Hollywood media companies. He runs H4X Labs.

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Steve Blank

MARCH 3, 2015

During the Cold War with the Soviet Union, science and engineering at both Stanford and U.C. Starting in the 1950’s, Stanford’s engineering department became “outward facing” and developed a culture of spinouts and active faculty support and participation in the first wave of Silicon Valley startups. Today the U.C.

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Business Plan Silicon Valley Saudi Arabia Lean 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2009

One of the things he mentioned was that when it came to decision-making he still tended to think and act like an engineer. Since every situation is unique, there is no perfect solution to any engineering, customer or competitor problem, and you shouldn’t agonize over trying to find one. That’s why startups are agile.

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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. Marketing demand creation programs (Search Engine Marketing, Public Relations, Advertising, Lead Generation, Trade Shows, etc.)

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Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

Yet startup companies have traditionally used this model to manage and pace not only engineering but also non-engineering activities. The flaw in this thinking is that “first customer ship&# is simply the date when engineering thinks they “finished” the 1.0 Product Development Diagram 1. Where Are the Customers?

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The Next Web

JANUARY 24, 2014

We have three universities in the top 100 of the Shanghai ranking for engineering and technology. Think of Werner Vogels (CTO of Amazon), Guido van Rossem (founder of Python programming language and senior engineer at Dropbox) or the more senior Gerard Kleisterlee (chairman of Vodafone). So we have plenty of economic clustering.

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Netherlands Technical Review Stock Silicon Valley 143

Steve Blank

JUNE 12, 2020

All the teams used the Mission Model Canvas , (videos here ) Customer Development and Agile Engineering to build Minimal Viable Products, but all of their journeys were unique. Steve Weinstein 30-year veteran of Silicon Valley technology companies and Hollywood media companies. He runs H4X Labs.

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Steve Blank

JULY 25, 2011

Scientists and engineers as founders and startup CEOs is one of the least celebrated contributions of Silicon Valley. ESL, the first company I worked for in Silicon Valley , was founded by a PhD in Math and six other scientists and engineers. Why It’s “Silicon” Valley. ———-.

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Steve Blank

APRIL 6, 2009

Two years out of the Air Force, serendipity (which would be my lifelong form of career planning) found me in Silicon Valley working for my first company: ESL. If you’re an entrepreneur, ESL is the most important company you’ve never heard of. Fred Terman Sent Us In 1953 the U.S. The “customers’” contracts funded the company.

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Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

Their engineering teams didn’t have the expertise using off-the-shelf microprocessors (back then “real” computer companies designed their own instruction sets and operating systems.) Their engineers hated us. Engineers as Salesmen I thought (and still do) that this sales guy walked on water.

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Steve Blank

JULY 28, 2011

Silicon Valley was born in an era of applied experimentation driven by scientists and engineers. This approach would shape Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial ethos: In startups, failure was treated as experience (until you ran out of money). Yet this system isn’t perfect. – seems like another planet.

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Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 18, 2010

As a pun on my last company as an entrepreneur, E.piphany, I called the book The Four Steps to the Epiphany. My blog also allowed me to indulge my interest in a few other subjects: The Secret History of Silicon Valley , thoughts on a career as an entrepreneur, observations about family and startups, etc.

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Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

After these slides, these VC’s recognized that this company had dramatically reduced risk and built a startup that was agile, resilient and customer-centric. I am a young entrepreneur here, absolutely dying to hear the talk. The presentation didn’t have a single word about Lean Startups or Customer Development.

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Steve Blank

JUNE 10, 2010

Who is an entrepreneur really? It turns out that there are four distinct types of entrepreneurial organizations; s mall businesses , scalable startups , large companies and social entrepreneurs. Yet entrepreneurs in one class think that the others aren’t the “real” entrepreneurs. They all engage in entrepreneurship.

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Steve Blank

MAY 15, 2009

Signs of Success One of the things you do right in a startup, is you move from one cheap and cramped building to another as you grow, with desks, cubicles and engineers piled cheek to jowl. Engineers were packed in cubicles or desks right on top of each other? Now every engineer can have their own office.

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Steve Blank

OCTOBER 12, 2009

When I learned that Cray users would be giving papers at the Society of Petroleum Engineering conference in Denver the next day, I got on a plane to listen and learn. The magazines got passed around to all the engineers until they were dog-eared and worn. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Order Here.

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Steve Blank

AUGUST 6, 2009

Encouraged by their Dean, Fred Terman, scientists and engineers left Stanford Electronics Research Laboratory to set up companies to build microwave tubes and systems for the military. Funded by military contracts these 1950′s startups would help build Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial culture and environment.

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Steve Blank

MARCH 29, 2010

In my last post I described my approach to one of the three classes I teach at Stanford in the engineering school: Fundamentals of Technology Entrepreneurship. One part of Silicon Valley culture that doesn’t get enough credit is the generosity of entrepreneurs and VC’s who are willing to share their time with students.

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Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

Its easy to take Silicon Valley for granted. But theres no denying the level of support for entrepreneurs that we enjoy. Ive written a little bit about the origins of Silicon Valley because I think its important for us to understand how we got here in order to make sure we preserve what is best about our community.

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San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Continuous Deployment 113

Steve Blank

AUGUST 10, 2009

Stanford’s Dean of Engineering, Fred Terman, encouraged scientists and engineers to set up companies to build these microwave tubes for the military. Funded by military contracts, these 1950′s microwave tube startups would help build Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial culture and environment.

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Silicon Valley RSS SBIC California 155

The Next Web

MARCH 2, 2014

As European talent in the form of startups and entrepreneurs continue to flock towards the USA, the question remains: why? Many entrepreneurs claim that there’s just not enough money, and that investors in Europe fear failure. But it stifles those with the potential to be great entrepreneurs. Is it attitude or is it money?

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Up and Running

OCTOBER 4, 2017

That makes it even more important for entrepreneurs to come up with viable propositions for their business. That’s why it’s smarter to embrace the agile approach and constantly test your idea on the market to learn about the needs and desires of your target. Choose the right location.

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Startup Estonia Poland Silicon Valley 115

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

But what I wanted was an agile marketing team capable of operating independently without day-to-day direction. To do that we will create end-user demand and drive it into the sales channel, educate the channel and customers about why our products are superior, and help Engineering understand customer needs and desires.

Silicon Valley 259

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 259

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 27, 2012

One of the great things about being a retired entrepreneur is that I get to give back to the community that helped me. I assembled this collection of free and almost free tools, class syllabi, presentations, books, lectures, videos in the hope that it can make your path as an entrepreneur or educator easier. agile engineering.

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Open Source Silicon Valley Lean Customer Development 335

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

Github - Free public repositories, collaborator management, issue tracking, wikis, downloads, code review, graphs Pivotal Tracker – Agile project management tool that enables real time collaboration. WebSequenceDiagrams - sketch sequence diagrams. Bontq – hosted bug tracking and project management needs.

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Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

Agile VC

JANUARY 4, 2012

In addition to compelling founders, we were drawn to the company by their vision for a professional community for mechanical engineers and designers. You’ve seen this with companies like StackOverflow and Github in software engineering or Behance in visual design. Im a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur turned East Coast VC.

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Community Estonia Syndicate Syndication 100

Steve Blank

APRIL 7, 2011

I spent a few days in March in Ann Arbor Michigan as a guest of Professor Thomas Zurbuchen , Associate Dean for Entrepreneurial Programs, and Doug Neal , Director of Center for Entrepreneurship in the Engineering School at the University of Michigan. The Engineering School has 5,600 undergrads and 3,000 graduate students.

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 11, 2013

As Eric puts it in the webcast, “I’ve met now the CEOs of some of the biggest companies in the world, and I still spend time with the CEOs of high-growth Silicon Valley companies from the garage on up, and what all those people have in common is that they are seeking out sources of sustainable growth….

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Lean Silicon Valley Agile Cofounder 167

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

The signals are loud and clear : seed and late stage valuations are getting frothy and wacky, and hiring talent in Silicon Valley is the toughest it has been since the dot.com bubble. For VC’s and entrepreneurs the gold rush to liquidity was on. The payoff: in this bubble, a startup can actively “engineer for an acquisition.”

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Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

Steve Blank

MAY 15, 2013

This school has a distinguished roster of graduates… Earl Bakken, the founder of Medtronic , was an Electrical Engineering grad, and Bob Gore of Gortex , and your current president are both alums of your Chemical Engineering program. Engineers Run the World. Engineers used to be the people who made other peoples ideas work.

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Minnesota Silicon Valley America Engineer 335

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 29, 2008

Finding great engineers is hard; figuring out whos good is even harder. The six key attributes spell ABCDEF: Agility. When talking about their past experience, candidates with agility will know why they did what they did in a given situation. I have found this quite rare in engineers.

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crowdSPRING Blog

JANUARY 4, 2013

Dear Silicon Valley, Ads Are the Hard Part | Digiday – [link]. Dear Silicon Valley, Ads Are the Hard Part | Digiday – [link]. Is Agile Marketing the Future of Search in 2013? Search Engine Watch – [link]. Revenue is the new black | Gigaom – [link]. When is it Time to Pivot or Quit? (by

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Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 2, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Saturday, August 2, 2008 Paul Graham on fundraising I have found no better primer on the current realities of starting a new technology company in a startup hub like Silicon Valley than Paul Grahams essays. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

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